WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.740 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today we are opening 00:00:02.740 --> 00:00:07.139 a file that feels, well, it feels less like a 00:00:07.139 --> 00:00:10.400 standard music biography and more like a study 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:13.720 in paradox. We're looking at an artist who is, 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.100 by almost every metric you can think of, the 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:18.640 most celebrated woman in hip -hop history. And 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:21.140 yet. There's always a yet with her. There is. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:24.879 And the yet is that her entire solo legacy rests 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.420 essentially on a single album, an album that 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:29.760 came out over 25 years ago. It really is the 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.380 ultimate case of scarcity creating value, isn't 00:00:32.380 --> 00:00:36.280 it? But it's also, for fans, incredibly frustrating. 00:00:36.859 --> 00:00:39.119 We're talking, of course, about Miss Lauren Hill. 00:00:39.240 --> 00:00:41.219 The numbers alone are just baffling when you 00:00:41.219 --> 00:00:43.280 lay them out. You've got an estimated 50 million 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.520 records sold worldwide. Which is a staggering 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:48.340 number. Eight Grammys. And just to put that in 00:00:48.340 --> 00:00:50.159 perspective, that is the most for any female 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:53.289 rapper. ever still to this day and then you go 00:00:53.289 --> 00:00:55.609 to a streaming service right now to find her 00:00:55.609 --> 00:00:58.210 solo studio work and what do you find you find 00:00:58.210 --> 00:01:01.289 one diamond certified masterpiece and then silence 00:01:01.289 --> 00:01:03.750 well silence and a lot of lingering questions 00:01:03.750 --> 00:01:06.609 a lot of mystery exactly and that's the real 00:01:06.609 --> 00:01:08.870 mission for this deep dive we aren't just here 00:01:08.870 --> 00:01:12.129 to you know recount the hits we really need to 00:01:12.129 --> 00:01:15.609 unpack the why why is everything in this story 00:01:15.609 --> 00:01:17.730 how do you get labeled the queen of hip -hop 00:01:18.280 --> 00:01:22.000 by time, by billboard, by basically the entire 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.840 culture, and then effectively exile yourself. 00:01:25.219 --> 00:01:26.859 And I think maybe the more interesting question 00:01:26.859 --> 00:01:30.099 today is why her influence is arguably stronger 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:33.420 now, you know, in this era of TikTok and constant 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:35.780 streaming than it was when she was actually releasing 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:38.120 music. That's the real puzzle. To answer that, 00:01:38.180 --> 00:01:40.019 you really have to stop looking at this as just 00:01:40.019 --> 00:01:42.959 a story about a singer. It's a collision, a collision 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:45.920 between a deeply, deeply authentic artist and 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:48.680 the... The industrial machine of modern entertainment. 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:50.739 A case study. It's a case study on the cost of 00:01:50.739 --> 00:01:52.980 genius. The price you pay for not compromising. 00:01:53.060 --> 00:01:54.680 So let's get into the evidence. We have to start 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:57.719 at the beginning. East Orange, New Jersey. Lauren 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:01.019 Noelle Hill, born in 1975. The narrative so often 00:02:01.019 --> 00:02:03.540 paints her as this prodigy who just like appeared 00:02:03.540 --> 00:02:06.200 out of nowhere, fully formed. But when you look 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:09.080 at her background, she was essentially, I don't 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:11.620 know. engineered for this. Engineered implies 00:02:11.620 --> 00:02:14.860 it was forced, which I don't think it was. Maybe 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:17.280 incubated is a better word. Her household was 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:19.919 a conservatory. It really was. Her mother, Valerie, 00:02:20.180 --> 00:02:23.000 was an English teacher. Which I think is so crucial 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.139 when you look at the lyrical density she produces 00:02:25.139 --> 00:02:28.300 later on. That command of language. It came from 00:02:28.300 --> 00:02:31.560 somewhere. And her father, Mal, was a consultant, 00:02:31.699 --> 00:02:34.819 but he also sang in nightclubs. Right. He sang 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:37.870 at weddings, clubs. Music wasn't just on the 00:02:37.870 --> 00:02:40.069 radio in their house. It was being made in the 00:02:40.069 --> 00:02:42.210 house. There's this one specific detail from 00:02:42.210 --> 00:02:44.349 the research that I just love. She talks about 00:02:44.349 --> 00:02:46.110 falling asleep to Marvin Gaye's What's Going 00:02:46.110 --> 00:02:48.889 On. Not just hearing it, but playing it on repeat 00:02:48.889 --> 00:02:51.949 until she drifted off. I mean, that is some heavy 00:02:51.949 --> 00:02:54.490 thematic material for a little kid. It's incredibly 00:02:54.490 --> 00:02:56.849 heavy. You're talking about social justice, the 00:02:56.849 --> 00:03:01.349 Vietnam War, ecology, spiritual crisis. All of 00:03:01.349 --> 00:03:03.310 that is seeping into your subconscious before 00:03:03.310 --> 00:03:06.219 you even hit middle school. And you add to that 00:03:06.219 --> 00:03:09.560 a steady diet of Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:12.159 Gladys Knight. She wasn't just consuming entertainment. 