The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by the American rapper and singer-songwriter Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 19, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. Recorded after Hill's band Fugees went on hiatus, the album is almost entirely written and produced by Hill. It is a concept album about educating oneself on love, with lyrical themes encompassing relationship complexities, interpersonal conflicts, motherhood, and faith. Predominantly a neo soul and R&B record, Miseducation also incorporates hip-hop, reggae, and soul, and features guest appearances from Carlos Santana, Mary J. Blige, and D'Angelo.
After touring with the Fugees, Hill became romantically involved with Jamaican entrepreneur Rohan Marley and became pregnant with their first child. The pregnancy, as well as other circumstances in her life, inspired Hill to create a solo album. Recording sessions for Miseducation took place from September 1997 to June 1998, initially in New York and New Jersey, before relocating to the Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston. There, Hill collaborated with a group of musicians known as New Ark to write and produce the songs. "Commissioner" Gordon Williams supervised the project, and Che Pope and James Poyser contributed to a majority of the tracks. Hill strived to differentiate her musical style from that of the Fugees, and wrote songs discussing the turmoil within the group. To avoid mainstream trends and an overproduced sound, live instrumentation was incorporated into the recordings.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was met with universal critical acclaim, with most praise directed towards Hill's presentation of a woman's view on life and love, and her artistic range. A substantial commercial success, the album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 422,000 copies, the most for a woman at the time. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, it won Album of the Year and Best R&B Album, and Hill broke records for most nominations and wins at a single ceremony for a woman. Miseducation produced three singles—"Doo Wop ", which peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 and broke numerous chart records; "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything". Hill promoted the record with multiple televised performances and The Miseducation Tour. New Ark, however, felt their contributions were not properly credited and filed a lawsuit, which was settled out of court in 2001.
Miseducations success propelled Hill to global prominence, and contributed to bringing hip-hop and neo soul to the forefront of popular music. Critics have continued to exalt the album as one of the best of its era and of all time, and several artists have acknowledged its influence on their music. Miseducation has been inducted into several cultural institutions such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album is among the best-selling of all time, with sales of 20 million copies worldwide. In the US, it is certified diamond for combined sales and album-equivalent units of 10 million. In 2018 and 2023, Hill embarked on anniversary tours to celebrate the album. The Miseducation remains Hill's only studio album.
Background and development
In 1996, Lauryn Hill met Rohan Marley, son of Bob Marley, while touring as a member of the Fugees, in support of their widely successful second studio album The Score. Hill and Marley gradually formed a close relationship, and during the tour, Hill became pregnant with his child. After contributing to fellow Fugees member Wyclef Jean's solo debut The Carnival, Hill refrained from touring and recording due to her pregnancy and cases of writer's block. However, circumstances in her life stimulated her to record a solo album, having already expressed the desire to do so and depart from the Fugees. She credited her pregnancy for rejuvenating her songwriting; according to her then-manager Jayson Jackson, the songwriting was prompted by Wendy Williams revealing Hill's pregnancy on her radio show and the intense media scrutiny over the identity of the child's father, as Hill had never publicized her relationship with Marley prior to the pregnancy.Of the early writing process, Hill said: "Every time I got hurt, every time I was disappointed, every time I learned, I just wrote a song." While inspired, Hill wrote over 30 songs in her attic studio in South Orange, New Jersey. Many of these songs drew upon the turbulence in the Fugees, as well as past love experiences. In the summer of 1997, as Hill was due to give birth to her first child, she was requested to write a song for gospel musician CeCe Winans. Several months later, she went to Detroit to work with soul singer Aretha Franklin, writing and producing her single "A Rose Is Still a Rose". Franklin would later have Hill direct the song's music video. Shortly after this, Hill did songwriting work for Whitney Houston. Having written songs for artists in gospel, hip-hop, and R&B, she drew on these influences and experiences to record The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Recording and production
