Pras: Fugee Reunion? good read talks about clef and luaren

[STILLDRE IS THE GODFATHER]

Pras: Fugee Reunion?
Thursday - August 21, 2003
K.B. Tindal
In 1994 when The Fugees sprang onto the music scene with their mediocre hits “Vocab” and ‘Nappy Heads” many were confused about the direction and the vibe of the NJ threesome. Then in 1996 when they dropped “Fu-Gee-La” and the infamous The Score album a lot of the confusion started to make sense. The Score spawned major hits with “How Many Mics,” “Killing Me Softly,” “No Woman No Cry,” “The Sweetest Thing,” and “Ready Or Not.” The Fugees had been born and the world had accepted them to the tune of over 14 Million albums sold.

So what happened? Why are the Fugees no longer a force in Hip Hop? Well some would say it’s from creative differences, greed or just a plain simple need of an attitude adjustment on the group member’s parts. But who’s at fault? Well, I got the chance to sit with the most silent member of the Fugees and hear his part of the story. Admittedly, I thought the interview was going to be wack as shit because most silent members of groups never have much to say…I was really wrong. Pras vented, got hyped and spit at me one of the best interviews I have done this year. I respect his gangsta as well as his honesty. It is a very needed thing that we are missing in this game today. Big ups. Pras was one third of one of the biggest selling groups in Hip Hop history and he had a lot of stuff to grind off of his chest as well as his soul. Here is his story.

When asked about what he’s doing nowadays, Pras is neither quick nor slow to talk about the Fugees but it is easily seen that he is concentrating on a much deeper aspect of his career. Himself. With his new company Guerrilla Entertainment, Pras is set to make his mark on the industry in more ways than one. His company houses Urban, Rock and Film divisions. His upcoming solo album Cold Fire is soon to be released. And He will be starring alongside Ving Rhames and Jon Voight in a new movie titled The Last Ride later this year. In his own words Pras says, “right now I’m just doing my own shit. I’ve watched how the companies are structured. They’re treating artists like disposable razors when they should be treated like fine wine. I don’t want to be treated like a slave. The days of the plantation are over.” This is so very true but don’t you have to be successful to be treated like a slave in this game? To that analogy, Pras states, “Everything comes with the success and the way I approached Cold Fire is the same way that I approached The Score. I’m going through the same thing but by myself I went through hell and back and God didn’t let me get burned I went through some litigation’s with Sony while they were restructuring and cleaning house. My strain didn’t come from leaving Sony it came from other things. Clef was my man for a long time. It was the two of us and to see that this music thing put a strain on us fucked with me.” So will there ever be a Fugees reunion? “If Clef came to me on some humble shit like lets just make music there would definitely be a reunion. I tried coming at him like that. I reached out to him and he was like I don’t need you, he was like I’m good. I said to him that when that storm comes don’t say that I didn’t reach out to you. He played me like a clown. I think the game is sad but it’s good for an institution but if Clef and me were tight Sony would have to pay like another 70 Million for another album. That situation is fucked up. Right now they’re [Sony] like Clef we ain’t fucking with you cause you gave us like 3 wack albums, Lauren you in the cookoo house and Pras we just ain’t fucking with you. I don’t wanna do another Fugees album when I’m 40.”

So it has been said. Pras really seems to know this game and sometimes patience and careful planning are the keys to a masterful plan. Guerrilla might just be the master plan that paves the way for future artists. Only time will tell. Pras’ take on the game at this time goes like this. “Most of these cats are like groupies. When I tell you I’m Hip Hop I mean that shit. I used to iron my laces and put the sock under the sneaker. I listened to Chuck Chillout and Red Alert. We created Hip Hop but we don’t own it. Biggie and Pac were like the Martin Luther and Malcolm of this shit. They died for Hip Hop and we ain’t getting 1/3 of what we created cause the industry is like a Parasite. So that makes Guerrilla a movement. I’m usually the soft-spoken one but I need to get a little amped and go through the proper channels and put out a real Hip Hop album. If motherfuckers wanna stop me from doing what I’m trying to do they gonna have to put a bullet in my head.” These are some heavy statements from a player in this viscous game

Now about Lauren being engaged in a nut house Pras simply says, “Lauren and I are still cool. I speak to her dad to check up on her a lot. She’s probably the most important element in urban music. She’s a movement by herself. A lot of Lauren’s strain has to do with Clef and the truth hurts like a motherfucker and I’m glad I’m not built from the same cloth as Clef. My dad told me you never really know a person. Money don’t change a person it just amplifies who you really are so for Clef all it did was amplify his true self.

So with the second lead in a new film and more music to come Pras seems to be at peace with his self and his spiritual side is at an all time high. At the end of the day all that matters is that a person remain true to his or her self. As for Pras, on a closing note he says, “Whatever I do or whatever I say I’m responsible for. Whatever I do is documented. I feel like I was overshadowed. I never really expressed myself as an artist. Now it’s my time.”