Want to hear new Fugees music? You’ll need to pick up the phone. Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean have launched ‘Fugees Hopeline’, which they describe as a “global interactive sonic artwork” made with the public art platform CIRCA.

How the Hopeline works

• US callers: dial +1 (424) 7FUGEES (that’s 738-4337 on the keypad).
• International callers: reach it on WhatsApp with no international charges.
• Selah Marley, Hill’s daughter, narrates the call. You’ll hear personal messages from Hill and Jean, plus an exclusive listen to a new Fugees song.
• Callers can record their own stories about hope, which go into a growing worldwide audio archive. Contributions are open until 31 December, then the line becomes listen-only.

The new track opens with Jean in hype mode (“No one should be sitting down right about now”), then Hill sings her version of Michael Jackson’s ‘I Wanna Be Where You Are’ before Jean takes the first verse.

“With Fugees Hopeline, we want to hear everyone else’s stories,” the pair said in a joint statement.

Art, tour and Art Basel

Hill has also made three original collages, sold only at circa.art/fugees, using photography, typography and archive images, including shots by B+ and Jonathan Mannion. Selected Hopeline messages will be shown at Faena Forum in Miami Beach on 4–5 December during Art Basel, in an exhibition Hill is curating with Saint & Citizen.

The launch comes as Hill and Jean tour the US for 30 years of The Score. They opened at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre on 4 November, with Las Vegas, the Hollywood Bowl and Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena coming up. Pras Michel isn’t on the bill.

Source: DancehallMag