One of my favorite lines ever uttered in rap music is:

“…and even after all my logic and my theory, I add a motherfucker so you ignant niggas hear me…” ~Lauryn Hill

I love that line. Strangely, it’s the concise, succint written explanation of how I like to live my life. I didn’t realize it at the time that album was released that my life was going to follow that ideology but lo and behold, that’s it.

And the album?

The Fugees The Score of course, which was released in February of 1996 and some 18 million albums sold later cemented Wyclef Jean, Lauryn “L-Boogie” Hill, and to a much much much lesser extent Pras Michel as musical, not just hip-hop, heavyweights. Then in 1998, Lauryn Hill released the critically lauded, Grammy winning, women-loving album of the decade, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. I’ll admit to not loving it as much as everybody else does but it is without a doubt a great damn album.

Lauryn Hill was on top of the world. Hell, she was the world. She was woman. She roared. Probably even growled too.

Grr.

I can’t think of a man alive who didn’t want to jump her bones. Quite honestly, in my mind, at that point in time (circa 1997-1999), Lauryn Hill was the epitome of woman. I wanted a woman like Lauryn Hill. I remember meeting her at North Dekalb Mall in Atlanta while she was signing copies of Miseducation… If ever there was a picture of beauty, it was her at that moment.

Apparently Rohan Marley saw the same thing every other man saw because he snatched her up like a thief in the night. And I’m not completely mad about it. He’s a Marley. He’s got lineage. I’ve got lint. The battle in my mind for Lauryn didn’t actually exist in the real world.

Then WHAM!

The world according to Lauryn went Black. She started pushing out kids and making controversial comments (to the Pope no less) and became sort of a recluse. She released a confusing few sets of music that introduced us to an insecure and distraught woman. It’s even rumored that over time she required people to call her Ms. Hill in her presence to include motherfucking Wyclef and Pras. If that’s true, she needs the holy shit Batman slapped out of her.

Lauryn Hill was the top and then she fell off. Hard. And this begs the question to me. As far as the most tragic falls from grace and the hearts of men have gone, Lauryn Hill might ace numero uno. And its especially tragic because Lauryn didn’t have a ceiling. Lauryn Hill could have turned into Madonna. Shit…and it almost pains me to say this, but Beyonce is what Lauryn Hill was going to be, except you know, the version of Beyonce that’s secretly a scholar quoting Nietsche and showing up to interviews with a personality.

[***SIDENOTE: I think I just realized something. I think that Erykah Badu is the mid-point between Beyonce and Lauryn Hill. Think about it (deep right?). Erykah Badu can be just as ghetto as anybody else but she's also dropping pure gems on that ass. She's an entertainer to the highest degree who straddles the line between the deep crowd and the chicks who have gold teeth with their babby-daddy's name on each toof. Hell, Erykah has gold fronts. I heart her. I can't completely divulge it right now, but just know that I'm making possibly one of the biggest sacrifices of my life in a few weeks and Erykah Badu comes heavily into play. I've considered suicide. ***]

She went from being the quintessential woman to being a confused mother of four with baby daddy issues like you ain’t neva seend. And dammit she just kept having kids. Think about people who have fallen off in the world of urban music. Hmm…seems I have to remove the talent part here because there haven’t been too many artists with as much talent as she has.

The only person I can really think of is…gulp…

MC Hammer.

Do you realize that nigga was doing infomercials about credit repair? CREDIT REPAIR?! If you can’t see the irony and comedy in that then you’re probably dead. And if you’re not…

…go kill yourself.

Lauryn’s talent level and ability was recognized by everybody. All races. Everybody loved her and then she lost it. Perhaps its the pressure of success or the pressures of talent. Maybe she just lost favor with the music industry as a whole. I can relate. I mean, I’ve shelved my own album for years now and I know the streets are waiting.

Ahem.

It’s funny though. Lauryn Hill is still a name that people love and respect. I think more people got worried about her as a person which is a testament to how many lives she’s touched.

You know, D’Angelo would be giving her a run for her money right now except he released Voodoo. But shit, niggas have been waiting for a new D’Angelo album for years. Though he has a few court appearances, drug cases, and car insurance apps to fill out so we could be waiting for a while.

At least other artists from days of yore had the gall to just die to preserve the legacy. And be clear, I don’t want Lauryn Hill to pass…

…I’d just like somebody to slap the shit out of the motherfucker who miseducated her ass. But for now, I still have the Fugees album and I still have the Miseducation and I still have my favorite line that helped to define my existence on this planet.

Motherfucker.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 9:39 am and is filed under Bigger Than A Hip-Hop, Musicology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.