Lauryn Hill: smashes records and tells how motherhood changed her life

Ebony, Nov, 1998 by Melissa Ewey

Anticipation was high for Lauryn Hill's first solo project. Critics who hadn't heard a note predicted it would be the best album of the year. Detractors predicted that Hill wouldn't make it without the rest of the Fugees. When her album finally arrived in record stores in August, speculation reached its peak: Would the album satisfy die-hard hip-hop fans? Could she attract a mainstream audience?

The answer, to all of the above, was yes. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill -- a concept album inspired by the title of Carter G. Woodson's book, The Miseducation of the Negro -- soared to No. 1 on the Billboard charts and broke the record for first-week sales by a female artist. However, Hill isn't participating in a champagne toast to celebrate her unprecedented accomplishments. She couldn't even if she wanted to. While the album continues to exceed expectations, the 24-year-old singer/rapper/songwriter is expecting the birth of her second child. For Hill, musical success and motherhood go hand-in-hand.

As the sole female member of the Fugees, Hill was often singled out as the reason for the group's appeal. Her strong, soulful vocals on a cover of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly" thrust the group into the spotlight in 1996. As the Fugees racked up awards and enjoyed commercial success, speculation grew about a solo career for Hill. Adding fuel to the fire was "The Sweetest Thing," a popular ballad she record for the love jones soundtrack without fellow Fugees Wyclef Jean and Prakazrel.

"I was very content doing songs with the Fugees," says Hill, who toured with the group until the seventh month of her first pregnancy. During the interim, she experienced a sudden wave of creativity. "When some women are pregnant, their hair and their nails grow," she says. "My mind and ability to create expanded. I had the desire to write in a capacity that I hadn't done in a while. I don't know if it's a hormonal or emotional thing ... I was very much in touch with my feelings at the time."

Hill used her newfound creativity to generate hits for other artists. She wrote, produced, arranged and directed the video for Aretha Franklin's a Rose Is Still A Rose, and wrote and produced a soaring ballad, "On That Day," for CeCe Winans. The day after "On That Day" was recorded, Hill gave birth to a son, Zion. A few months later, she bundled up her baby boy and brought him along to the recording studio. "People asked me to make solo albums, but before I'd made the conscious decision to record ... I had this narrative in my hands," she says. "It was the most natural point."

During the creation of Miseducation, Hill surrounded herself with dozens of instruments -- everything from celestes to harps to timpani drums. "I always had an appetite for live musicianship," she explains. "I want the human element to be there, I want the real piano, even if it's a little out of tune. Sometimes, that's the beauty of the whole thing."

Miseducation succeeds in showcasing lush arrangements and a wide range of styles -- a little hip-hop here, a two-part harmony there, a dash of Jamaican patois for flavor. "I knew that when I got the opportunity to do my own sound, it would be a fusion of raw hip-hop beats and the instrumentation that I grew up listening to," she says.

Raised on songs from the '60s and '70s, Hill was heavily influenced by artists like Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. "As a child, I would find 45s [records] in the basement," she recalls. "That became my music theory classroom." The lyrics that stood out for Hill were "heartfelt and hurtful," overflowing with love and loss. On Miseducation, she stays true to that tradition by pouring her real emotions and experiences into every song.

"I really don't know any better," Hill says of baring her soul. "To write something that's too pretentious, that wouldn't feel natural to me. I think the only anxiety that I felt was ... you know that once you release something, it's a reflection of you, and people will beat it up. I knew I'd better do what I had to do to put my best foot forward."

When it came to pushy record executives, Hill had to put her foot down to keep creative control. "If you're trying to be an artist, the idea is to grow," she says. "I tried to be creative and not do the same thing, but there are always people who are going to be skeptical ... It's all right though, because I think adversity makes you push and fight that much more ... I guess I'm not afraid of a little struggle."

Miseducation features several guest appearances, including a hip-hop harmony on "I Used to Love Him" with singer Mary J. Blige. "She sings from her heart," Hill says of her friend. Strumming the guitar on "To Zion," Hill's tribute to her son, is legendary guitarist Carlos Santana. "He plays guitar like a soul singer sings," she says admiringly.

Joining Hill on the romantic "Nothing Even Matters" is neo-soul crooner D'Angelo. "We have a similar philosophy," Hill says of their alliance. "I wanted to make a love song a la Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, and give people a humanistic approach to love again without all the physicality and overt sexuality. I wanted it to be about what it's like when your back starts to tingle and your stomach feels funny."