"The Fugees are a Neapolitan treat, sweet in three layers: rhyme, sample and groove. On its second album, the hip-hop threesome cops a grim veneer but escapes gangsta clichés by playing around with the formulas. Witticisms like singer and rapper Lauryn “L” Hill’s description of a mean lover — “He tried to burn me like a perm” — or rapper and guitarist Clef’s mix of sermonizing and wigging out between songs don’t so much lighten The Score’s mood as humanize it, lifting the Fugees out of the stereotypes they court and lending depth to their inner-city sketches...

The Fugees’ roots in reggae give them a solid base in song and a basic philosophy that’s richer than the money-or-nothing ethic that dulls much of rap these days. Without being sanctimonious, The Score paints the ghetto as a mythical landscape, one that can inspire pride as well as sorrow. Like Wu-Tang Clan, the Fugees view the world as their movie, complete with stunts and special effects. But one is more likely to get this crew’s jokes."

- Ann Powers, Rolling Stone