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:16.319 She was absorbing the canon of modern black American 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:19.419 music. It was her education. And she wasn't hiding 00:03:19.419 --> 00:03:22.240 it. She was, you know, singing the Star Spangled 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:24.860 Banner at middle school basketball games. But 00:03:24.860 --> 00:03:26.659 I want to zoom in on that Apollo Theater moment 00:03:26.659 --> 00:03:29.620 because she's 13 years old. The amateur night 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:32.520 at the Apollo. It is, and I don't think this 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:35.129 is an exaggeration. arguably the toughest room 00:03:35.129 --> 00:03:37.849 in all of show business. Oh, for sure. If that 00:03:37.849 --> 00:03:41.590 crowd smells fear on you or weakness, they will 00:03:41.590 --> 00:03:43.870 boo you right off that stage. It's a blood sport. 00:03:43.969 --> 00:03:45.889 So 13 -year -old Lauren steps out. She's going 00:03:45.889 --> 00:03:48.409 to sing Smokey Robinson's Who's Loving You, and 00:03:48.409 --> 00:03:51.009 she messes up. She stumbles. Yeah. Right out 00:03:51.009 --> 00:03:52.770 of the gate. She has trouble with the microphone 00:03:52.770 --> 00:03:54.689 or maybe the key. It's a little unclear, but 00:03:54.689 --> 00:03:57.520 the crowd. They turn on her instantly. I hear 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.199 it in the old recordings. The murmurs, the jeers 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:02.460 starting to bubble up. For most teenagers, that 00:04:02.460 --> 00:04:05.539 is a core trauma they never recover from. You 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:08.319 drop the mic, you run off stage crying, and you 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:10.599 never sing in public again. But she didn't do 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:14.400 that. She did not. And this right here is the 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:17.660 first real glimpse of the steel in her character. 00:04:18.360 --> 00:04:21.399 She takes a breath, she resets, she digs in, 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:23.399 and she fights through the rest of that song. 00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:26.800 And by the end, she forces that hostile crowd 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:30.120 to applaud her. That's resilience. It's the defining 00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:33.199 trait of her entire career. She demands respect, 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:36.660 even and maybe especially, when the room is hostile 00:04:36.660 --> 00:04:38.790 to her. It's also worth pointing out that she 00:04:38.790 --> 00:04:41.790 was an achiever in every sense of the word. This 00:04:41.790 --> 00:04:44.730 was not a starving artist story where music was 00:04:44.730 --> 00:04:47.709 her only option out. Not at all. She was a cheerleader. 00:04:47.850 --> 00:04:50.209 She was on the track team. She was taking AP 00:04:50.209 --> 00:04:52.810 classes at Columbia High School. She even founded 00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:54.949 a gospel choir there. She was a classmate of 00:04:54.949 --> 00:04:57.189 Zach Braff, which is a fun little piece of trivia. 00:04:57.389 --> 00:04:58.990 Right. But yeah, she had this quote where she 00:04:58.990 --> 00:05:01.290 said she was just driven to... achieved period 00:05:01.290 --> 00:05:03.870 didn't matter if it was academics or sports or 00:05:03.870 --> 00:05:07.269 music she had to be the best but that perfectionism 00:05:07.269 --> 00:05:10.410 it's a double -edged sword isn't it oh absolutely 00:05:10.410 --> 00:05:12.829 yeah it drives you to the absolute top but it 00:05:12.829 --> 00:05:14.790 makes it very very hard to live in the messy 00:05:14.790 --> 00:05:17.810 middle to just be and that drive it actually 00:05:17.810 --> 00:05:20.569 pushed her into acting before music really became 00:05:20.569 --> 00:05:22.850 the main thing yeah she was taking acting lessons 00:05:22.850 --> 00:05:25.790 in manhattan she landed a recurring role on the 00:05:25.790 --> 00:05:28.660 soap opera As the world turns. And she had a 00:05:28.660 --> 00:05:31.540 small part in a Steven Soderbergh film, King 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:34.480 of the Hill. But the real cultural touchstone, 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:36.480 the thing everyone remembers, is Sister Act 2. 00:05:36.699 --> 00:05:40.439 1993. Sister Act 2, back in the habit. She plays 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:42.740 Rita Louise Watson. And looking back at that 00:05:42.740 --> 00:05:46.060 role now, the casting is almost... It's prophetic, 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:48.360 really. She's playing this rebellious, super 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:51.620 talented inner city kid with a golden voice who 00:05:51.620 --> 00:05:54.319 is, you know, deeply skeptical of authority. 00:05:54.699 --> 00:05:57.240 So familiar. A little bit, yeah. Roger Ebert, 00:05:57.279 --> 00:05:59.879 in his review, he specifically singled her out. 00:05:59.939 --> 00:06:02.540 He called her the girl with the big joyful voice. 00:06:02.759 --> 00:06:04.360 There's a production note that's even more telling. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:08.819 The director, Bill Duke, he credited her with 00:06:08.819 --> 00:06:11.120 improvising an entire rap scene completely on 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:13.529 the spot. which signals that the hip -hop element 00:06:13.529 --> 00:06:15.810 wasn't just a costume she put on later for the 00:06:15.810 --> 00:06:18.149 Fugees. It was already there. It was bubbling 00:06:18.149 --> 00:06:20.449 up inside her. She wasn't just a singer who could 00:06:20.449 --> 00:06:22.870 act. She was a rapper who is currently acting. 00:06:23.389 --> 00:06:26.110 And that leads us directly, I mean directly, 00:06:26.410 --> 00:06:29.269 to the formation of the group that just changed 00:06:29.269 --> 00:06:33.029 the entire 90s landscape, the Fugees. It starts 00:06:33.029 --> 00:06:35.410 with Pras Michelle, who she meets through friends, 00:06:35.610 --> 00:06:39.089 and he brings in his cousin Wycliffe Jean. At 00:06:39.089 --> 00:06:41.410 first... They weren't the Fugees. They had this 00:06:41.410 --> 00:06:43.970 other name, the Translator Crew. Which, let's 00:06:43.970 --> 00:06:46.110 be honest, is not a great name. It's a bit of 00:06:46.110 --> 00:06:47.769 a gimmick, right? Yeah. The idea was they were 00:06:47.769 --> 00:06:49.949 going to rhyme in different languages. It's ambitious, 00:06:50.089 --> 00:06:52.050 but it doesn't really have an identity. So the 00:06:52.050 --> 00:06:55.310 shift to Fugees was a huge deal. It was everything. 