American hip hop group Fugees released their version of the song (titled "Killing Me Softly") on their second album The Score (1996), with Lauryn Hill singing the lead vocals. Fugees' version, released by Ruffhouse and Columbia, became an international hit, reaching number one on the US Top 40 chart and number two on the US airplay chart. The song topped the charts in over twenty countries. In the United Kingdom, it broke the record at the time for the most radio plays in a single week. Additionally, it was the United Kingdom's best-selling single of 1996, and remains the country's biggest hip hop song by a group, and one of the best-selling singles of all time in the United Kingdom. In Germany, it became the first single to debut at number one, was the best-selling single of the year and remains one of the best selling singles of all time. It was also the best-selling single of 1996 in Belgium, Iceland, and the Netherlands. "Killing Me Softly" was also among the best-selling songs in France, during the 1990s. In the United States, the song has been certified 3× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for selling approximately three million units in the US.
This version sampled the 1990 song "Bonita Applebum" by A Tribe Called Quest, which itself samples the riff from the song "Memory Band" by Rotary Connection. The Fugees' single was so successful that the track was pulled from retailers while it was still in the top 20, in an effort to draw attention to the Fugees' next single "Ready or Not". The Fugees' version won the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and their music video, directed by Aswad Ayinde, won the MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video.
Background[]
"Killing Me Softly" was the last song Fugees recorded for The Score, after member Pras made the suggestion to cover it. They wanted to "see how we can create break beats. And of course, we all love A Tribe Called Quest and we went in like 'Okay, let's cut that sample.'" They then added a bass reggae drop. Initially, Fugees wanted to change the lyrics of the song to make it anti-drugs and anti-poverty but the songwriters, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, refused.
Composition[]
Fugees' version features "percussive rhythms" with "a synth sitar sound, Wyclef's blurted chants, Hill's vocal melisma on the scatted bridge, and a bombastic drum-loop track".
Critical reception[]
J.D. Considine from The Baltimore Sun felt that Lauryn Hill's rendition of "Killing Me Softly" "is so convincing, you'd think it was a sample." Celebrating the album's 20th anniversary in February 2016, Kenneth Partridge from Billboard said, "It's a lovely cover that maintains the spirit of the original while taking the material in new directions." Upon the release, the magazine's Larry Flick viewed it as a "crafty cover". Peter Miro from Cash Box stated that the trio's reworking of the Roberta Flack standard "succeeds wildly." He explained, "Basically they dropped a new rasta engine in the ballad for the diddly-bopping, head-nodding masses. Bet this will be the only version they think exists." Another editor, Gil L. Robertson IV, picked it as a "standout track" of The Score album.
Alan Jones from Music Week deemed it "a sensational update", adding that it "touches myriad musical bases, appealing equally to pop, R&B, easy listening and dance fans. Stripped to its bare bones, it is beautifully sung, with just enough rapping to set it apart from the original. The whole thing is superbly underlined by a bumping bass and percussion. Simple, refreshing and a huge hit." James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update noted it as a "plaintive girl and muttering chaps' sparse bass bumped and sitar plinked but still tenderly crooned remake". In January 1997, Spin described the song as "an instant classic, pumped out of every passing car from coast to coast, with Lauryn Hill's timeless voice never losing its poignant kick".
Music video[]
The accompanying music video for "Killing Me Softly", directed by Aswad Ayinde and based on Lauryn Hill's ideas, won an MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video. The video depicts the trio watching a movie in a cinema. It also features a cameo of Roberta Flack.
Impact and legacy[]
"Killing Me Softly" was hailed as one of the most essential hip hop songs in history by XXL. VH1 placed it on their '100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop' list. In 2021, Rolling Stone included it in their revised list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song experienced a resurgence in popularity on the social networking app TikTok, during the early 2020s. Their version has been sampled by French Montana, Baby Keem, and Mariah Carey. In October 2023, Billboard ranked "Killing Me Softly" among the "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time".
Bounty Killer remix[]
Fugees recorded a dancehall version with Bounty Killer rapping, and Hill singing a rewritten chorus. However, they did not receive permission to release it on The Score.