Miseducation… Ten Years Later:
Lauryn Hill’s Masterpiece Still Resonates
Summer 1998. The teen and Latino pop explosions were just about to hit stratospheric levels and the west coast’s viability had been severely hampered after the death of 2Pac and the defection of Snoop Dogg to New Orleans-based No Limit Records. Hip-hop was having one of the most commercially successful years in its history. The glossy, pop-rap of Bad Boy Entertainment dominated radio, alongside the gritty, hardcore raps of New York’s Ruff Ryders camp. Meanwhile, No Limit and the upstart, Cash Money Records, were foreshadowing the coming onslaught of southern chart-toppers.
And then came Lauryn.
Of course, it wasn’t like she was a new artist. She first caught the attention of hip-hop heads as one-third of the Fugees, the genre-bending crew whose fusion of reggae, hip-hop and soul would translate to national success with their 1996 sophomore LP, The Score. Lauryn and her bandmates, Wyclef Jean and Pras, became international superstars in the wake of the massively successful album—and of course, subsequently broke up. Wyclef burst out the gate with his acclaimed debut, The Carnival, and Pras had one of the biggest singles of the year with “Ghetto Superstar.” But Lauryn Hill, who had been arguably the most visible member of the Fugees, remained relatively quiet.
That is, until late in the summer, when she released the first single from her forthcoming album. “Doo Wop (That Thing)” took off like a rocket, and soon, the entire country was buzzing about what Ms. Hill had to offer on her solo debut. With the August 25th release of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the singer/songwriter/MC/producer did not disappoint. As varied as anything she’d ever done with the Fugees, Lauryn released one of the most ambitious, introspective and timeless albums of the last decade.
From the raw pain of the break-up opus, “The Ex-Factor,” to the unbridled joy of celebrating her newborn son on “To Zion,” Hill became an icon for a generation of females looking for a voice. The seemingly-universal praise for Miseducation… culminated in Lauryn Hill winning an astonishing five awards at the 1999 Grammy Awards, breaking the previous record for the most awards won in one night by a female, which Carol King set in 1971 for her landmark album, Tapestry.
In the aftermath, Hill withdrew from the spotlight—disgusted with the music industry and how she felt her image and sound were marketed. She would resurface only sporadically over the next decade—and many of her appearances were met with either indifference our incited controversy.
In 2002, she gave a lukewarm performance on MTVs “Unplugged” where she debuted new material that was never formally released on a studio album and tried to explain her departure from the public. She later criticized the child molestation controversy surrounding Catholic priests at a 2003 Christmas concert at the Vatican, and an ill-fated 2005 reunion with her Fugees band mates ended after only a few high-profile performances.
Despite her reclusive nature, in the ten years since her solo debut, Lauryn Hill’s legacy still stands as one of the last great powerful female symbols of the 20th century. In a decade full of empowered females in music—from Alanis Morissette, to Mary J. Blige, to MC Lyte—Hill ended the nineties on a high note and provided an inspirational touchstone for the next generation of female artists. Miseducation…’s influence is evident in the soulful sounds of Amy Winehouse, the spirited spunk of Estelle and in the youthful exuberance of Jazmine Sullivan.
A classic album that is simultaneously a snapshot of its era and utterly timeless in its appeal, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill stands as one of the greatest albums of all time, and a lasting masterpiece from an undeniable talent.
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