00:06:55.529 --> 00:06:58.189 It's short for Refugees, which was a derogatory 00:06:58.189 --> 00:07:00.850 slur used against Haitian Americans at the time. 00:07:00.910 --> 00:07:03.310 And Wycliffe and Praz are both Haitian American. 00:07:03.589 --> 00:07:06.629 Correct. So by taking that name, by adopting 00:07:06.629 --> 00:07:09.209 that slur, they were reclaiming it. They were 00:07:09.209 --> 00:07:12.269 turning an insult into a badge of honor. It instantly 00:07:12.269 --> 00:07:14.870 gave the group a political identity and this 00:07:14.870 --> 00:07:18.290 powerful outsider status that really resonated 00:07:18.290 --> 00:07:21.149 with people. And Lauren's role in this new group 00:07:21.149 --> 00:07:23.790 is so interesting because she had to fight right 00:07:23.790 --> 00:07:26.250 from the start to be more than just the girl 00:07:26.250 --> 00:07:28.730 singer. Oh, yeah. She talks about learning how 00:07:28.730 --> 00:07:32.449 to rap by studying Ice Cube, not the female rappers 00:07:32.449 --> 00:07:34.870 who were popular at the time. That's a critical 00:07:34.870 --> 00:07:37.720 distinction. It's vital. She wasn't looking at, 00:07:37.779 --> 00:07:40.779 say, Salt -N -Pepa or MC Lyte for her flow patterns. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:43.519 She was looking at the aggression, the lyrical 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:46.459 complexity of male gangster rappers. She literally 00:07:46.459 --> 00:07:49.420 did her homework in the bathroom stalls of hip 00:07:49.420 --> 00:07:52.079 -hop clubs. Can you picture that? Just sitting 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:54.259 there, writing bars while the club is something 00:07:54.259 --> 00:07:57.829 outside? She wanted to compete. With the boys 00:07:57.829 --> 00:08:00.649 on their turf using their weapons. So they get 00:08:00.649 --> 00:08:02.990 a deal. They put out their debut album, Blunted 00:08:02.990 --> 00:08:06.329 on Reality, in 1994. And it is, by and large, 00:08:06.509 --> 00:08:08.389 forgotten by the general public. And for good 00:08:08.389 --> 00:08:11.230 reason. It was a flop. A total flop. A critical 00:08:11.230 --> 00:08:13.649 and commercial failure. And the main problem 00:08:13.649 --> 00:08:15.490 was the management at the time. They tried to 00:08:15.490 --> 00:08:18.009 shove this group into the gangster rap box because 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:20.810 that's what was selling. It was completely inauthentic. 00:08:20.829 --> 00:08:22.649 And the audience could smell it a mile away. 00:08:23.069 --> 00:08:24.970 But, you know, it served a purpose that failure 00:08:24.970 --> 00:08:26.629 showed them what not to do. It was a necessary 00:08:26.629 --> 00:08:29.209 misstep. And there was one bright spot on that 00:08:29.209 --> 00:08:32.769 album, a track called Some Seek Stardom. Yes. 00:08:33.389 --> 00:08:35.090 That's where Lauren's rapping really cut through 00:08:35.090 --> 00:08:37.110 the noise. It got her the nickname Elle Boogie. 00:08:38.549 --> 00:08:41.129 That track put the industry on notice that there 00:08:41.129 --> 00:08:42.850 was something special happening with her. So 00:08:42.850 --> 00:08:44.970 they regroup. They go back to the drawing board. 00:08:45.470 --> 00:08:50.750 And in 1996, they drop The Score. And this. This 00:08:50.750 --> 00:08:53.129 wasn't just a hit album. This was a shift in 00:08:53.129 --> 00:08:55.370 the entire atmosphere of music. The score went 00:08:55.370 --> 00:08:58.330 to number one on the Billboard 200. And it's 00:08:58.330 --> 00:09:01.250 just it stayed in the top 10 for half a year. 00:09:01.309 --> 00:09:04.710 It was a monster. It sold 20 million copies worldwide. 00:09:04.929 --> 00:09:07.610 But beyond the sales, it offered a counter narrative. 00:09:07.809 --> 00:09:09.250 You have to remember what was dominating the 00:09:09.250 --> 00:09:11.470 charts at that time. It was nihilism. It was 00:09:11.470 --> 00:09:14.250 violence. And the Fugees came in with this incredible 00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:17.509 blend of hip hop, reggae and soul that just felt. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:20.259 Different. It felt positive. Warren had that 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:22.659 famous quote where she called their music a drop 00:09:22.659 --> 00:09:25.200 of purity to clean a cesspool. A bold statement. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:27.100 A very bold statement, but they backed it up. 00:09:27.240 --> 00:09:29.720 You had Ready or Not, you had Fugila, and then 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:32.779 of course The Behemoth, Killing Me Softly. A 00:09:32.779 --> 00:09:35.399 cover of a Roberta Flack song. And this is where 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:37.580 you can start to see the industry machine showing 00:09:37.580 --> 00:09:40.879 its gears. The song was so popular, so huge on 00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:43.259 the radio, that the label actually pulled it. 00:09:43.549 --> 00:09:46.149 as a commercial single a classic 90s tactic they 00:09:46.149 --> 00:09:48.309 forced people to buy the entire album if they 00:09:48.309 --> 00:09:50.990 wanted that one song it worked in terms of sales 00:09:50.990 --> 00:09:54.590 but it puts this immense almost unbearable pressure 00:09:54.590 --> 00:09:58.649 on the artist suddenly lauren is the focal point 00:09:58.649 --> 00:10:01.289 rolling stone was praising her evocative vocals 00:10:01.289 --> 00:10:04.230 she became the undeniable breakout star of the 00:10:04.230 --> 00:10:06.970 group newsweek called her the most powerful new 00:10:06.970 --> 00:10:09.850 voice in rap and you have to remember she's maybe 00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:12.779 21 years old at this point She's winning Grammys 00:10:12.779 --> 00:10:15.179 for Best Rap Album, and she's still living in 00:10:15.179 --> 00:10:17.399 her parents' house in New Jersey. The disconnect 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:19.480 must have been insane. She even tried to enroll 00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:22.200 at Columbia University as a history major right 00:10:22.200 --> 00:10:24.259 in the middle of this explosion. She was trying 00:10:24.259 --> 00:10:27.080 so hard to maintain some semblance of normalcy, 00:10:27.100 --> 00:10:29.419 but it was impossible. The Fugees were just too 00:10:29.419 --> 00:10:31.980 big. And behind the scenes, they were completely 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:35.220 imploding. The dynamic was toxic. It was a disaster 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:37.200 waiting to happen. You had professional jealousy, 00:10:37.340 --> 00:10:40.679 for sure. But the core issue, the real problem... 