Biography
Lauryn Hill first rose to prominence alongside the Grammy-winning, multi-platinum Fugees, yet her 1998 solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill positioned the vocalist, songwriter, rapper, and producer as an autonomous creative force. She fused rap, soul, and reggae into one cohesive aesthetic. Younger musicians frequently invoked the eclectic, affirmative, and empowering record as a foundational reference point. Thereafter Hill became an elusive figure, issuing only a concert recording, scattered tracks on compilations, and occasional joint appearances. Disillusionment with the industry, legal complications, and unpredictable shows never erased the resonance of her nineties catalog.
Hill grew up in South Orange, New Jersey, absorbing the wide-ranging, cross-generational collection of LPs owned by her parents. She began singing in childhood and landed small parts on the daytime drama As the World Turns and in the film Sister Act II: Back in the Habit. Her sporadic tenure with the Fugees, which started at age thirteen, was repeatedly interrupted by acting work and her studies at Columbia University. After cultivating a tri-state following, the group’s heavily promoted but uneven 1994 debut Blunted on Reality failed commercially and nearly ended the partnership. The 1996 multi-platinum release The Score then elevated the Fugees to major rap prominence via the hit singles “Killing Me Softly,” “Ready or Not,” and “No Woman, No Cry.”
Hill issued her first solo project, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, in August 1998. Apart from her cover of “Can't Take My Eyes Off You,” first popularized by Frankie Valli, she wrote or co-wrote every song. She also arranged and produced the entire album, which reflected her classic influences both musically, as in the Motown-esque communal singalong “Doo Wop (That Thing),” and lyrically, as in the nostalgic “Every Ghetto, Every City.” While Miseducation held the charts for much of the fall and winter of 1998, Hill became a national media figure, with outlets from Time to Esquire to Teen People racing to feature her. By year’s end, as the album dominated best-of lists, she received credit for helping bring hip-hop into the mainstream. The momentum peaked at the February 1999 Grammy Awards, where she collected five trophies from eleven nominations—Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Album—the largest haul ever by a woman. Soon afterward she mounted a widely acclaimed national tour with Atlanta rappers OutKast.
Hill continued to shape her solo path, though significant setbacks occurred. She faced litigation from musicians who asserted they had not received proper credit for their work on Miseducation, a dispute later resolved out of court. After several film projects collapsed she stepped back from the scene to raise her family, citing a sense of being overly constrained as one reason for the withdrawal. The double-disc set MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 arrived in May 2002 and preserved a raw, intimate performance. It debuted at number three yet quickly vanished from the Billboard 200. In subsequent years her releases and appearances grew infrequent and uneven, one exception being a Fugees reunion at Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. She served nearly three months in prison in 2013 for tax evasion but resumed greater activity after her release. The following year the English-language version of the Swedish documentary Concerning Violence appeared with Hill as narrator. She served as executive producer and recorded six tracks for the 2015 release Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone, including renditions of “Feeling Good” and “Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair.”
Hill grew up in South Orange, New Jersey, absorbing the wide-ranging, cross-generational collection of LPs owned by her parents. She began singing in childhood and landed small parts on the daytime drama As the World Turns and in the film Sister Act II: Back in the Habit. Her sporadic tenure with the Fugees, which started at age thirteen, was repeatedly interrupted by acting work and her studies at Columbia University. After cultivating a tri-state following, the group’s heavily promoted but uneven 1994 debut Blunted on Reality failed commercially and nearly ended the partnership. The 1996 multi-platinum release The Score then elevated the Fugees to major rap prominence via the hit singles “Killing Me Softly,” “Ready or Not,” and “No Woman, No Cry.”
Hill issued her first solo project, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, in August 1998. Apart from her cover of “Can't Take My Eyes Off You,” first popularized by Frankie Valli, she wrote or co-wrote every song. She also arranged and produced the entire album, which reflected her classic influences both musically, as in the Motown-esque communal singalong “Doo Wop (That Thing),” and lyrically, as in the nostalgic “Every Ghetto, Every City.” While Miseducation held the charts for much of the fall and winter of 1998, Hill became a national media figure, with outlets from Time to Esquire to Teen People racing to feature her. By year’s end, as the album dominated best-of lists, she received credit for helping bring hip-hop into the mainstream. The momentum peaked at the February 1999 Grammy Awards, where she collected five trophies from eleven nominations—Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Album—the largest haul ever by a woman. Soon afterward she mounted a widely acclaimed national tour with Atlanta rappers OutKast.
Hill continued to shape her solo path, though significant setbacks occurred. She faced litigation from musicians who asserted they had not received proper credit for their work on Miseducation, a dispute later resolved out of court. After several film projects collapsed she stepped back from the scene to raise her family, citing a sense of being overly constrained as one reason for the withdrawal. The double-disc set MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 arrived in May 2002 and preserved a raw, intimate performance. It debuted at number three yet quickly vanished from the Billboard 200. In subsequent years her releases and appearances grew infrequent and uneven, one exception being a Fugees reunion at Dave Chappelle’s Block Party. She served nearly three months in prison in 2013 for tax evasion but resumed greater activity after her release. The following year the English-language version of the Swedish documentary Concerning Violence appeared with Hill as narrator. She served as executive producer and recorded six tracks for the 2015 release Nina Revisited: A Tribute to Nina Simone, including renditions of “Feeling Good” and “Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair.”
Singles
