‘My Frustration Was for the Fans’

Pras Michel opened up about his disappointment about the recently canceled Fugees tour — but stopped short of blaming Lauryn Hill for the nixed reunion trek — in a new interview.

Speaking to Vulture two weeks after the Fugees abruptly canceled the tour due to admitted low ticket sales, Michel said that that the trio’s checkered touring history, as well as Hill’s notoriety for constant concert tardiness — and “not some media outlet’s penchant for sensationalism and clickbait headlines,” as Hill claimed — likely impacted demand for the gigs.

“I was both surprised and not surprised,” Michel said of the tepid sales for the now-canceled tour. “Last year, there were supposed to be 20 shows, and we did ten. They were all sold out, but 10 extra shows needed to be done that she canceled. Now you put shows on sale this year, and people are like, How do we know this is not gonna be canceled? The fans are saying, ‘It’s summertime, school’s about to come, I gotta buy supplies for my kids, there’s inflation.’ There’s so much you have to coordinate in your life. To go through that process for her to turn around and say, ‘Oops, canceled.’” 

The Fugees first revealed their reunion plans following a 15-year hiatus back in September 2021, with Hill, Michel and Wyclef Jean announcing their return with a Global Citizen show days later. Even that gig, Michel revealed to Vulture, was marred with problems, as Hill’s habit of showing up onstage hours late resulted in the Fugees playing a standalone, pre-taped show on a New York rooftop instead of playing live during the streaming event. Hill, as expected, showed up three hours late for the reunion performance, resulting in some fans’ cars being towed, Pras said.

“Everyone’s frustration has been building up. This is not something that just happened overnight. My frustration was for the fans. They are paying their hard-earned money to see you,” Michel told Vulture.

The reunion tour was then hit with stops and starts, including a Covid-related postponement in October 2021 and then a tour cancellation in January 2022, followed by the announcement of another reunion tour, which spawned both actual concerts and canceled dates.

“I’ve never seen this kind of fan reaction toward Lauryn Hill,” Michel added. “There is a rejection — We help to pay your bill. Just like we should be happy you came, you should be happy we coming. This dynamic is a two-way street. It’s tough love. But this is not an indictment of her and her character. All people are complaining about is lateness… We’re going on almost three decades of our existence, individually and as a group. To have people still interested in wanting to come see you, man, you have to be grateful.”

Following the canceled Fugees tour, Michel dropped a new track called “Bar Mitzfa” that was interpreted as a diss track toward Hill; Michel told Vulture it was more about him venting over the situation.

“You’re family, you have internal disagreements, but it’s not going to be on a level where I’m dissing her — that doesn’t make any sense,” Michel said. “Artistically speaking, sometimes we say things because that’s how we express ourselves. This track is me speaking my truth. When I was writing the record, those lines just came out. That was actually the last bars that came: ‘Don’t blame me, blame her, she made the mess.’ It sounded hot!”