00:10:40.919 --> 00:10:43.679 was romantic. Lauren and Wycliffe. They were 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:46.720 in this incredibly tumultuous on again, off again 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:49.240 relationship. And to make it a thousand times 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:52.340 more complicated, Wycliffe goes and marries his 00:10:52.340 --> 00:10:55.960 wife, Claudinette, while he is still deeply involved 00:10:55.960 --> 00:10:59.259 with Lauren. That is just a recipe for absolute 00:10:59.259 --> 00:11:01.500 disaster. It's the fuel that burned the whole 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:03.259 house down. There was no coming back from that. 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:06.340 The group splits for good in 1997. And right 00:11:06.340 --> 00:11:08.480 in the middle of all this chaos, this professional 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:12.139 and personal heartbreak. Lauren meets Rohan Marley. 00:11:12.220 --> 00:11:14.860 Bob Marley's son. And very soon after, she gets 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:17.360 pregnant. And this, this is the pivot point. 00:11:17.419 --> 00:11:20.519 This is the moment the entire story turns. The 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:23.500 miseducation of Lauren Hill simply does not happen 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:26.039 without this pregnancy. No way. Because the advice 00:11:26.039 --> 00:11:27.919 she was getting from the industry, from the experts 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.059 around her at this point, was just horrific. 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:32.379 Have an abortion. Don't ruin your career. They 00:11:32.379 --> 00:11:36.379 saw a baby as a career ender. A momentum killer. 00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:39.240 Here she is just getting started as a solo artist. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.440 And the people paid to guide her career are telling 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:44.720 her that a child would stop her dead in her tracks. 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:48.059 But she chose the baby. She chose the baby. She 00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:50.559 wrote the song to Zion about that exact choice. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.100 And she claims, and I believe her, that the pregnancy 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:57.440 actually cured her writer's block. It gave her 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.659 a clarity of purpose that all the fame and the 00:11:59.659 --> 00:12:02.799 drama couldn't. It grounded her. It made everything 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:05.620 else seem small. So she packs her bags and heads 00:12:05.620 --> 00:12:09.320 to Jamaica, to Tuff Gong Studios. The symbolism 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:13.360 of that is just, you can't miss it. She's recording 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:15.799 her debut solo album in Bob Marley's studio. 00:12:15.940 --> 00:12:18.840 She was consciously stepping into a lineage of 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:21.139 revolutionary music. And she was so specific 00:12:21.139 --> 00:12:23.889 about the production. Very. At the time, in the 00:12:23.889 --> 00:12:26.110 late 90s, R &B and hip -hop were getting very 00:12:26.110 --> 00:12:28.769 digital, very clean, very polished. She ran in 00:12:28.769 --> 00:12:30.450 the complete opposite direction. She said she 00:12:30.450 --> 00:12:32.889 wanted an organic sound. Which meant she hired 00:12:32.889 --> 00:12:35.029 a literal orchestra. I mean, harps, timpani, 00:12:35.149 --> 00:12:38.149 organs, strings. She wanted the human element. 00:12:38.289 --> 00:12:40.230 She wanted the mistakes, the breath, the grain, 00:12:40.309 --> 00:12:41.809 and the sound. And she wanted to be the auteur. 00:12:42.049 --> 00:12:44.830 That was the key. She felt that in the Fugees, 00:12:44.850 --> 00:12:47.870 Wycliffe always got the credit as the genius, 00:12:48.009 --> 00:12:50.970 the producer. She had this quote, they'll never 00:12:50.970 --> 00:12:53.289 throw the genius title to his sister. So she 00:12:53.289 --> 00:12:55.230 had to prove it. She had to prove that she could 00:12:55.230 --> 00:12:58.750 write, arrange, and produce every single note 00:12:58.750 --> 00:13:02.330 herself. This album was her declaration of independence, 00:13:02.769 --> 00:13:05.470 musically and personally. So the album drops 00:13:05.470 --> 00:13:08.250 in August of 1998, The Miseducation of Lauryn 00:13:08.250 --> 00:13:11.370 Hill. And the title itself is a statement. It's 00:13:11.370 --> 00:13:13.409 a direct reference to Carter G. Woodson's book, 00:13:13.570 --> 00:13:15.909 The Miseducation of the Negro. Which immediately 00:13:15.909 --> 00:13:18.190 frames the album as an intellectual project, 00:13:18.250 --> 00:13:20.529 not just another pop record. Exactly. It tells 00:13:20.529 --> 00:13:22.690 you right away that this is about unlearning. 00:13:22.850 --> 00:13:25.970 Unlearning what society, what the school system, 00:13:26.090 --> 00:13:28.789 what the music industry taught her about love, 00:13:28.970 --> 00:13:31.789 about race, about her own value. It's obviously 00:13:31.789 --> 00:13:34.649 about heartbreak. The Wycliffe situation is all 00:13:34.649 --> 00:13:37.600 over it. But it's also about God and motherhood 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.019 and this radical act of self -definition. And 00:13:40.019 --> 00:13:42.480 the response was just instantaneous. It was an 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:45.059 explosion. It broke the first week sales records 00:13:45.059 --> 00:13:48.679 for a female artist at the time, over 423 ,000 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:51.559 copies. And the single Doo -Wop, that thing, 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.940 debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. 