Pras Michel

Pras Michel, 2015

Samuel Prakazrel "Pras" Michel (born October 19, 1972 in New York ) is an American rapper and songwriter .

Life

He was born to Haitian parents in Crown Heights , New York . Together with his classmate Lauryn Hill , he founded the rap group Tranzlator Crew in 1987 . In the early 1990s, Michel's cousin Wyclef Jean joined them and the three renamed themselves The Fugees . After the trio split up, Michel pursued a solo career, but was less successful than Hill and Jean.

In 1997 he released his first solo single, a cover of Eddy Grant's hit Electric Avenue . This was followed by his biggest hit to date, Ghetto Supastar, together with singer Mýa and rapper Ol 'Dirty Bastard in the summer of 1998. It was a reinterpretation of the song Islands in the Stream , written by the Bee Gees , with Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton had worldwide success in 1983. For the film Small Soldiers , Wyclef Jean remixed the Queen hit Another One Bites The Dust . Michel contributed a rap verse to this piece. In 1998 the singles Blue Angels and What'cha Wanna Do followed . In 2005 Michel’s comeback single Haven't Found was released .

In 1999 Michel made his film debut in Ben Stiller's comedy Mystery Men , where he acted as a minor villain. In 2008, a role followed in the SF action film Mutant Chronicles , which he also co-produced.

In 2001 he promoted the newcomer Dante Thomas and contributed a rap verse to his debut single Miss California . In Germany the song climbed to the top of the charts for a week.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1998	Ghetto Supastar	DE68 (3 weeks) DE	-	CH47 (2 weeks) CH	UK44 silver (7 weeks)UK	US55 (5 weeks) US	First published: October 6, 1998
2005	Win Lose or Draw	-	-	-	-	-	First published: August 16, 2005

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1997	Avenues Money Talks (OST)	DE51 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US35 (14 weeks) US	First published: August 1997 with Ky-Mani Marley & Refugee Camp All-Stars
1998	Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are) Ghetto Supastar	DE1 platinum (22 weeks)DE	AT1 platinum (22 weeks)AT	CH1 (24 weeks) CH	UK2 platinum (25 weeks)UK	US15 (21 weeks) US	First published: June 9, 1998 feat. Ol 'Dirty Bastard & Mýa
	Blue Angels Ghetto Supastar	DE75 (7 weeks) DE	-	CH50 (1 week) CH	UK6 (11 weeks) UK	-	First release: September 28, 1998 feat. The Product G&B
	Another One Bites the Dust Ghetto Supastar	DE46 (7 weeks) DE	AT23 (12 weeks) AT	CH35 (5 weeks) CH	UK5 (9 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 30, 1998 feat. Queen , Wyclef Jean & Free

more singles

• 1998: What'cha Wanna Do
• 2005: Haven't Found

Singles as guest musicians

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2001	Miss California Fly	DE1 gold (17 weeks)DE	AT4 (19 weeks) AT	CH2 gold (29 weeks)CH	UK25 (5 weeks) UK	US85 (6 weeks) US	First published: March 27, 2001 Dante Thomas featuring Pras Michel
2007	Turn You On Black Lace & Leather	-	-	-	-	-	First published: 2007 Denise Lopez featuring Pras Michel

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Australia 2001: for the single Miss California  Belgium 2001: for the single Miss California  France 1998: for the single Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are) 2001: for the single Miss California  New Zealand 1997: for the single Avenues  Netherlands 1998: for the single Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)  Norway 1999: for the album Ghetto Supastar  Sweden 2001: for the single Miss California

Platinum record  Australia 1998: for the single Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)  Belgium 1998: for the single Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)  New Zealand 1998: for the single Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)  Norway 1998: for the single Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)  United Kingdom 2017: for the author participation Ready or Not ( Fugees ) 2 × platinum record  Sweden 1998: for the single Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	gold1	platinum1	105,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	-	gold1	platinum1	75,000	ultratop.be
Germany (BVMI)	-	gold1	platinum1	750,000	musikindustrie.de
France (SNEP)	-	2 × gold2	-	650,000	snepmusique.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	gold1	platinum1	22,500	nztop40.co.nz
Netherlands (NVPI)	-	gold1	-	50,000	nvpi.nl
Norway (IFPI)	-	gold1	platinum1	30,000	ifpi.no
Austria (IFPI)	-	-	platinum1	50,000	ifpi.at
Sweden (IFPI)	-	gold1	2 × platinum2	75,000	sverigetopplistan.se
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	20,000	hitparade.ch
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	-	2 × platinum2	1,260,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	10 × gold10	10 × platinum10

Filmography

• 1999: Mystery Men
• 2000: Ghetto Superstar (Turn It Up)
• 2002: Go for Broke
• 2007: Skid Row
• 2007: Mutant Chronicles

Web links

• Pras in the Internet Movie Database (English)