NEW YORK (AP) — Fugees rapper Pras sued his bandmate Lauryn Hill for fraud on Tuesday over the group’s shortened 2023 reunion tour, saying she took advantage of his criminal conviction to force an unfair contract on him.
The lawsuit filed in a federal court by Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, a founding member of the Fugees along with Hill and Wyclef Jean, alleges that Hill “swooped in” after his “unjust” verdict in a federal criminal conspiracy case, and he had no choice but to accept her onerous terms. And she proceeded to hide the books from him,financially defrauding and penalizing him, the lawsuit says.
The tour was presented as an anniversary celebration of Hill’s landmark 1998 album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” and it was to include a reunion of the two-time Grammy-award winning Fugees, made up of Hill, Pras, and Wyclef Jean, The pioneering progressive hip-hop group is best known for its platinum-selling 1990s hits “Ready or Not,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song” and “Fu-Gee-La.”
“The Lord must have been off the day he paired Lauryn Hill with Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel, the plaintiff in this action, because the betrayal among the forged Fugees family has risen to Mythic proportions,” the lawsuit says in a dramatic introduction. “This is their tale of woe.”