00:13:54.279 --> 00:13:56.820 It was the first time in history that an artist 00:13:56.820 --> 00:13:59.899 had debuted at number one on both the album chart 00:13:59.899 --> 00:14:02.059 and the singles chart with their very first solo 00:14:02.059 --> 00:14:05.029 entries. The critics were just falling over themselves 00:14:05.029 --> 00:14:07.549 to praise it. Entertainment Weekly called it 00:14:07.549 --> 00:14:10.309 an album of astonishing power. It was the most 00:14:10.309 --> 00:14:13.549 acclaimed album of the year by far. And then 00:14:13.549 --> 00:14:17.470 came the 1999 Grammys. The coronation. Ten nominations. 00:14:17.529 --> 00:14:21.070 She wins five, including the big one, album of 00:14:21.070 --> 00:14:23.820 the year. She was the first hip hop artist ever 00:14:23.820 --> 00:14:26.080 to win that top prize. Her acceptance speech 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:29.100 was just two sentences. This is crazy. This is 00:14:29.100 --> 00:14:31.600 hip hop. It was a landmark moment. She was on 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:34.200 the cover of Time, Esquire, Rolling Stone. She 00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:37.159 had done the impossible. She had merged hip hop, 00:14:37.179 --> 00:14:39.919 soul and pop into something that commanded universal 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.340 respect from every corner of the culture. She 00:14:42.340 --> 00:14:45.399 was on top of the world. But. Just as she reaches 00:14:45.399 --> 00:14:47.740 this absolute summit, the foundation starts to 00:14:47.740 --> 00:14:49.539 crack, and it starts with a lawsuit. We have 00:14:49.539 --> 00:14:51.659 to talk about Newark. This is the tragedy of 00:14:51.659 --> 00:14:54.539 the story that often gets glossed over. Newark 00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:57.500 was a collective of musicians, guys named Veda 00:14:57.500 --> 00:15:00.559 Nobles, Rasheen Pugh, and others, who worked 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:02.840 very closely with her on the album. They weren't 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:05.059 just session players. Well, that was the heart 00:15:05.059 --> 00:15:07.940 of the dispute. They filed a massive lawsuit. 00:15:08.500 --> 00:15:10.940 claiming they were primary songwriters and contributors, 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:13.659 not just hired hands, and that they weren't credited 00:15:13.659 --> 00:15:16.019 properly for their work. And this goes right 00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:18.600 back to her desire to be seen as the sole auteur, 00:15:18.779 --> 00:15:21.340 doesn't it? Precisely. It shines a light on the 00:15:21.340 --> 00:15:24.759 incredibly blurry lines in music creation. You 00:15:24.759 --> 00:15:26.340 know, if a bass player comes up with a killer 00:15:26.340 --> 00:15:28.720 groove during a jam session, and that groove 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:31.059 becomes the hook of a hit song, did he write 00:15:31.059 --> 00:15:33.639 the song, or did he just play the bass? From 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:36.240 her perspective, she saw them as talented musicians 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:38.840 helping her execute her vision. But from their 00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:41.200 perspective, they saw themselves as co -creators 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:43.700 who were being written out of the narrative and, 00:15:43.740 --> 00:15:45.600 more importantly, out of the profits. And they 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:49.259 settled out of court in 2001 for a reported $5 00:15:49.259 --> 00:15:53.200 million. Wow. That is a huge sum of money. That 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:56.019 is not a nuisance settlement. No, that's a significant 00:15:56.019 --> 00:15:59.019 admission, financially speaking. And a friend 00:15:59.019 --> 00:16:01.960 of Lauren's was quoted later saying that this 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:04.230 lawsuit... Turned everything a little crazy for 00:16:04.230 --> 00:16:06.789 her. It was the turning point. I think it was. 00:16:06.929 --> 00:16:09.149 It was the moment the art became a transaction. 00:16:09.610 --> 00:16:12.129 She felt betrayed. She felt like people were 00:16:12.129 --> 00:16:15.629 trying to, in her words, eat off her plate. It 00:16:15.629 --> 00:16:18.370 was the beginning of her deep, deep disillusionment 00:16:18.370 --> 00:16:21.090 with the entire industry ecosystem. And that 00:16:21.090 --> 00:16:23.169 disillusionment leads directly to the exile. 00:16:23.309 --> 00:16:27.620 From roughly 2000 to 2003, she just... She retreats. 00:16:27.620 --> 00:16:29.700 And it was a quiet, graceful retreat. It was 00:16:29.700 --> 00:16:32.720 a drastic severing of ties. She fired her management 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.639 team. She stopped watching television. She completely 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:37.539 stopped listening to music. She was trying to 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:39.559 deprogram herself. That's exactly what it was. 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:41.320 She talked about the intense pressure of fame, 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.379 about not even being able to run to the grocery 00:16:43.379 --> 00:16:44.820 store without worrying about how she looked, 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:47.399 the pressure to be this perfect superstar. She 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:49.659 said she realized she was being compromised for 00:16:49.659 --> 00:16:52.200 the sake of the machine. And so she started attending 00:16:52.200 --> 00:16:55.470 Bible study. Five days a week. And this is when 00:16:55.470 --> 00:16:58.350 she falls under the influence of a very controversial 00:16:58.350 --> 00:17:01.009 spiritual advisor named Brother Anthony. Some 00:17:01.009 --> 00:17:03.549 people in her inner circle, her friends and family, 00:17:03.649 --> 00:17:06.150 describe that relationship as being almost cult 00:17:06.150 --> 00:17:09.130 -like. He certainly encouraged her to sever all 00:17:09.130 --> 00:17:12.170 ties with the secular world and the industry 00:17:12.170 --> 00:17:14.650 standards that came with it. And when she finally 00:17:14.650 --> 00:17:17.509 did reemerge for that MTV Unplugged number 2 00:17:17.509 --> 00:17:22.119 .0 special in 2002, the change was just... It 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:23.940 was shocking to people. People were expecting 00:17:23.940 --> 00:17:26.640 Miseducation Part 2. You know, polished hits, 00:17:26.779 --> 00:17:29.279 the big band. Right. And what they got was Lauren 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:31.599 in a baseball cap, sitting on a stool with an 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:33.740 acoustic guitar. She was clearly just learning 00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:35.940 how to play. And she was speaking more than singing. