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Marcus Jackson

Influence on Pop Culture

WRT 204

March 31, 2015

Ms. Lauryn Hill

Few musical artists can drop only one solo album and have the type of

widespread impact that Ms. Lauryn Hill, a now 39 year old woman form East

Orange, New Jersey, has had on the culture and genre of hip hop. Today, the

sub-culture of hip hop is one of the largest in all of pop culture. And when

you have a sub-culture that is majorly dictated by the musical genre of the

same name, the pioneers and distinct influencers in that musical realm will

no doubt be the pioneers and distinct influencers of the culture. Many

names come up when you talk about the individuals that shaped hip hop

such as Tupac, Biggie, 50 Cent, and Kanye West, but few females find their

name on that list. Lauryn Hill is widely regarded as the first lady of hip hop.

Her involvement with the Fugees and her solo career along with her personal

life have had a ripple effect on hip hop, women in hip hop, and even the

Christian hip hop sphere.

The Fugees began their career as a hip hop group in high school and

grew as they got older. They released their first album under Columbia

Records entitled Blunted on Reality which received mediocre to poor reviews,

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although Lauryn was seen as a bright spot on the record and was even urged

by her fans to go solo. She eventually did go solo, but not before The Fugees

released their second, last, and greatly hailed 1996 album The Score. The

album has highly recognizable and oft sampled songs such as Ready or Not

and Killing Me Softly with His Song. The album sat at the top spot on

Billboards Top 200 and remained a top 10 album for over 6 months, won the

Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, and was included in Rolling Stones

Classic Rock-heavy 2003 list, 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

(Rollingstone.com) Although the group included two other members in

Prakazrel Pras Michel and the well-known Wyclef Jean, Hill was the

standout member who carried the record. The Score has been sampled and

covered by dozens of artists, including The Fray, Lecrae, Bastille, Queen

Latifa, Wiz Khalifa, and many more. (whosampled.com) Lauryns work with

the Fugees lands her in what is touted as one of the most impactful and

highly regarded hip hop groups to ever step in the studio.

Ms. Hill may have already changed the game as a Fugee, but it was

when she went solo and released her debut album, The Miseducation of

Lauryn Hill in 1998. Lauryns work on this album is still recognized as one of

the realest albums to ever be created. Rolling Stone ranks The Miseducation

of Lauryn Hill as the #5 in a list of the best albums of the Nineties, one of the

500 Greatest Albums of All Time, one of the greatest female albums of all

time, and her song Lost Ones is ranked in their list of 50 Greatest Hip-Hop

Songs of All Time. (Blashill)(Rolling Stone)(Sheffield) It is worth noting that in

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the rankings where both The Score and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

appear, Miseducation is consistently ranked significantly higher. This album

garnered Mr. Hill a multitude of awards, but also allowed her a podium from

which to voice her opinions of women, hip hop, and how the two relate.

Lauryn was the first woman to be nominated for ten Grammy categories in a

single year, five of which she won, setting another precedent as the first

woman to do so. Ms. Hill was, and still is, very aware of her status as a

female in a male dominated culture. She is quoted as saying,

Men like it when you sing to them. But step out and try and control

things and there are doubts. This is a very sexist industry. Theyll never

throw the genius title to a sister. Theyll just call her a diva and think

its a compliment. Its like our flair and vanity are put before our

musical and intellectual contributions. (The Free Library)

In a time, the 90s, where successful female artists, especially hip hop artists,

were few and far in between and, when known, were commonly associated

with being scantily clad and sexual symbolism, Ms. Hill brought about a

refreshing, self-respecting image of womanhood. She bucked against the

social norm. She chose to speak to young women directly, for example, in

Doo Wop (That Thing) she says. Showing off you ass cause youre thinking

its a trend/Girlfriend, let me break it down for you again/You know I only say

it cause Im truly genuine/Dont be a hard rock when youre really a gem.

