It's a spirited track that opens with Hill, who's still uncontested as hip-hop's best female MC. Her already-deep voice seems huskier than ever as she raps:
I got moxie/ I'm so damn foxy/ Industry try to block me like cops and paparazzi
Her flow is ferocious and hard, her rhymes a torrent. She sounds renewed and energetic, and makes the track her own. Once Wyclef and Michel join in, you can sense the palpable joy these three feel in finally being together again.
Is it ''Fu-Gee-La"? No. Yet in hip-hop terms, this is like a Beatles reunion -- and for a long time, it appeared just as impossible. Each found varying degrees of solo success, especially Hill with the 1998 release ''The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," which became the first CD by a hip-hop artist to win the Grammy for album of the year. Still, what really made hopes for another Fugees album seem unlikely was bad blood between Hill and Wyclef, some of which was spilled on Hill's album in such songs as ''Lost Ones" and ''Superstar." (The two had an ill-fated affair that left Hill burned but lyrically inspired.)
Since hip-hop artists are known for beefs, not their capacity to forgive and forget, few believed there would ever be another Fugees collaboration. Further complicating matters were conflicting reports about Hill's emotional state. After the runaway success of ''Miseducation," and the attendant deluge of attention and adulation, Hill seemed overwhelmed. While everyone waited for a big follow-up, she beat a mean retreat from the spotlight. Then, in 2002, she released a double album culled from her ''MTV Unplugged" performance. It was a fascinating mess, with an occasionally teary Hill providing rudimentary accompaniment on an acoustic guitar she'd recently learned to play. The songs were unpolished and deeply confessional, and in between them, she offered lengthy off-the-cuff remarks, many of them about being true to one's self.
So, after all the drama and recriminations, a fresh track from the Fugees is a kind of musical miracle. Yet, with so much anticipation, can the Fugees possibly live up to expectations?