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:39.660 Long, rambling, passionate monologues about reality, 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:41.799 about God, about the industry. And the reviews 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:44.059 were absolutely brutal. Rolling Stone famously 00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:46.640 called it a public breakdown. They did. But... 00:17:46.890 --> 00:17:49.150 If you listen to it now, or if you read the AllMusic 00:17:49.150 --> 00:17:51.410 review, which called it unflinching and fascinating, 00:17:51.730 --> 00:17:54.609 it plays very differently. It sounds like a woman 00:17:54.609 --> 00:17:57.109 who is refusing point blank to be a commodity 00:17:57.109 --> 00:18:00.279 anymore. She was actively deconstructing her 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:03.660 own celebrity, her own myth on live television. 00:18:03.819 --> 00:18:06.500 It was a radical act. And there's a track from 00:18:06.500 --> 00:18:09.759 that session, Mystery of Iniquity, that Kanye 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.119 West later interpolated for his hit song All 00:18:12.119 --> 00:18:14.799 Falls Down. Which just proves that even in her 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:18.160 so -called breakdown, her creative output was 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:20.960 still potent enough, still visionary enough to 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.480 fuel the next generation's biggest hits. She 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:25.519 was still creating the future. But she wasn't 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:27.200 done burning bridges with the establishment. 00:18:27.829 --> 00:18:31.210 Not by a long shot. In 2003, she's invited to 00:18:31.210 --> 00:18:33.630 perform at a Christmas concert in Vatican City. 00:18:33.809 --> 00:18:35.690 You can't make this up. She's in the heart of 00:18:35.690 --> 00:18:38.210 the Catholic Church. And she decides that this 00:18:38.210 --> 00:18:40.269 is the moment to speak. This is a moment of just 00:18:40.269 --> 00:18:43.289 extreme bravery that was completely painted as 00:18:43.289 --> 00:18:45.269 madness at the time. Absolutely. She gets on 00:18:45.269 --> 00:18:47.690 that stage in front of cardinals and bishops, 00:18:47.809 --> 00:18:50.589 and she uses her platform to publicly criticize 00:18:50.589 --> 00:18:53.390 the church leaders for the sexual abuse scandals 00:18:53.390 --> 00:18:56.190 and the cover -ups. And this was years before 00:18:56.190 --> 00:18:58.970 the Boston Globe spotlight investigation, years 00:18:58.970 --> 00:19:01.329 before the mainstream culture had really accepted 00:19:01.329 --> 00:19:04.809 the sheer scale of the abuse. Exactly. She was 00:19:04.809 --> 00:19:07.970 so far ahead of the curve on this issue. She 00:19:07.970 --> 00:19:10.170 looked out at them and said, what do you have 00:19:10.170 --> 00:19:12.670 to say about the lives you've broken? The reaction 00:19:12.670 --> 00:19:15.869 was swift. The Catholic League called her pathologically 00:19:15.869 --> 00:19:19.309 miserable. Her comments were completely cut from 00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:21.430 the television broadcast. But she was willing 00:19:21.430 --> 00:19:24.490 to sacrifice her commercial viability, her likability, 00:19:24.670 --> 00:19:27.710 to speak a truth that nobody else in that powerful 00:19:27.710 --> 00:19:30.210 room wanted to hear. It's a recurring theme with 00:19:30.210 --> 00:19:32.309 her, isn't it? She spots the rot in the system, 00:19:32.430 --> 00:19:34.049 whether it's the music industry or the church, 00:19:34.230 --> 00:19:36.549 long before anyone else is willing to name it. 00:19:37.079 --> 00:19:39.619 But speaking truth to power always has consequences. 00:19:40.039 --> 00:19:43.059 And following that Vatican incident, we really 00:19:43.059 --> 00:19:45.140 enter what we could call the wilderness years. 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:47.880 It becomes less about the music and more about, 00:19:48.059 --> 00:19:51.259 well, legal troubles and increasingly erratic 00:19:51.259 --> 00:19:53.660 behavior. It's a really painful period for her 00:19:53.660 --> 00:19:56.420 fans because you'd get these fleeting moments 00:19:56.420 --> 00:19:59.680 of hope like the Fugees reunion attempts. They 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:01.539 performed at Dave Chappelle's block party in 00:20:01.539 --> 00:20:04.019 2004. And if you watch that documentary, their 00:20:04.019 --> 00:20:07.119 performance is electric. The chemistry seems 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:09.480 to be there. It really felt like, okay, maybe, 00:20:09.619 --> 00:20:11.579 maybe they're back. But the chemistry behind 00:20:11.579 --> 00:20:14.599 the scenes was completely toxic. Utterly shot. 00:20:14.980 --> 00:20:17.019 When they tried to turn that one -off performance 00:20:17.019 --> 00:20:19.779 into a full reunion tour, it all fell apart. 00:20:20.460 --> 00:20:22.980 Lauren's behavior had shifted drastically. This 00:20:22.980 --> 00:20:24.900 is when the report started coming out that she 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:27.380 was demanding to be addressed only as Mrs. Hill, 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.200 or sometimes Empress, by the entire crew. Right. 