"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" turns 25: A tribute to the album that refined hip-hop and feminism

"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" turns 25: A tribute to the album that refined hip-hop and feminism
The timeless hip-hop album from the superstar still deserves to be given its flowers 25 years later

By NARDOS HAILE
Staff Writer
PUBLISHED AUGUST 27, 2023 8:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) Singer, songwriter, producer, rapper and multi-hyphenate Lauryn Hill is a household name for a reason. The eight-time Grammy winner masterfully created one of the most influential hip-hop albums in the history of the genre and she wrote and produced it when she was 22 and pregnant with her firstborn son. As the genre that Hill redefined turns 50, and "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" turns 25 — there is a need to look back at why the album still hits just as hard and continues to be a touchstone in people's lives.

Hill redefined the genre in her personal style – combining reggae, hip-hop and soul to create her own sound separate from what was prominent in a male-dominated Biggie and Tupac, NWA-fueled hip-hop scene. Her distinct, pioneering sound even made the crossover to pop — literally reinventing what mainstream music looked like after decades of Black artists had been excluded from the larger conversation in popular music. "Miseducation" was the first hip-hop album to receive an album of the year Grammy award. In her winning speech, the then-23-year-old Hill said, "This is crazy because this is hip-hop music." She remains the most recent Black woman to win album of the year at the Grammys.

Surrounded by a male-dominated '90s hip-hop scene, the cross-gendered misunderstandings fueled competition between Black men and women and their perspectives on money, sex and power. Female hip-hop artists like Salt-N-Pepa, Lil'Kim, Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott questioned who held the power and how women wielded the power, sometimes through money, sometimes through their vulnerabilities or through their sexual prowess.

Further, Hill posed all these questions in her only solo album. In her wordsmith-like rhythms and reggae and neo-soul twinged beats, she answered them wittly, standing proudly in her Black womanhood. Her lead single on "Miseducation" was "Doo Wop (That Thing)." It became Hill's first and only Billboard No. 1 hit. The song touched on the same power struggle woven through the theme of the album. "Doo Wop (That Thing)" served as a cultural criticism of superficial love and relationships and women finding their independence, self-worth and power outside of their physical appearance and men. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2023/08/27/the-miseducation-of-lauryn-hill-turns-25-a-tribute-to-the-album-that-refined-hip-hop-and-feminism/