(Doo Wop (That Thing)) It is these messages along with other ideologies still
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remain in artist today like Humble Beasts Jackie Hill-Perry (no relation), so

much so that in her debut album, she penned a song called Ode to Lauryn

as a tribute. (Hill-Perry)

Ms. Hill went into a self-imposed hiatus in 2000 due to apparent stress

over her fame. She was reportedly offered, and turned down, roles in The

Bourne Identity, The Matrix Trilogy, and The Mexican. (Tour) Some believe

that she missed out on an opportunity to turn pop culture on its head as a

multimedia star larger than the likes of J. Lo and Queen Latifa. This move

again reflects Lauryns values as she had this to say about her

disappearance, I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the

machine, I was being way too compromised. And [The time away] was a

very introspective time because I had to confront my fears(Hill) But upon

her return, Ms. Hill recorded a live album with MTV called MTV Unplugged

No. 2.0 in 2001 and released it in 2002. This album was more of an

introspective record that touched heavily on Christianity. In responding to

the question that asked for him to name one song that nourishes [him]

spiritually popular hip hop artist, Lecrae, says of the song Adam Lives in

Theory, Emotionally, it kind of draws you out and reaches inside and

everybody wants to be drawn out. You dont hear a lot of music that you feel

like, Oh my gosh, you just pulled my soul out and put it on display.

(Sangweni) Ms. Hill found herself speaking and inspiring those in the

Christianity sect of hip hop in a major way. Her influence spans across men,

women, rappers, singers, and poets. She is often your favorite rappers
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favorite rapper not only in the secular realm, but also the Christian. This is

a feat that many would probably deem impossible, yet Ms. Hills cultural

impact spans this gap. Legendary singer-songwriter DAngelo recalls,

Churches were substituting God in the lyrics [for Nothing Even Matters].

Whenever they make a gospel version from a secular song, thats

significant. (Checkoway)

Lauryn Hill is regarded as one of the best hip hop artists to ever bless

the mic, not because of her strong singing voice, or her clever wordplay, but

because of her lyrical content. Ms. Hills impact on pop-culture leaves its

largest crater in the land of hip hop where her words transform the minds of

women both young and old, artists and labels who do not believe that

substance sells, and Christians within the hip hop sphere looking for

inspiration and encouragement. Both her individual and Fugee work has

been sampled over the decades by dozens of artists, recent and old. It can

be argued that the first lady of hip hop is one of the most important things to

ever happen to the sub-culture. Hill's success is bigger than she is. She is

ushering in a new era of mainstream acceptance of hip-hop music that was

unthinkable twenty years ago. And it's hip-hop with a heart, mind, and soul.

(The Free Library)

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Works Cited

Blashill, Pat, et al. "500 Greatest Albums of All Time." Rolling Stone. Rolling

Stone, 31 May 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-

time-20120531>.

Checkoway, Laura. "Inside 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.'" Rolling Stone.

Rolling Stone, 26 Aug. 2008. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

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<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/inside-the-miseducation-of-

lauryn-hill-20080826>.

"50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 5 Dec.

2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-50-greatest-hip-hop-

songs-of-all-time-20121205>.

Hill, Lauryn. Interview by Joan Morgan. 16 Dec. 2009.

Hill, Lauryn. (1998). Doo Wop (That Thing). On The Miseducation of Lauryn

Hill [CD]. Philadelphia, PA: Ruffhouse; New York City, NY: Columbia.

Hill-Perry, Jackie. (2014). Ode To Lauryn. On The Art of Joy [CD]. Portland, OR:

Humble Beast Records.

Moore, Lecrae. Interview by Yolanda Sangweni. 12 Sept. 2014.

"100 Best Albums of the Nineties." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 27 Apr. 2011.

Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-best-

albums-of-the-nineties-20110427>.

Sheffield, Rob. "Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time."

Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 22 June 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/women-who-rock-the-50-

greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120622>.

The Missed Message of Lauryn Hill.. The Free Library. 1999 The Progressive,

Inc. 31 Mar. 2015

<http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+Missed+Message+of+Lauryn+Hill.-

a054246116>
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Toure. "The Mystery of Lauryn Hill." Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 3 Oct. 2003.

Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-

mystery-of-lauryn-hill-20031030>.

WhoSampled. WhoSampled, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

<http://www.whosampled.com/>.