The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Review

BY ZOE MEYER

Lauryn Hill has been featured on two of my last 4 Spotify wraps. For an artist with no new music in the past 2o years, and a small discography of only two solo albums–this is quite the feat, which goes to show the icon she has become. Years later people are still talking about the masterpiece that is The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Hill’s first solo album after the split of the Fugees, was realized in 1998 and became an instant hit. Hill’s radical lyrics, bold personality, and unapologetic ton left an impact on hip-hop that is still seen today. As one of the first prominent female rappers, Hill paved the way for women to come, and fundamentally changed the way hip-hop was viewed. In 1999, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill became the first hip-hop album to win Album of the Year and the Grammy’s, and was the first hip-hop artist to be featured on Time magazine’s cover. Like the title alludes to, the album showcases the feeling of a classroom setting. The interludes of kids discussing love combined with the lyrics of warning about the sexualization of the music industry, Hill becomes the teacher she never had. She instills her wisdom about love, God, life and sex onto the listeners so we can start to untwine the lies that our childhoods and mainstream media feed us. Lauryn Hill creates an album that can last the tests of time, an album that people can grow up with, learn from and continue to discover for many decades to come.