Flashback Friday: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
This week is the tenth anniversary of Lauryn Hill’s solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Back in 1998, Hill’s career looked promising. While hers was one of the most critically acclaimed debuts in recent history, somewhere down the line something went wrong and Lauryn Hill faded into obscurity, leaving fans wondering what it the world went wrong.
The truth is that everyone knows what happened. While the album was a huge group effort, Ms. Hill took all the credit and was sued by those she had worked with. Bridges were burned and Lauryn Hill’s breakout success soon seemed like an aberration.
A few years back, there was talk several years back about the possibility of a Fugees reunion, however in an exclusive in Essence, Hill was sited as taking diva to new heights. Over the course of the article, Hill came off as unhinged, egotistical and bitter, claiming that the hardened persona was a result of being taken advantage of by her inner circle.
The reasons for her new enigmatic persona differ drastically, depending on the source. Hill, now 30, claims that she’s become hardened because some in her inner circle took advantage of her and used her for personal gain. But according to one friend who declined to be named but who’s worked closely with the singer for nearly a decade, these allegations are just unfounded. “Lauryn has a history of blaming her problems on those she trusts,” he says. “She wants the people in her employ to fear her, because she confuses it with respect.” [source]
The Fugees reunion never took place and here we are looking back at Hill’s brief height of success. To that end, Rolling Stone gathered interviews with various contributors to The Miseducation for an oral history of the album from inception to winning five Grammy’s to the lawsuit to eventual retreat into reclusivity and her eccentricities rose to the surface.
[Jayson] Jackson: It started to get strange, Bible study went from one day a week to three days a week to five days a week to I want you to come. I went to a couple of them but I was like, I completely understand if it’s your calling, but it’s not mine and I can’t force it. As that picked up we drifted further and further apart.
[Vada] Nobles: The type of pressure, selling 18 million records worldwide, winning all these Grammys and people love you and then you wanna be outside the box, change up your hairstyle, express yourself, and people say, “No, that’s not you.” She ain’t the type of woman that you gonna box in. She’s Ms. Hill, that’s who she is. And there’s nothing wrong with that. She wants to be called Ms. Hill, fine. Maybe she feels that society has disrespected her, maybe she feels like you’re not entitled to call me Lauryn, you don’t know me and don’t pretend like you know me.
Pras: It’s not that Lauryn is crazy — if it’s not the orthodox way then people tend to say you’re crazy. People said Einstein was crazy. Lauryn had whatever she was dealing with personally, and sometimes people don’t know how to give you a break because she had such an impact. [source]
The unfortunate fact is that Lauryn Hill did not cope well with celebrity. While she waits for her wounds to heal and the inspiration to come, we must be satisfied with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, an album into which she poured her heart and soul, only to feel like she was burned in the end.
With that, I leave you with “Ex Factor,” one of my favorite songs from the album.
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1 opinion for Flashback Friday: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Ana
Aug 29, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Great album!
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