"Ready or Not" is a song by the Americanhip-hop group Fugees, from their second studio album, The Score. The song contains a sample of "Boadicea" by Irish singer Enya, and its chorus is based on "Ready or Not Here I Come " by The Delfonics. While "Ready or Not" was only a minor success in the United States, the song was most successful in Europe, particularly in Iceland and the United Kingdom, where it topped the charts. The song remained at the top of the charts in Europe for two weeks, becoming the Fugees second chart-topping single in 1996 in Britain, following "Killing Me Softly". Enya was prepared to sue the Fugees for copyright infringement, because she had not permitted the group to sample "Boadicea". However, Enya eventually settled out of court. During Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Blender magazine published a list of his top 10 songs on the campaign, and "Ready or Not" was his favourite song. "Ready or Not" is used in the first theatrical trailer of the film .
Background
The song contains a sample of "Boadicea" by New-Age singer, Enya from her first solo album, Enya. Enya considered suing the Fugees because they had sampled "Boadicea" without her permission. Enya stated, "We were actually on the verge of suing them because of the copyright infringement, because they just didn't approach us. It was a case of, I wasn't featured at all on the credits and it was very much a part of the song." However, the singer reached an agreement with the Fugees to an out-of-court settlement after she realized that their music wasn't gangsta rap. According to Wyclef, "Luckily when Enya heard everything, she was like, ‘This is different’ and she gave us a pass – which she don’t even need to do." The situation was a learning experience for the group, who at the time were unaware of copyright clearance and unfamiliar with publishing procedures. The song's chorus is based on "Ready or Not Here I Come " by The Delfonics, which was an addition suggested by Wyclef Jean. Reflecting on the recording process, Pras said: "At one point, the group had disbanded. had left the group at this point and we didn't know what we were going to do. She calls me and says, 'Listen, I'm going to come down to the studio and I'm going to lay down a reference for you guys, a hook. I give you permission to use my hook, my voice, but I don't want to be a part of this group anymore.' I said, 'Fair enough. No problem.' She said, 'Make sure certain people are not around when I'm there.' I said, 'No problem.' She's laying the reference for 'Ready or Not' and then she goes into the bridge and she's crying. I see her crying. She stops and says, 'I can't do this anymore,' and leaves. A couple months later she re-joins the group. She said, 'Let's do 'Ready or Not' again 'cause I was crying. It was emotional.' She goes in the studio to do 'Ready or Not' again. She was in there five hours doing the hook. Every hit is incredible. But we go back and say, 'There's something about that reference. I don't know if we can touch that.' We end up keeping the reference. That's what the world has come to hear. There's something about that record… That's magic."
Critical reception
described the song as, "an eerily ambient flow of confused musings, confident harmonies, and immigrant pride, tapped insistently into your consciousness by a simple snare beat." Larry Flick of Billboard wrote the song was, "far more representative of the act's vibe", and that "this cut nicely illustrates its lyrical strength as well as its talent for switching from smooth soul singing to sharp rapping within the space of a few seconds."
Music video
The music video for "Ready or Not" was directed by Marcus Nispel. Vibe reported that the video helped usher in the era of bank-breaking, movie-like hip-hop videos. The video featured helicopters, explosions, sharks, chase scenes, and a price tag of 1.3 million US dollars. In justifying the cost, Pras told Vibe "People want to see drama, man. You figure: A kid pays sixteen dollars for your CD. Let him see a good video."
