Wyclef Jean Taps Lauryn Hill To Perform Fugees Hits & Plays The Guitar With His Tongue At Essence Fest

The Fugees singers had an affair during Wyclef’s marriage to Marie Claudinette.

The cancellation of Day N Vegas has left many feeling sad, but on the bright side, countless other events around the country are continuing as scheduled, allowing fans to watch performances from their favourite artists – many of whom have been bringing out special guests.

This weekend, New Orleans kicked off its Essence Festival, featuring performances from acts like Kevin Hart, Nicki Minaj, and Wyclef Jean, who surprised his crowd with a visit from the one and only Ms. Lauryn Hill as the duo sang some of The Fugees’ greatest hits.

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Michael Caulfield Archive/Getty Images

“Killing Me Softly,” “Ready Or Not,” “How many Mics,” and “Fu-Gee-La” were all on the setlist, resulting in a very pleased crowd, especially after the Fugees had to cancel the 25th-anniversary reunion tour of their sophomore album, The Score due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We anticipate and understand disappointment but our anniversary tour will not be able to happen,” they revealed at the time.

“The continued COVID pandemic has made touring conditions difficult, and we want to make sure we keep our fans and ourselves healthy and safe. An idea sparked to honour and celebrate this 25th anniversary of The Score, but we see now it may not currently be our time for revisiting this past work.”

Prior to the cancellation, though, the musical group was able to come together for a show in New York City, which was seen as something of a miracle. As HipHopDX notes, shortly after The Score arrived, the trio had a nasty falling out causing many to speculate that we’d never see them share the stage again.

If you’re not familiar with the Fugees’ story, Jean and Hill had an affair during his marriage to Marie Claudinette, a famous designer. In his autobiography, Purpose, Wyclef said that Lauryn lied to him about the paternity of her son, Zion, which caused the flame in their romance to burn out.

“In that moment something died between us,” he wrote. “I was married and Lauryn and I were having an affair, but she led me to believe that the baby was mine, and I couldn’t forgive that… She could no longer be my muse. Our love spell was broken.”

Elsewhere during his time on stage, Jean showed off his impressive guitar playing skills using his tongue rather than his fingers – check it out below, and tap back in with HNHH later for more music news updates.

[Via]