Post by Filip on Nov 23, 2005 12:38:07 GMT 1
Wag the Fugee
The Fugees' Pras goes solo and stars in a new soundtrack.
by a.d. amorosi
With sales of The Score at 14 million high and rising and a solo jaunt—Wyclef Jean's magnificent The Carnival—selling double platinum, Ruffhouse records' Fugees are hotter than ever.
"What makes 'em a collective is what makes 'em individuals," says Ruffhouse promo guy Glenn Manko about his label's hip-hop heroes. Summer's lineup of solo Fugee fare includes a Lauryn Hill album due in July and a new Pras album in August.
"[My stuff's] more street, more direct," says Pras from New York City's Sony Studios, where he's capping off his solo disc Ghetto Superstar. "It's closer to new-school hip-hop." Comparing his new songs "Ghetto Superstar," "MurderDom" and "Charlie's Angels" with other solo Fugee releases, Pras says coolly. "I think [their solo work] is great for what it is. Clef is to the left, with his Caribbean root thing. Lauryn's to the right; more soul-stirring, really sweet. My thing is a no-brainer."
It's Pras' bluntness that makes him the treasured holy third of the Fugees—an act formed when the three were South Orange, NJ, teens.
The title track from Ghetto Superstar is also the centerpiece of a soundtrack (on Interscope) for Warren Beatty's controversial new political comedy Bulworth.
Pras seems impressed with the auteur/actor.
"We're two or three generations of entertainment apart. Figure it. For him—an icon—to come to me and do a record, that's really something. I've got people I produce and folks whose remixes I do and I never meet them. Might not even speak to them. But he was anxious to be with me, to work with me—together."
On Bulworth's soundtrack Pras' bumpin' uptempo funk partnership with Ol' Dirty Bastard on "Ghetto Superstar" is as funny and dark as Beatty's political-suicide farce itself. Beatty's story of a self-sabotaging politician (Beatty as the rapping Sen. Bulworth) saved by a South central homegirl (Halle Berry) parallels Pras' cold funk-hop tale of a girl who rises above her station in the ghetto. Along with a pretty freaky video of Beatty and Pras tearing off each others faces to become the other, the pairing of these two is one that can only be made in modern-day Hollywood.
Though he doesn't share Beatty's political enthusiasm, Pras is a man of the people; he's a socially conscious hip-hop icon who understands the connection between politics and showbiz. "The origins of politics is in the reality of people, their judgment and morals. The truth of the matter is that the mass media will never get the opportunity to understand the realism of politics. It's like if one person knows the truth he becomes an outcast. The holder of information is either too weird or too troublesome. I don't want to be that guy. It's too frustrating."
Happy being "the father, the all-seeing one" in the holy trinity that is The Fugees, I ask him one last question about the elusive Mr. Beatty.
Can Warren pull a G? Is he a good rapper?
Pras laughs, "Hah hah, yeah, mmm."
Guess he's holding out for a sequel.
The Fugees' Pras goes solo and stars in a new soundtrack.
by a.d. amorosi
With sales of The Score at 14 million high and rising and a solo jaunt—Wyclef Jean's magnificent The Carnival—selling double platinum, Ruffhouse records' Fugees are hotter than ever.
"What makes 'em a collective is what makes 'em individuals," says Ruffhouse promo guy Glenn Manko about his label's hip-hop heroes. Summer's lineup of solo Fugee fare includes a Lauryn Hill album due in July and a new Pras album in August.
"[My stuff's] more street, more direct," says Pras from New York City's Sony Studios, where he's capping off his solo disc Ghetto Superstar. "It's closer to new-school hip-hop." Comparing his new songs "Ghetto Superstar," "MurderDom" and "Charlie's Angels" with other solo Fugee releases, Pras says coolly. "I think [their solo work] is great for what it is. Clef is to the left, with his Caribbean root thing. Lauryn's to the right; more soul-stirring, really sweet. My thing is a no-brainer."
It's Pras' bluntness that makes him the treasured holy third of the Fugees—an act formed when the three were South Orange, NJ, teens.
The title track from Ghetto Superstar is also the centerpiece of a soundtrack (on Interscope) for Warren Beatty's controversial new political comedy Bulworth.
Pras seems impressed with the auteur/actor.
"We're two or three generations of entertainment apart. Figure it. For him—an icon—to come to me and do a record, that's really something. I've got people I produce and folks whose remixes I do and I never meet them. Might not even speak to them. But he was anxious to be with me, to work with me—together."
On Bulworth's soundtrack Pras' bumpin' uptempo funk partnership with Ol' Dirty Bastard on "Ghetto Superstar" is as funny and dark as Beatty's political-suicide farce itself. Beatty's story of a self-sabotaging politician (Beatty as the rapping Sen. Bulworth) saved by a South central homegirl (Halle Berry) parallels Pras' cold funk-hop tale of a girl who rises above her station in the ghetto. Along with a pretty freaky video of Beatty and Pras tearing off each others faces to become the other, the pairing of these two is one that can only be made in modern-day Hollywood.
Though he doesn't share Beatty's political enthusiasm, Pras is a man of the people; he's a socially conscious hip-hop icon who understands the connection between politics and showbiz. "The origins of politics is in the reality of people, their judgment and morals. The truth of the matter is that the mass media will never get the opportunity to understand the realism of politics. It's like if one person knows the truth he becomes an outcast. The holder of information is either too weird or too troublesome. I don't want to be that guy. It's too frustrating."
Happy being "the father, the all-seeing one" in the holy trinity that is The Fugees, I ask him one last question about the elusive Mr. Beatty.
Can Warren pull a G? Is he a good rapper?
Pras laughs, "Hah hah, yeah, mmm."
Guess he's holding out for a sequel.
