On Wednesday, March 13, 1996 Toronto received the phattest live concert performance featuring Hip Hop artists the Roots and the Fugees, held at the Phoenix Concert Hall. This is one concert I'm sure many Canadian Hip Hop lovers will remember. Goodie Mob was also scheduled to perform, unfortunately they were unable to appear due to immigration difficulties. However, the performances given by the Roots and the Fugees was hype and entertaining by all means. Unlike, other concerts where artists drop three or four songs and call it a night, the Roots and the Fugees put on a performance that was worth the money spent.

The use of live instruments and jazzy beats made a major impact on the overall performance towards both of the groups, especially the Fugees. The live instruments carried you back to the roots of Hip Hop music before the use of 12-inch sampling became mainstream. The Fugees lashed out with deaf Hip Hop lyrics against incredible instrumental backdrop. This Hip Hop group is defiantly setting the stage for versatile Hip Hop and Rap musicians around the world. The Fugees possess the ability to capture the minds and souls of the audience by stretching across the spectrum of Black musical genres from revolutionary Rap to Soul and Reggae. The crowd was overwhelmed by Lauryn Hill's mad skills while performing "vocal" and her powerful, smooth and easy flowing voice as she sang the Fugees latest track remake of Roberta Flack's 'Killing Me Softly'.

During the Fugees interview, Lauryn Hill addressed her opinion upon the press' negative remarks that songs by Roberta Flack and Bob Marley do not fit on the album regarding the choice to redo these artists' songs. Hill responds, "We chose those artists because hose people inspired us and those messages were very significant and the lyrical content was heavy. And we thought that kids needed to hear that stuff, so we tried to bring it to them ourselves."

The Fugees new album 'Score', produced by L'Boogie and Fugee cousins Pras and Wyclef use live bass and guitar creating an innovative, diverse sound. Hill mentions that the Score album "tells a story about settling the score with the Fugees in the media."

He continued to say, "A lot of media folks tried to all us alternative and there's really nothing alternative about our music. It's just that we play instruments. It's kind of a slap in the face to Hip Hop to say you can't play instruments and still be pure unadulterated Rap or pure Hip Hop and that's another score we're settling. Fuck all that other titles! Don't pigeon hole us, to something we don't even consider ourselves. Our music is Hip Hop. We make our music for Hip Hoppers."

Hard-core Hip Hop is not determined by whether the artist incorporates live musical instruments or sample portions of beats from other artists. It is asinine to say that musical instruments should not be used when creating Hip Hop. The use of live instrument in any form of music should be considered another form of musical genre. The fact that artists use all of their musical talents should be praised not put denounced.

Hard-core Hip Hop stems from the artists inner feeling, knowledge and experience of current, past and future events. An artist's work should come from the heart. Without these elements you cannot call yourself a true Hard-core Hip Hop artist. The Fugees are creating a new era in Hip Hop by reviving the use o musical instruments - moving Hip Hop on to another level in '96.