Watching an artist blossom from a tiny little seed into a flourishing star right before everyone's very eyes is a beautiful thing to watch. This symbolic act of growth is the perfect example of how Lauryn Hill made her way to the top of the hip-hop industry.
Although the Fugees had been hugely successful, a lot in part due to the talents of Hill, few were prepared for her stunning debut album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill". Not in the sense that people expected her to fail, but due to the fact that her debut went above and beyond what anyone realized she could do.
At their peak, the Fugees were capable of blurring the lines between 90's American urban music and the conscious soul and reggae of the 1970s to produce a passionate kind of hip-hop. This same arena is where Hill's solo debut also resides.
The inspiration for "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" began after Hill met Bob Marley's son Rohan Marley, with whom she became very close with. She eventually got pregnant and took time off from writing and touring, but found that the pregnancy inspired her.
Hill ended up writing over 30 songs in her attic studio in New Jersey, many of which were about the turbulence she experienced while with the Fugees, and also some of her past love experiences that didn't turn out so great.
Only 23 years old when she recorded the album, you could almost call Hill a prodigy, but even that would be understating how skilled she was on her debut. The album was released on August 25, 1998 with great reception from critics and fans alike. The album raced to the top of the charts and made Hill a bonafide superstar.
The album is filled with amazing tracks from top to bottom, but "Lost Ones", "To Zion", "Doo Wop (That Thing)", "Superstar", "Every Ghetto, Every City" and "Everything is Everything" truly stand out above the rest.
"Doo Wop (That Thing)" was the first single released from the album, and easily the most popular. The track won two Grammy Awards and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 100, only the tenth single to ever do so. The track an intelligent look at the sex game from both angles, but even more so, the track is an amazing mix of soul beats and a beautiful hook. It was impossible to escape the track on radio and its hook line of "that thing, that thing…" is one of the most recognizable of all time.
You really can hear the youthfulness and intelligence coming from Hill as she sings: "Now Lauryn is only human/Don't think I haven't been through the same predicament/Let it sit inside your head like a million women in Philly, Penn./It's silly when girls sell their soul because it's in/Look at where you be in hair weaves like Europeans/Fake nails done by Koreans/Come again/Win win come again, brethren come again, my friend come again, yo come again"
"To Zion" featured Carlos Santana and is one of the highest quality tracks on the entire album. The track is an ode to Hill's son, who in turn helped inspire her to make the album in the first place. Santana brings his amazing talents to the track and he just kills it with his wonderful guitar licks that the legend has been strumming since before Woodstock.
The track's message is excellent, with Hill crooning how her child comes first before her career: "But then an angel came one day/Told me to kneel down and pray/For unto me a man child would be born/Woe this crazy circumstance/I knew his life deserved a chance/But everybody told me to be smart/Look at your career they said,/"Lauryn, baby use your head"/But instead I chose to use my heart."
"Everything is Everything" is my personal favorite on the album, and is one of Hill's best tracks overall. Although at the time he was unknown, the track features background music from John Legend, still a teen at the time, which really adds to its quality. You could see then that he had the talent to be a star.
Hill drops may philosophical type theories on the album, but none more than on this track. Her "everything is everything" mentality shines through her and her vivid use of language on this track makes it one of the most intelligent on the album.
Hill dishes out wisdom like quarterbacks fling passes as she sings: "I wrote these words for everyone/Who struggles in their youth/Who won't accept deception/Instead of what is truth/It seems we lose the game/Before we even start to play/Who made these rules? We're so confused/Easily led astray/Let me tell ya that/Everything is everything."
"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" firmly supplanted the artist in the realm of being one of hip-hop's best and brightest. At the Grammy's Hill was nominated a whopping ten times for her debut, making her the first female to be nominated that many times in one year. Winning five awards, she set a record in the industry, being the first woman to win that many awards.
While the accolades are enough to make this album a classic, it's Hill's devotion to the music and care and attention to the production (which she had a huge hand in) that sets this album apart.
"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" isn't just one of the best hip-hop albums of all time; it is an essential piece of music, no matter what the genre is. It's Hill's magnum opus, a classic work, and at least for now, her only work.
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