Ms. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean reunited at the Essence Festival in New Orleans on July 1 performing four Fugees songs together.
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About a half-hour into Hill’s set at the Essence fest, Jean made a surprise appearance, and joined hill for “Killing Me Softly,” “Ready or Not,” “How Many Mics,” and “Fu-Gee-La.”
Jean is currently preparing his next solo album, 2097, a follow-up to his 2019 release, Wyclef Goes Back to School Volume 1, and remained in New Orleans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his debut solo album Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival with a show on July 3.
“The new album is going to be called ‘2097, ‘and in the next couple of weeks, we’ll be putting out the first single from ‘2097, ‘which will lead into ‘The Carnival,’” said Jean. “I need y’all to go back with me. Go to ‘AfriCali.’ I need y’all to Google, go back to 1990.”
Earlier in the year, the hip-hop trio, along with Pras Michel, were forced to cancel their reunion tour commemorating the 25th anniversary of their debut The Score due to circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
In September of 2021, the Fugees revealed their reunion and upcoming tour and played a one-off concert in New York City before the upcoming tour was ultimately canceled. Rescheduled dates have not been announced.
“All I could do is tell you that with the Fugees, I’m very excited and I look forward to it getting rescheduled,” said Jean. “I look forward. As a fan of the Fugees, I’m very excited. All I could do is just tell all the fans, do not lose hope, because y’all know we the Hip Hop Grateful Dead. We going to get this thing cracking.”
