Fugees rapper Pras releases diss track aimed at Lauryn Hill following tour cancellation
"Don't blame me, blame her, she made the mess," he raps on the track titled ‘Bar Mitzfa’
Fugees rapper Pras Michel has dropped a diss track taking shots at Lauryn Hill after she abruptly pulled the plug on the planned 2024 dates of the Fugees reunion tour earlier this month, which was also marking continued celebrations for the 25th anniversary of ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’.
The track titled ‘Bar Mitzfa’, released via TMZ, explicitly blames Hill for the cancellation in the bars: "Don't blame me, blame her, she made the mess ... not another fucking penny, is what I told ‘Clef”.
Read this next: The evolution of rap beef: 34 of the best hip hop diss tracks
The tour was due to begin on August 9 but was cancelled just three days before, with ticket holders sent refund notification emails and given no reason why.
In the statement posted on Instagram on August 7, Hill, who has a reputation for regularly turning up late to shows and playing shortened sets of only a few songs, blamed "sensationalism and clickbait headlines" leading to low ticket sales as the reason.
The cancelled dates in North America were meant to have have taken place in 2023, but were rescheduled after postponement due to a “serious vocal strain” suffered by Hill.
The tour was due to run from August through to September, starting in Tampa, Florida, on August 9 and finishing up in New Jersey on September 21.
Read this next: Lauryn Hill blames “sensationalism and clickbait” for cancellation of Fugees tour
Hills claims the European and UK dates scheduled to run across October and November, including stops the London’s O2 Arena, Berlin’s Uber Arena and Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome, will go ahead as planned. Tickets are available for sale.
There may be a little awkwardness onstage between Pras and Ms. Hill in light of this recent drop if those do go ahead, although the Fugees do have a history of dissing each other on record and have united since.
A surprise performance in New York in 2021, which they were three hours late for, marked their first performance together for 15 years. A planned reunion tour in 2022 was ultimately cancelled, with complications from the pandemic cited as the reason.
Lauryn Hill, Pras Michél and Wyclef Jean then returned as the Fugees again in 2023 at Global Citizen Festival, raising awareness for world hunger, before the 2023 tour which was blighted by postponements, and called off with eight dates remaining due to Hill’s vocal strain injury.
Read this next: Radical Black rap music needs to be protected from gentrification
In Pras’ diss track, he also addresses his recent legal issues, where he was found guilty of 10 criminal conspiracy charges he was facing in a Washington DC federal court.
“Obama name in the discoveries had to plead the fifth / got a head doctor why the fuck I need a thereapist? / the DOJ was walk in the park compared to this,” he raps.
Listen over at TMZ.
Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Editor & Digital Director, follow him on Twitter