00:20:30.259 --> 00:20:33.240 And she was consistently chronically late. Late 00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:35.960 to rehearsals, late to sound checks, late to 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:39.039 the actual shows. Praise and Wycliffe eventually 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:41.000 just walked away again. They said they couldn't 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:43.299 deal with the volatility. And then the ultimate 00:20:43.299 --> 00:20:47.150 reality check hits. The IRS. In 2012, she was 00:20:47.150 --> 00:20:49.309 charged with failing to file taxes on about $1 00:20:49.309 --> 00:20:53.150 .8 million in earnings between 2005 and 2007. 00:20:53.490 --> 00:20:55.470 Now, usually when a celebrity gets hit with tax 00:20:55.470 --> 00:20:57.609 evasion, the defense is some kind of negligence. 00:20:57.670 --> 00:21:00.430 You know, my accountant messed up or I didn't 00:21:00.430 --> 00:21:03.009 understand the forms. Lauren's defense was entirely 00:21:03.009 --> 00:21:06.210 different. It was philosophical. It was a manifesto. 00:21:06.210 --> 00:21:08.970 She didn't say she forgot to pay her taxes. She 00:21:08.970 --> 00:21:11.240 said she refused to. Right. She put out this 00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:13.359 long statement claiming she went underground 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:16.279 to protect her family from what she called hostility, 00:21:16.380 --> 00:21:19.039 false entitlement, manipulation, racial prejudice, 00:21:19.339 --> 00:21:22.480 sexism, and ageism. She essentially argued that 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:25.039 she had consciously removed herself from the 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.619 economic system because she viewed the system 00:21:27.619 --> 00:21:31.430 itself as abusive and toxic. I have the quote 00:21:31.430 --> 00:21:33.650 from her statement to the court right here. She 00:21:33.650 --> 00:21:43.430 said, It's an incredibly powerful sociological 00:21:43.430 --> 00:21:46.160 argument. She is connecting her personal situation 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:48.980 to a much larger history of the exploitation 00:21:48.980 --> 00:21:51.660 of black artists and the commodification of their 00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:54.440 talent. But unfortunately for her, the IRS and 00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:56.140 the United States federal courts do not accept 00:21:56.140 --> 00:21:58.720 sociology as a valid legal defense for not paying 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:01.220 your taxes. And the result was prison. It was. 00:22:01.299 --> 00:22:04.220 In 2013, she was sentenced and served three months 00:22:04.220 --> 00:22:06.720 in a minimum security federal prison and then 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:09.079 another three months under house arrest. It is 00:22:09.079 --> 00:22:11.819 such a jarring image. The queen of hip hop, the 00:22:11.819 --> 00:22:15.259 woman who swept the Grammys, sitting in a prison 00:22:15.259 --> 00:22:18.519 cell over a tax dispute. But even there, even 00:22:18.519 --> 00:22:21.680 while she was incarcerated, she didn't stop creating. 00:22:21.940 --> 00:22:25.619 She released a single called Consumerism. from 00:22:25.619 --> 00:22:27.859 prison which just shows that her mind never stopped 00:22:27.859 --> 00:22:31.099 working she was still analyzing the world still 00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:33.579 critiquing this culture of consumption that she 00:22:33.579 --> 00:22:35.980 felt trapped by she never stopped being an artist 00:22:35.980 --> 00:22:37.880 even when she completely stopped participating 00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:40.339 in the industry and that really brings us to 00:22:40.339 --> 00:22:42.619 the modern era she's out of prison she's touring 00:22:42.619 --> 00:22:45.839 again but the biggest conversation around lauren 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.779 hill these days It's not about new music. It's 00:22:48.779 --> 00:22:51.319 about her clock management. The lateness. Yeah. 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:53.180 It is legendary. It's become a running joke, 00:22:53.259 --> 00:22:55.339 a meme at this point. And we're not talking 15 00:22:55.339 --> 00:22:56.940 or 20 minutes late. We're talking about arriving. 00:22:57.420 --> 00:22:59.900 two, sometimes three hours late to your own shows. 00:23:00.099 --> 00:23:02.519 Sets get cut short because venues have strict 00:23:02.519 --> 00:23:05.400 noise curfews. I remember reading about a show 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:07.799 in Atlanta back in 2016 where she only got to 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:10.160 play for 40 minutes because she arrived so incredibly 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:13.299 late. And fairs, understandably, get furious 00:23:13.299 --> 00:23:16.420 about this. Tickets are expensive. People hire 00:23:16.420 --> 00:23:18.740 babysitters. They travel for these shows. But 00:23:18.740 --> 00:23:21.160 Lauren's explanation for this is... Well, it's 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:23.500 fascinating. She doesn't apologize in the way 00:23:23.500 --> 00:23:25.799 you'd expect. She doesn't say sorry the bus was 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:28.339 late. She frames it as a spiritual necessity. 00:23:28.819 --> 00:23:31.000 Exactly. She says it's not a sign of disrespect. 00:23:31.180 --> 00:23:34.299 She says she is aligning her energy with the 00:23:34.299 --> 00:23:36.339 time. I have to read this quote from her. She 00:23:36.339 --> 00:23:38.319 says, I don't show up late because I don't care. 00:23:38.859 --> 00:23:41.200 I show up late because I care deeply and I have 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.940 to align my energy with the time. So to her, 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:46.980 a concert isn't a product or a service that she's 00:23:46.980 --> 00:23:49.359 providing to a customer who bought a ticket. 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:52.079 It's a ritual. It's a ritual. She rejects the 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:54.619 very idea that she is an employee of the ticket 00:23:54.619 --> 00:23:56.960 holder. She believes she is a vessel for something 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:00.119 greater and you cannot force that vessel to pour 00:24:00.119 --> 00:24:03.339 until it's ready. In 2023, she even responded 00:24:03.339 --> 00:24:05.420 to criticism by telling a crowd that they were 00:24:05.420 --> 00:24:08.490 lucky she shows up at all. Which now? That takes 00:24:08.490 --> 00:24:11.130 some serious nerve. It does. It borders on arrogance. 