Lauryn Hill: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Videos
• Photos
• Groups/Boards
• Fan Sites

• Destiny's Child
• Maxwell
• Rahsaan Patterson
• Missy Elliott
• Tamia
• Digable Planets
• Imani Coppola

• Diana Ross
• Queen Latifah
• Etta James
• Digable Planets
• Arrested Development
• Billie Holiday
• Comedian Bob Marley

• Dini
• Toya
• Joy Denalane
• Kreesha Turner
• Jyve Five
• Jaheim
• Chrisette Michele

• Pras
• The Fugees
• Wyclef Jean

Born:

May 25, 1975 in South Orange, NJ

Genres:

Classical Music, Rap & Hip-Hop Music

Decades Active:

1990's|2000's

Artistic Quality

High

Cultural Impact

High

Popularity

High

Ratings Guide

Call Lauryn Hill the mother of hiphop invention; with her 1998 solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the Fugees' most vocal member not only established herself as creative force on her own, but also broke new ground by successfully integrating rap, soul, reggae, and RB into her own sound.

Raised in South Orange, NJ, Hill spent her youth listening her parents' multigenre, multigenerational record collection. She began singing at an early age, and was soon snagging minor roles on television (As the World Turns) and in film (Sister Act II: Back in the Habit). Her onagain, offagain stint in the Fugees began at the age of 13, but was often interrupted by both the acting gigs and her enrollment at Columbia University. After developing a following in the tristate area, the group's first release the muchhyped but uneven Blunted on Reality bombed, almost causing a breakup. But with the multiplatinum The Score, the Fugees (and especially the camerafriendly Hill) achieved international success, though some pundits took shots at their penchant for cover songs.

That criticism made Miseducation even more of a surprise. Hill wrote, arranged, or produced just about every track on the album, which is steeped in her oldschool background, both musically (the Motownesque singalong of "Doo Wop (That Thing)") and lyrically (the nostalgic "Every Ghetto, Every City"). As Miseducation began a long reign on the charts through most of the fall and winter of 1998 initially thanks to heavy buzz and overwhelming radio support for "Doo Wop (That Thing)" Hill became a national media icon, as magazines ranging from Time to Esquire to Teen People vied to put her on the cover. By the end of the year, as the album topped virtually every major music critic's bestof list, she was being credited for helping fully assimilate hiphop into mainstream music. (Such an analysis, however, is lightweight at best: Hiphop had been a huge force on the sales and radio fronts for most of the decade, and rappers JayZ, DMX, and Outkast had dropped similarly lauded LPs prior to or just after Miseducation's release, adding to the genre's dominant sales for the year). The momentum finally culminated at the February 1999 Grammy awards, during which Hill took home five trophies from her 11 nominations, including Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female RB Vocal Performance, Best RB Song, and Best RB Album; the most ever for a woman. Shortly after, she launched a highly praised national tour with Atlanta rappers Outkast.

Hill also faced a lawsuit from two musicians who claim they were denied full credit for their work on the album. In an interesting twist, Hill's album proved to be such a commercial and critical success that it shed doubt on the Fugees' future. Their infighting became common knowledge, and matters were complicated when many fans interpreted Miseducation's various antistardom rants as a public dissing of coFugee Wyclef Jean.

She did continue shaping her solo career. The doubledisc MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 appeared in spring 2002, showcasing a deeply personal performance from Hill.

- Brian Raftery, All Music Guide