Fugees – Ready Or Not (DJ Zinc 1996 Remix)

Fugees – Ready Or Not (DJ Zinc Remix) (White Label, 1996)

Otherwise known as ‘Fugeez Or Not’ this bootleg remix of the Fugees hit single received a huge amount of airplay on Kiss FM back in 1996 and there was even talk of an official release but sadly the Fugees nixed it, a shame because this could have been a hit in its own right.

Zinc gradually builds up the track, starting with the drums and then using a small part of the ethereal vocal that the Fugees sampled from Enya’s ‘Boadicea’ along with Redman’s “When I raise my trigger finger” line from ‘How High’. After the whole ‘Boadicea’ sample is rolled out Zinc cuts the drums to introduce Lauryn Hill’s “Ready or Not” vocals and then brings in the full amen break, later adding a bit of bass to the mix. In a nice little touch Zinc seperates Redman’s vocal syllable by syllable just before the drop: “When…I…raise…my…trig…ger…fin…ger…all…you…beep…er’s…hit…the…deck…deck”.

At the time many people thought this track was by DJ Hype. You can hear why when the bassline comes in as it has his signature all over it and Zinc has since stated that although this is his remix, he did get some help from Hype with this part. I get the feeling that this would have been huge even without the Fugees elements because it’s the bassline that really makes it an absolute killer.

I have two different copies of this on 12″ but annoyingly neither of them is pressed all that well. Fortunately Zinc has been kind enough to give away a decent quality mp3 on his Soundcloud, it’s a vinyl rip but far superior to most copies you’ll find.

Edit 04/03/2020: Check out this video where DJ Zinc gives the story behind the remix. Particularly staggering is the nugget that HMV Oxford Circus alone sold 40000 copies of this 12″!!! You can purchase the digital now over at Zinc’s Bandcamp page.

Discogs link