Lauryn Hill is a legendary female artist in hip hop. Aside from the fact that she only released one full-length solo album. The rapper and singer is still considered legendary for her work as part of the Fugees, as well as for her solo work.
Few female hip hop artists have been able to fill the void that Lauryn Hill left after she stood back from the limelight. The New Jersey native produced some of hip hop and neo-soul’s most beloved songs. Her abrupt exit from music confused many and disgruntled an entire genre.
However, regardless of her personal choice to explore her spirituality when many wanted music, Hill is still a go-to artist if people want style, flow and that quintessential soul. But while Hill and her first album are lauded, sometimes it’s beneficial for listeners to sit back and respect the fact that Hill could sing as well as rap and furthermore knew how to convey a message with her music
The kind of messages she explored in her music were often highly political, and she addressed all kinds of issues that were plaguing the African-American community. From the offset, Hill’s music always explored race. From vanity, European beauty standards, alcoholism, excessive promiscuity and effective prostitution to issues surrounding gun possession, negligence of paternal duties, sexual exploitation and the domestic abuse of women. The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill certainly touched on some sensitive issues.
However, beyond analysing what was happening within her own community, Hill was not oblivious to the unnecessary struggles and hurdles her community had to deal with compared to other races in the US. In a conversation with Jeru the Damaja (real name Kendrick Jeru Davis), along with comedian and TV host Crazy Sam, Hill offered her opinion on the state of race relations in the US, and things got blunt.
Below you can some rare footage of Lauryn Hill, Jeru Damaja and Crazy Sam debating race from 1995.
