THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK… “THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL”...AS MS. HILL CELEBRATES HER 45 BIRTHDAY. WATCH THE INSIDE STORY HERE!
HILL FIRST BECAME A STAR AS THE FEMALE MC OF THE THE FUGEES, ALONGSIDE WYCLEF JEAN AND PRODUCER PRAS MICHEL. THEIR SOPHOMORE ALBUM “THE SCORE” WAS A GAME-CHANGING COMMERCIAL SUCCESS IN 1996, CERTIFIED SIX-TIMES PLATINUM AND WINNING THE GRAMMY FOR “ALBUM OF THE YEAR.“
FIGHTING WITHIN THE GROUP CAUSED HILL TO IMMEDIATELY EMBARK ON A SOLO CAREER FOLLOWING THEIR DISBANDMENT IN 1997. A YEAR PRIOR, SHE MET ROHAN MARLEY, AND WHILE TENSION WITHIN THE FUGEES REACHED A FEVER PITCH, HILL BECAME PREGNANT WITH MARLEY’S CHILD.
PRODUCTION BEGAN ON THE ALBUM AT CHUNG KING STUDIOS IN CHINATOWN, BUT MOST OF IT WAS PRODUCED IN KINGSTON, JAMAICA AT TUFF GONG STUDIOS, FOUNDED BY ROHAN’S FATHER, REGGAE LEGEND BOB MARLEY. HILL WAS JOINED BY NEW-ARK, AN IN-STUDIO BAND FEATURING RASHEEM “KILO” PUGH, VADA NOBLES, & BROTHERS JOHARI AND TEJUMOLD NEWTON.
THE ALBUM’S NAME IS A REFERENCE TO THE 1974 AUTOBIOGRAPHY TURNED FILM, “THE MISEDUCATION OF SONNY CARSON”, HIGHLIGHTING THE DANGERS OF GANG LIFE, AS WELL AS THE 1933 NOVEL BY DR. CARTER G. WOODSON, “THE MISEDUCATION OF THE NEGRO”, WHICH HIGHLIGHTS HOW AFRICAN AMERICANS WERE PURPOSELY BEING MISEDUCATED IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS.
“THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL” WAS RELEASED IN 1998 AND EARNED HILL 10 GRAMMY NOMS, THE MOST OF ANY FEMALE ARTIST IN A SINGLE YEAR AT THE TIME. SHE WON FIVE, INCLUDING ALBUM OF THE YEAR, MAKING IT THE FIRST HIP HOP ALBUM TO RECEIVE THIS AWARD. IT SPAWNED THREE CHART-TOPPING SINGLES: “DOO-WOP (THAT THING)”, “EX-FACTOR”, AND “EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING”.
OF COURSE, NOT EVERYTHING WAS SUNNY FOR MS. HILL. NEW-ARK FILED A LAWSUIT AGAINST HER AND COLUMBIA RECORDS, CLAIMING THEY WERE PRESSURED TO “DO THE PRINCE THING” AND TAKE NO SONGWRITING OR PRODUCTION CREDITS—AND COLUMBIA LAID THE BLAME WITH SQUARELY WITH HILL. A FIVE-MILLION-DOLLAR LAWSUIT WAS SETTLED OUT OF COURT…, AND THE DRAMA SURROUNDING THE ALBUM’S PRODUCTION AND AFTERMATH STILL HANGS HEAVY IN THE HIP HOP WORLD.
OVER TWO DECADES AFTER ITS RELEASE, THE AFTERSHOCKS OF LAURYN HILL’S SOLO OPUS CAN STILL BE FELT IN POPULAR MUSIC, AND HAS INFLUENCED AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF HIP HOP AND R&B ARTISTS.
ITS LONG-TIME INFLUENCE, DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF BLACK FEMINISM, AND MASTERY OF HIP HOP, R&B AND REGGAE, ALL GO TO SHOW WHY “THE MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL” IS THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK.