When the Fugees released their sophomore album, The Score , on February 13, 1996, the landscape of hip-hop was shifting. The gritty, hardcore sounds of the East Coast were clashing with the rising dominance of West Coast G-funk, and the genre was still reeling from the turbulence of the previous year. In this environment, a trio from New Jersey—Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Pras Michel—delivered an album that was refreshingly musical, introspective, and undeniably timeless.