"Okay, this is the easy one. This is Lauryn."
"Right."
"Yea, and this is Prakazrel."
"Pra...kra...?"
"Yea."
"Wait – Praz?"
"Yea. And this is Wyclef Jean."
"Gene?"
"Nah, Jean."
"Oh, okay. Cool."
We really had a hard time with this blended format of rap and R&B. Some DJs went all hip-hop, others went straight and smooth R&B and the remainder – the uninformed – played it all the same without any clue of what they were doing. I remember there being a bit of ire with the Groove format coordinator, who wanted more hours of the day devoted to the format per his listeners. The faculty advisor said indications he'd received were the opposite: people didn’t like three hours of rock interrupted at 9pm for an entirely different format. Either way our biggest problem was that we didn’t have enough music to support extended hours. While the rock format got a lot attention musically from our weekly preview discs, there was rarely any R&B or rap included on them. Somewhere in previous years, the station sprung for GoldDiscs, essentially weekly preview discs that featured a mix of urban sounds (these discs were yellow-tinted, as opposed to the blue of the rock discs). Still, there were only about 30 or so GoldDiscs and many of them either 1) didn't have much to choose from in the first place or 2) were dated and unpopular. Thus we had to rely on receiving actual albums – either CD or vinyl – and those were always a chore to get our hands on.
Staffing was also an issue – outside of a handful of people, it was apparent no one wanted to host the Groove either. Therefore the next school year the format was rescheduled to weekends 6pm to midnight and modern rock would now run from 3pm to midnight.
The Refugee Camp didn't fare much better: the Fugees have all but vanished since The Score, choosing solo releases and guest appearances. But maybe they'll show up together – ready or not.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Ready Or Not
(Thom Bell/Hart, W./Lauryn Hill/Jean, N./Michel, S.)
The Fugees
From the album The Score
1996
Chorus: Lauryn Hill
Ready or not, Here I come, You can't hide
Gonna find you, and take it slowly
Ready or not, Here I come, You can't hide
Gonna find you, and make you want me
Verse One: Wyclef
Now that I escape sleep walk away
those who convolate knows the world they hate
Jails bars ain't golden gates
those who fake they brake when they meet they four hundred pound mate
if i could rule the world, everyone who have a gun
and together of course we'd get the up in our their horse
I kick a rhyme drinking moon shine
I poor sip on the concrete, for the deceased
but no don't weep, Wyclef in a state of sleep
thinking about the robbe-RY that I did last WEEK
Money in the bag, bank a look like a drag
I wanna play with pelicans from here to Bagdad
Gun blast, think fast I think I'm hit
My girl pinch's my hips to see if I still exist
I think not, I send a letter to my friends
A born again, hooligan only to be king again
Chorus
Verse Two: Lauryn Hill
yo, I play my enemies like a game of chess
where I rest no stress if you don't smoke cess, less
i must confess my destany's manifest
to some gortex and sweats I make tracks like i'm homeless
Rap orgies with Porgie and Bess
capture your bounty like Eliot Ness YES!
Bless you if you represent the FU
but I hex you, with some witches vu if you do-do
Voodo, I could what you do, EASY!
Believe me, frontin' niggaz
gives me heebe-geebes
so why you imitatin' Al Capone
I be Nina Symone and defacating on your microphone
chorus
Interlude: Lauryn Hill
You can't run away from these styles I got
Oh baby, hey baby cause I got a lot oh yeah...
Anywhere you go, my whole crew gonna know
Oh baby, hey baby you can't hide from the black gold no...
Verse Three: Pras
Ready or not, refugees taking over
The buffalo soldier, dread like rasta
On the twelve hour flyby in my bomber
crews went for cover now they under pushin' up flowers
Superfly, true lies do or dies
toss me high only profile with my crew from Lacaille
I refugee from Guatanamo Bay,
dance around the border like I'm Cassius Clay
Chorus