No one speaks for Ms. Lauryn Hill except Ms. Lauryn Hill, but a lot of people try. Ex-collaborators air dissatisfactions, podcasters objectify her, critics project expectations. Those expectations have often included her making more music, in the studio or live, without much consideration for the fact that she’s been preoccupied raising six kids since mothering neo soul with her acclaimed 1998 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Celebrating that album live in the present is no small undertaking.
Pop culture embraced Hill when The Fugees took the hip-hop world by storm with 1996 sophomore LP The Score. She had already made a name for herself singing and acting in Sister Act II and daytime soap As the World Turns, but fate brought her together with Wyclef Jean and Pras at a time when jazz and soul were influencing hip-hop but had not created the full fusion Jean envisioned.
Hill’s talent was the thread that created an embroidery of rap and singing with her distinctive smoky alto, laying down a blueprint that would influence legions of hip-hop and pop vocalists that emerged in her wake. The Fugees gained mainstream renown after their cover of “Killing Me Softly With His Song” went into heavy rotation on MTV, and songs such as “Fu-Gee-La” and “Ready or Not” became international hits.
After creating music that boldly took hip-hop in neo soul territory like no hip-hop act had done before, the fame rocket ship took the trio to heights of stardom few have experienced or been affected by. Jean and Hill can only understand how their relationship crossed over from professional to romantic, but it predictably led to the end of The Fugees and to Hill singing her own life with her words.
She was already a cultural and style icon by the time Miseducation was released. That album became a phenomenon and cemented her status as neo soul’s most noteworthy nurturer. Featuring guest appearances by D’Angelo and Mary J. Blige, the album reeled off hits such as “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and “Ex-Factor.” “To Zion” featured Carlos Santana in a precedent to his 1999 Supernatural comeback, its title a dedication to the son she had with Rohan Marley.
Hill had created her magnum opus when her creative visions were relatively unclouded by the pressures of fame. She considered movie roles, reunited with The Fugees for occasional shows and an aborted tour, and released recordings here and there. Her six contributions to Nina Revisited… A Tribute to Nina Simone (a covers album accompaniment to 2015 documentary What Happened, Miss Simone?) were critically lauded.
Ms. Hill seems to occupy a similar position in the fame firmament as Miss Simone did in her time. She shared Simone’s indomitable spirit and uncompromising attitude. She’s perhaps in a better, healthier place than Simone ever was, but she’s a different person. Hill counts recording artist YG Marley and model Selah among her children, Bob Marley’s grandchildren. By all indications she made motherhood her priority, and the time has come to revisit herself, and Miseducation.
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