Hill began recording The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in September 1997 at the Chung King Studios in New York City. In an interview, Hill described the first day of recording: "The first day in the studio I ordered every instrument I ever fell in love with: harps, strings, timpani, organs, clarinets. It was my idea to record it so the human element stayed in. I didn't want it to be too technically perfect." Furthermore, she herself played the guitar on "Superstar". Gordon "Commissioner Gordon" Williams, who engineered most of the record, acted as the project supervisor. Initially, Wyclef Jean did not support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered to help as a producer, which she rejected. Columbia Records considered bringing in an outside producer for the album and had early talks with RZA of Wu-Tang Clan. However, Hill was adamant about writing, arranging, and producing the album herself, with Ruffhouse Records executive Chris Swartz ensuring her artistic freedom while recording the album.To produce The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Hill formed a team of collaborators named New Ark, with programmer Vada Nobles, songwriter Rasheem Pugh, pianist Tejumold Newton, and guitarist Johari Newton. Two of the earliest recordings Hill and New Ark worked on—"Ex-Factor" and "Loved Real Hard Once", which was later retitled "When It Hurts So Bad"—were originally intended for other artists, before being retained due to their personal content. Che Pope was credited as a co-producer of "Lost Ones" and "To Zion", under his pseudonym Che Guevara. He revealed he produced "To Zion" in a small studio apartment in Brooklyn in 20 minutes, and Hill subsequently recorded it at Chung King and the Perfect Pair Studios in East Orange, New Jersey. John Legend, then an obscure artist, played the piano on "Everything Is Everything", which marked his commercial debut.
Throughout most of the initial sessions, Hill simultaneously recorded at multiple locations throughout New York City and New Jersey; even parts of a single song would be recorded at multiple studios. Furthermore, "Final Hour" was partly recorded at the Metropolis Studio in London. The majority of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, however, was recorded at Tuff Gong, the studio built by Bob Marley, in Kingston, Jamaica, where the album would be completed in June 1998. Regarding the shift in environment, Hill stated: "When I started recording in New York and New Jersey, lots of people were talking to me about going different routes. I could feel people up in my face, and I was picking up on bad vibes. I wanted a place where there was good vibes, where I was among family, and it was Tuff Gong." Numerous members of the Marley family were present in the studio during the recording sessions, among them Julian Marley, who contributed with guitar elements to "Forgive Them Father". In an interview, Williams recalled the recording of "Lost Ones", stating: "It was our first morning in Jamaica and I saw all of these kids gathered around Lauryn, screaming and dancing. Lauryn was in the living room next to the studio with about fifteen Marley grandchildren around her, the children of Ziggy, and Stephen, and Julian, and she starts singing this rap verse, and all the kids start repeating the last word of each line, chiming in very spontaneously because they were so into the song."
Lawsuit
Though The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was largely a collaborative work between Hill and New Ark, there was "label pressure to do the Prince thing", wherein all tracks would be credited as written and produced by the artist with little outside help. While recording the album, Hill was against the idea of creating documentation defining each musician's role. In November 1998, New Ark filed a 50-page lawsuit against Hill, her management and her record label, stating that Hill "used their songs and production skills, but failed to properly credit them for the work." New Ark demanded writing and/or production credits for 13 of the album's 14 tracks, excluding "To Zion", alongside monetary reimbursement. The musicians stated that they were primary songwriters of "Nothing Even Matters" and "Everything Is Everything", and major contributors on others.Despite this, Williams described the project as a "powerfully personal effort by Hill ... It was definitely her vision." Audio engineer Tony Prendatt, who also worked on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, defended Hill, concluding that "Lauryn's genius is her own". In response to the lawsuit, Hill remarked that New Ark took advantage of her success. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court in February 2001, for a reported $5 million. While Che Pope was not involved in the lawsuit, he disclosed that he solely produced "To Zion", despite being merely credited as a co-producer, and contemplated filing a lawsuit of his own but ultimately abandoned the idea.