Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

I've had the album on repeat for the past few hours. I can't stop listening to it.
What makes this album so exceptional is the smooth transition from genre to genre. It's the perfect blend of Hip-Hop,Reggae,R&B, Gospel, and Soul. Not only are the tracks great musically but the lyrics are so heartfelt and meaningful as well.
The messages take you everywhere from introspection to regret to upliftment. Few albums have aged as beautifully as this. It proves to be a timeless body of work. Give it a listen if you haven't already.

For those who are unfamiliar....



The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American recording artist Lauryn Hill, released on August 25, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. After touring with her former group Fugees, Hill became involved in a romantic relationship with Rohan Marley, and shortly after, became pregnant with his child. This pregnancy, as well as other circumstances, inspired her to make a solo album. Recording sessions took place from late 1997 to June 1998 and were held mainly at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. Primarily a neo soul album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill incorporates musical styles from R&B, hip hop, soul, and reggae. Its lyrics touch upon Hill's pregnancy and the turmoil within the Fugees, along with themes of love and God. The album's title was inspired by the film and autobiographical novel The Education of Sonny Carson, and Carter G. Woodson's The Mis-Education of the Negro.

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 422,624 copies in its first week, which broke a record for first-week sales by a female artist. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill produced three hit singles: "Doo Wop (That Thing)", "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything". Its lead single "Doo Wop (That Thing)" peaked at number one in the US, with the latter two singles peaking within the top 40. The album's success propelled Hill to international superstardom, and contributed to bringing hip hop and neo soul to the forefront of popular music. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill earned 10 nominations, winning five awards, making Hill the first woman to receive that many nominations and awards in one night. In 2001, it was certified 8x platinum in the US, and as of April 2012, has sold over 7,106,000 copies in the US. The album has sold over 19 million copies worldwide.

Initially, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill received critical praise for its lyric themes and genre variance. It was frequently complimented for Hill's honest presentation of a woman's view on life and love. Since its release, the album has grown in esteem among music critics. It has been ranked in numerous best-album lists, with many past and contemporary critics regarding it as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. Rolling Stone magazine later called it a "stunning musical document" that she "wraps in a raw, completely human sound".In 2015, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.

Due to the large success of the album, Hill became a national media icon, as magazines ranging from Time to Esquire to Teen People vied to place her on their front covers. In a February 8, 1999, Time cover-story, Hill was credited for helping fully assimilate hip-hop into mainstream music, making her the first hip hop artist to ever appear on the magazine's front cover. In 2012, it was included at number 314 in Rolling Stone‍ 's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, its entry reading, "Hill took Seventies soul and made it boom and signify to the hip-hop generation on her solo debut. The production was subtle and glorious on heartbreakers such as "Ex-Factor" and the swinging sermon "Doo Wop (That Thing)." Jon Caramanica, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), called it "as earnest, unpretentious, and pleasantly sloppy an album as any woman of the hip-hop generation has ever made", and said that, by appealing to a wide spectrum of listeners with hip hop filtered through a "womanist lens", the album propelled Hill to superstardom "of epic proportions" and "the focal point at hip-hop's crossover into the mainstream." Music journalist Peter Shapiro cited it as "the ultimate cross-over album of the hip-hop era."

 

Great album! My only disappointment was that the (hidden) album version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" isn't as good as the remix. To this day, I don't think the remix has been made available anywhere other than promo copies, which are very scarce.

 

Soundtrack to my freshman year in college; an absolutely essential album. Brilliant

 

My freshman year, too!

 

Amazing album. Starts strong, stays strong. I think the interstitial bits in the Hill-less classroom put this one well over the top!

 

i actually never heard this album when it came out.....i think i remember doo wop on the radio..

it wasnt until like 2008 that i heard the whole album and was shocked at how amazing it was.

on my cd i made my own version where i replace the first song with killing me softly from the fugees cd

 

Great album. I listened to it a lot during my teens.

"To survive is to stay alive in the face of opposition."

 

It's the soundtrack to my elementary school years. I remember hearing at least half of the songs played on the radio when being dropped off and picked up from school.

Please tell me you also included "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You","Sweetest Things" & "Tell Him".

 

@JohnnyQuest Since you were still in diapers when it came out , here is the "hit" version that was played on the radio:

 

Between this album and The Score, Hill had sold something like 25 million albums worldwide. She was beautiful, charismatic and brilliant - she looked like a legend in the making. Then, she was gone.

 

Wow! Thank you! I can't believe this version wasn't on the album. So beautiful!
Any other alternate versions that I should check out?

 

I personally prefer the Radio Edit of "Doo Wop," which is on the US maxi CD single. I like the way the Radio Edit starts with the chorus at the very beginning. The same maxi CD has a remix of "Lost Ones," but I think the album version is better.

Regarding "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," the story goes something like this. It was recorded for the movie "Conspiracy Theory," and TVT had the rights to the soundtrack. Columbia/Sony decided not to license the song for the soundtrack, and they weren't permitted to officially promote it. Some radio stations got a hold of the song (possibly dubbed from the movie) and began playing it, creating buzz. The song was remixed and sent to radio on CD-Rs (as shown in the YouTube video), which of course was on the down low since Columbia wasn't supposed to be promoting it. The remix became a hit, making it to #35 on the pop airplay chart and #2 on the CHR/Rhythmic chart. But this remixed version that radio played never appeared anywhere else. The hidden bonus track on Miseducation is the original mix, and as I've read, the original/album mix appears in the closing credits of the movie.

 

haha...you read my mind... yes i did...

the best hip hop cd "i" ever made

my favorite song is probably x-factor

 

lol check out this pic used for this video...lauren with a afro

 

Nice little story. Have you heard the dirty version of "Doo Wop"? I've always enjoyed it and love the Doo Wop acapella breakdown during the latter half of the song.
I also loved how Drake (40) flipped the beat and turned it into...

Great! My favorites are "Doo Wop" & "Superstar". Love the Doors' "Light My Fire" interpolation. She has a great ear.

 

i think im going to buy the blu-ray of sister act just to see her in her prime in HD.

 

A stone classic. One of the all time greats of any genre or era.

 

I played this a lot when it was first released. Didn't know about the remix of "Eyes". Thanks for the post.

 

Great album. No, A REALLY GREAT ALBUM. This was one of those albums that transcended demographics.

 

@Naughty Chord

 

I find this is a great album too, although I have very little else like it in my collection. Kind of like how people love Miles but don't like jazz per se. Shame she later got into that legal tussle over credits, then went kind of crackers. She could have been a contender...

 

Absolutely stunning record. Deserves to be mentioned w Songs in the Key of Life, What's Going On, etc etc

 

I've never owned a copy of this one. Anyone know if the MOV or the Sony Legacy vinyl would be better?

 

A great record. By the time of her next unplugged album, you can tell the weed had already gone to her head.

 

Great album and love the tribute to the Wailers' Burnin' with the cover pic. X Factor is my favorite as well, love the ending guitar solo on that one.

I believe there is a small part/interlude where there are children humming a Glen Brown tune, Bits of Paper (I think) which is another reggae reference on this release.