Lauryn Hill is arguably one of the best hip-hop/R&B artists of our time and had her album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”(1999) recently featured as the 10th greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone. That same year she was the first hip hop artist to be featured on the cover of TIME magazine. The album sold more than 19 million copies worldwide and received 5 Grammys, 3 American Music Awards, and one MTV award. Hill’s most popular song of that album, Doo Wop (That Thing) is sampled in 28 other songs to date.
When Lauryn wrote the album she was only 22 and had lots of emotional turmoil that she enjoyed expressing through rapping. She also had just given birth 2 years prior to Bob Marley’s grandchild, Zion, and Marley’s carefree and socially conscious lyrics inspired her own. Many people in the industry warned Hill of how having a child so early in her career could negatively affect her. Hill, not being one to let others determine her path, gave birth in 1997 and dedicated the song “To Zion” to her son which ha 41 million streams on Spotify.
Her environment and family influenced her lyrics because she felt that she could be honest in her music and talk about “real life”. Lauryn was different because she wrote her music with the intention of being real about love “she gathered knowledge around these topics from her pregnancy, which gave her the ability to communicate her feelings better than ever and connect with thousands of people with her lyrical honesty and transparency. She wrote down everything she was feeling in hopes her music could teach anyone how to get through a stressful situation”. Lauryn, unconsciously, treats her songwriting as a form of coping. Whenever she felt a negative emotion or felt her view of the world to be changing she started to write a song. Lauryn also enjoyed bringing attention to social justice issues and activism in her music. She felt that as a black female hip-hop artist she had to fight to stay true to herself and be adequately compensated for her work. Often being called a drama queen or brat in the media, Lauryn saw what the pressure of the music industry had done to her friend, Whitney Houston, and felt that it was better to not make music at all rather than be exploited by an industry that didn’t always allow for her creativity. Her observation of the music industry around her made her fearful to release more music after her stellar album and retreat away from the limelight.
Surprisingly after much of the fame that Hill had made her not want to be famous anymore. She felt that people were almost making her music a “religion” and that made her uncomfortable. Lauryn enjoys making music but doesn’t like the cost of touring, tabloids, etc. Her more introverted personality makes her that much more relatable to many of her fans as she raps about high school crutches and heartbreak.
Her individuality and inspiration were directly correlated with the fact that she would have solitude and not be touched by the critical media. Lauryn unfortunately hasn’t released a full album since 2002 because of her focus on spirituality, independence, and isolation. I definitely think that Hill’s shy personality leaves her with a lot of untapped potential. Compared to other “creatives” Lauryn Hill definitely has the success and influence that would make her a great artist and when that greatness began to get criticized and get millions of hits she became scared to put more of her creativity out there.
Lauryn Hill has made a huge impact on music today and even though she probably won’t make any more music you will likely hear her unique beats and melodic hooks for years to come.
My personal favorite’s by Lauryn Hill:
To Zion
Doo Wop(That Thing)
Forgive Them Father
Ex Factor
Tell Him
Popular songs that sample Hill:
Nice for what by Drake
Be Careful by Cardi B
All Falls Down Kanye West
Cole Summer By J Cole
Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time
Lauryn Hill is has definitely had a cultural influence through her music, so many people identify with it. I think it's so interesting to see the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in creators. For Lauryn Hill, she felt an intrinsic purpose in her work as she used music as an emotional outlet through which she could deliver a message. She also recognized that her music served an extrinsic purpose in being authentic and promoting that in the music industry and in her listeners. The last creative I read a blog about also ended up leaving the spotlight because of societal pressures. It's interesting to consider the effect that introversion has on a creatives experience in the public eye and how this affects their ability to be creative. I'll definitely give those songs you listed at the end a listen, this was a great read!
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