I Wrote these Words for Everyone Who Struggles in their Youth

Sometimes it is odd to see an artist destined for greatness just fall completely off the Earth. Lauryn Hill ruled the world with a streak from 1996 to 1998 from singing hook for Nas to The Score, the breakout Fugees album, to her one smash debut album. But ever since the landmark album, Hill sightings have been almost akin to far and few in-between from her Unplugged 2.0 album to a duet with Method Man to the disastrous Fugees reunion to a song on the penguin surfing movie Surf's Up of all things. The closest she has come to getting back into popular culture was when Kanye West used an interpolation from her song Mystery of Iniquity for his song All Falls Down (to which she refused permission for the sample leading to Syleena Johnson to sing the hook).

But being a two time one-album wonder with her group and on her own is a novelty in itself. Not that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is a novelty in terms of the music making it this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame. Many artist before and Hill and after have tried to combine the hip-hop beats with R&B songs but no one has come close to doing it as good as Hill. This is best exemplified on Doo Wop (That Thing) where she brings the horns and piano heavy sound from the Stax era and harmonizes with herself with the raps going to town and guys and girls with alternative motives when it come to the other sex. This is only heightened by the brilliant seamless spit screen video.

The album starts off with Lauryn calling out someone on Lost One (Wyclef maybe, “I was on the humble, you was on every station”) with a hip-hop meets reggae vibe. She flips it on Everything Is Everything with the same bounce using an orchestra to fulfill a beat which also featured a then unknown John Legend on the piano. Ex-Factor is a heart wrenching balled that put her up their as one of the best vocalist of the era. And it is when Lauryn slows it down and goes into full R&B mode where she truly shines also her on the D’Angelo duet Nothing Even Matters as well as the Carlos Santana assisted tribute to her son, To Zion.

It is also a sign of a great album when the hidden tracks are better than most artists’ singles. Lauryn take on the old Frankie Valli hit, Can’t Take My Eyes off You from the otherwise forgettable movie Conspiracy Theory may be the best take on the song. Then there is Tell Him should be in the running as most romantic song of the nineties and should be required for any baby-making mix tape for a long time coming. Who know if we will ever get another record from Lauryn Hill, it look even less likely with Wyclef recently blaming the Fugee failed reunion on her calling her bipolar and begging her mother to get her mental help, but at least she had her act together to draw out her Miseducation.