1996 Fugees: Killing Me Softly

Best known via Roberta Flack's 1973 three time Grammy winning version, the Fugees put a hip hop spin on 'Killing Me Softly' with a resulting commercial success (five weeks at number one) that far outweighs its artistic merits. I could listen to Lauryn Hill's gravel and honey vocals all day (and when she released her 'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill' album in 1998, that's just what I did) and for my money she captures the lyric's creepy bewilderment at an unexpected emotional connection with a stranger in a way that's the equal of Flack - no small success by any standards. But then the hip hop bedrock she performs plays to a different tune with the A Tribe Called Quest sampled sitar and beats thumping too heavily to properly compliment Hill's work on what's meant to be a hushed and private moment, and the incessant "one time" interjections couldn't be more gormlessly intrusive if she was mock punched on the shoulder with a "cheer up love, worse things happen at sea". Hip hop is a versatile medium, but this is too clumsy a mix and match to get my mouth watering.