[Source: AP]

It’s Sunday night, backstage ahead of the second Los Angeles show of Lauryn Hill and the Fugees’ anniversary tour.

It will be a few hours yet before Hill opens the concert with a solo set of “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” 25 years after its release. The seats in the arena are slowing starting to fill.

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, a founding member of the Fugees, is sitting in his dressing room at the Kia Forum, watching the Buffalo Bills play the Cincinnati Bengals. Tonight is a celebration — of his landmark group, of all of the generations who have loved their music — and of his freedom, however much remains.

In April, the rapper accused in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies spanning two presidencies was convicted of 10 counts, including conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, after a trial in Washington, D.C., federal court that saw testimony from the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio.

“Some of the lyrics, this art, is imitating my life right now,” he reflects on Fugees’ legacy and this tour, taking place 27 years after the release of the Grammy-award winning “The Score,” his rap trio’s second, final, and culture-shaping album. “Especially when I talk about feds and this and that.”

The “Ms. Lauryn Hill & Fugees: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 25th Anniversary Tour” has dates scheduled through mid-December. Michel, who faces up to 20 years in prison on the top counts, doesn’t have a sentencing date yet. But, he says, he was never concerned about being able to do the tour.

“I trust the process,” Michel explains. He has a new attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, and is optimistic.

Last month, Michel argued in a motion for a new trial that, among other errors, his previous defense attorney used an “experimental” generative AI program to help write closing statements. In the closings, the attorney appeared to confuse key elements of the case and misattributed lyrics — “Every single day, every time I pray, I will be missing you” — to the Fugees instead of Diddy, according to the motion for a new trial.

“Obviously there’s been a little bit of progress, so we’ll see what happens,” Michel says.