The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Hill, Lauryn

album cover

Not Exactly Book Learning Here

"How you gonna win if you ain't right within?" Lauryn Hill wants to know. So she asks again. And again. The phrase, from a single called "Doo Wop (That Thing)," turns out to be the defining question of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Concerned with such quaint old-school notions as character and integrity, Hill begins this song cycle by observing that these qualities are absent in hip-hop as she knows it. This is cause for lament, and on the reggaetinged opener "Lost Ones" and several other tracks, the Fugees singer speaks eloquently on how the creators of urban music could use a moral compass. She castigates rappers who "gained the whole world for the price of your soul." Later, on the ominous "Final Hour," she warns about the karmic implications of greed: "You could get the money, you could get the power, but keep your eyes on the final hour."

This was not the type of message many who enjoyed Hill's melismatic vocals on the Fugees hit The Score could have predicted. But it was right on time, a passionately sung plea for reason that arrived after the commercial peak of gangsta rap, and served as a cleansing counterpoint to that style's low-road luridness.

Here's serious Aretha Franklin–caliber vocal daring on songs that split the difference between hip-hop and R&B without cheating either side. It's a suite laid out by a sharp observer who, like Stevie Wonder, could be indignant about injustices while appealing to the best within her listeners. Poised enough to chant down hotheads and somehow keep things light, Hill doesn't just rant: Tucked between the consciousness-raising songs are trembling personal dramas, ballads like "Ex-Factor" that catch Hill phrasing in fitful bursts, delivering moments of passionate, jaw-dropping singing that have no contemporary equal.

Genre: Hip-Hop, R&B
Released: 1998, Ruffhouse/Columbia
Key Tracks: "Ex-Factor," "Doo Wop (That Thing)," "Final Hour."
Catalog Choice: Fugees: The Score
Next Stop: Jill Scott: Who Is Jill Scott?
After That: Erykah Badu: Mama's Gun
Book Pages: 360–361