833. The Score - Fugees

This was an album that both Chloe and I know and love, and a week of listening to it has done it no harm whatsoever. It is an excellent work of art, and everyone I have mentioned that this is our album of the week has replied that they love it too.

I'm not a particularly big hip-hop fan; I like a few artists and songs, but it's not a genre I know very well at all. In contrast, Chloe's knowledge of '90s hip-hop is intimidatingly impressive. The Score sits slap bang in the narrow overlap of hip-hop albums that we love. Indeed, that particular category only contains about five albums for me. 

One thing that we did slightly disagree on was the use of skits in the album. This is something that usually annoys me, yet I became increasingly fond of the Chicken Shop and Michelle Lesley Brown scenes as the week progressed. Chloe maintained her disapproval of this particular device, as she just wanted to move from one track to the next without unnecessary filler. 

And the tracks really are killer after killer. Ready or Not is a stunner, making great, if illegal, use of an Enya sample. How Many Mics and Zealots show a real underlying anger with the social situation in the US, and specifically within the black community, at the time. Fu-Gee-La has a ridiculously catchy hook, and it is on this song that Lauryn Hill really sets herself up as a potential solo artist to watch. The only real miss on the album is Mista Mista, which may have seemed like an interesting contrast in the studio, but it doesn't really work as the final statement of the group.

Chloe's rating: 8
Chloe's favourite track: 3. Ready or not
Olly's rating: 8
Olly's favourite track: 8. Fu-Gee-La 

Next week we re-selected 235. Trafalgar by the Bee-Gees first of all, before choosing 203. Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Doctor Sardonicus.