The original 1994 CD release of Blunted on Reality (on Ruffhouse/Columbia) was not housed in a standard plastic jewel case. Instead, it came in a that required the user to pull the CD tray out from the bottom or side. Collectors dubbed these "Zip Tops" because the top flap often featured a perforated tear-away strip—like a zipper—or a gatefold design that "zipped" shut via a tuck flap.
However, the Fugees’ Zip Top is even stranger than that.
Do you own a Fugees Zip Top? Share your matrix runouts and condition reports in the comments below.
The group hated the album. Wyclef famously called it "a rush job." Lauryn Hill later said the label forced them into a “clownish, Afrocentric” image that didn't fit their gritty Newark, New Jersey reality. The producer credit was a mess: while credited to the "Refugee Camp" (Wyclef and Prakazrel), many beats were actually label-driven studio creations.
So next time you flip past a $5 bin at a record fair, and you see a worn, slightly-too-big cardboard CD sleeve with a faded photo of three kids in wild outfits, pick it up. Check the spine. Look for the "zip." You might just be holding $800 worth of hip-hop history.
The original 1994 CD release of Blunted on Reality (on Ruffhouse/Columbia) was not housed in a standard plastic jewel case. Instead, it came in a that required the user to pull the CD tray out from the bottom or side. Collectors dubbed these "Zip Tops" because the top flap often featured a perforated tear-away strip—like a zipper—or a gatefold design that "zipped" shut via a tuck flap.
However, the Fugees’ Zip Top is even stranger than that. the fugees blunted on reality zip top
Do you own a Fugees Zip Top? Share your matrix runouts and condition reports in the comments below. The original 1994 CD release of Blunted on
The group hated the album. Wyclef famously called it "a rush job." Lauryn Hill later said the label forced them into a “clownish, Afrocentric” image that didn't fit their gritty Newark, New Jersey reality. The producer credit was a mess: while credited to the "Refugee Camp" (Wyclef and Prakazrel), many beats were actually label-driven studio creations. However, the Fugees’ Zip Top is even stranger than that
So next time you flip past a $5 bin at a record fair, and you see a worn, slightly-too-big cardboard CD sleeve with a faded photo of three kids in wild outfits, pick it up. Check the spine. Look for the "zip." You might just be holding $800 worth of hip-hop history.