00:24:11.210 --> 00:24:14.529 Absolutely. But it also just underscores her 00:24:14.529 --> 00:24:18.490 absolute unwavering refusal to compromise her 00:24:18.490 --> 00:24:21.740 internal state for external demands. She will 00:24:21.740 --> 00:24:24.400 not punch a clock for anyone, not even for thousands 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:27.700 of paying fans. And just recently, in 2024, another 00:24:27.700 --> 00:24:30.579 planned Fugees reunion tour was canceled very 00:24:30.579 --> 00:24:33.960 abruptly, and Praz actually sued her for fraud 00:24:33.960 --> 00:24:36.519 and mismanagement related to it. So the drama, 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:38.839 it just continues. It never really ends. The 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:41.240 chaos has become part of the package now. So, 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:44.299 okay. We have the prison time. We have the legendary 00:24:44.299 --> 00:24:46.660 lateness, the complete lack of a sophomore album, 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:49.759 the lawsuits. On paper, it sounds like a career 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:52.180 in absolute decline. It does. But you argue the 00:24:52.180 --> 00:24:54.240 opposite. You argue that the Lauryn Hill effect 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.259 is actually the dominant force in hip hop right 00:24:56.259 --> 00:24:58.460 now. I think the evidence is undeniable. Yeah. 00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:00.519 If you really look at the structure, the sound, 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:02.900 the DNA of modern hip hop, her fingerprints are 00:25:02.900 --> 00:25:04.599 everywhere. So let's start with the sound itself. 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:07.279 The seamless blend of singing and rapping. She 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:09.680 popularized that. She made it the standard. Before 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:11.539 her, you were generally one or the other, right? 00:25:11.599 --> 00:25:14.200 You were an MC or you were a vocalist. Pretty 00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:16.599 much. There was some crossover, of course. But 00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:18.460 Lauryn showed that you could be truly elite at 00:25:18.460 --> 00:25:21.799 both. You could out -rap the best rappers and 00:25:21.799 --> 00:25:23.579 then turn around and out -sing the best R &B 00:25:23.579 --> 00:25:25.920 divas, sometimes on the very same track. And 00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:28.180 that is the absolute blueprint for an artist 00:25:28.180 --> 00:25:30.819 like Drake. Drake is basically the Lauryn Hill 00:25:30.819 --> 00:25:34.410 model scaled for mass production. He is her direct 00:25:34.410 --> 00:25:37.569 descendant. He even samples her song X Factor 00:25:37.569 --> 00:25:40.789 heavily on his massive hit Nice For What. He's 00:25:40.789 --> 00:25:43.190 clearly studied her. He's studied her melodic 00:25:43.190 --> 00:25:45.589 transitions, her vulnerability. And it's not 00:25:45.589 --> 00:25:47.930 just him. Kanye West has sampled her constantly 00:25:47.930 --> 00:25:50.549 throughout his career. Cardi B used her flow 00:25:50.549 --> 00:25:54.359 in an interpolation on Be Careful, J. Cole. Her 00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:56.819 DNA is just embedded in the code of the genre 00:25:56.819 --> 00:25:58.500 now. And you have to look at someone like Nicki 00:25:58.500 --> 00:26:00.460 Minaj. Nicki's story is the perfect example. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:02.799 She was famously rejected by labels early in 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:05.259 her career because, as executives told her, she 00:26:05.259 --> 00:26:08.720 wasn't Lauryn Hill. Wow. That was the bar. Lauryn 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:10.759 Hill became the benchmark for what a complete 00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:14.299 female rapper could be. Lyrical, versatile, musical, 00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:17.059 and a commercial powerhouse. And this influence, 00:26:17.140 --> 00:26:19.559 it goes way beyond just the music. It's the visual 00:26:19.559 --> 00:26:23.319 language. It's the fashion. Yes. When the score 00:26:23.319 --> 00:26:26.140 in Miseducation came out, the dominant aesthetic 00:26:26.140 --> 00:26:29.440 for female R &B and pop stars was very specific. 00:26:29.619 --> 00:26:33.019 It was very polished, processed, often chemically 00:26:33.019 --> 00:26:35.039 straightened hair. It was an assimilationist 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:37.380 aesthetic, really, designed not to be too threatening 00:26:37.380 --> 00:26:40.539 to a mainstream white audience. Absolutely. And 00:26:40.539 --> 00:26:42.400 then Lauren shows up on the cover of Time magazine 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:45.579 with locks. She wore bantu knots. She wore huge 00:26:45.579 --> 00:26:48.680 afros. She rocked massive hoop earrings and baggy 00:26:48.680 --> 00:26:51.769 denim. She normalized natural black beauty in 00:26:51.769 --> 00:26:53.970 the mainstream pop space in a way that just hadn't 00:26:53.970 --> 00:26:56.720 been done before at that level of fame. Virgil 00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:59.099 Abloh, the late great designer for Louis Vuitton, 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:02.420 called her a forever muse. You can see her influence 00:27:02.420 --> 00:27:05.599 in old Dior collections by John Galliano. Alexander 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:08.059 Wang cites her as an inspiration. She made it 00:27:08.059 --> 00:27:10.359 cool to be your natural self. She proved you 00:27:10.359 --> 00:27:12.519 didn't have to look like a plastic pop doll to 00:27:12.519 --> 00:27:14.380 sell millions and millions of records. And we 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:16.259 can't ignore the activism. We talked about the 00:27:16.259 --> 00:27:19.039 Vatican, but it goes deeper. She founded the 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:21.660 Refugee Project way back in the 90s for at -risk 00:27:21.660 --> 00:27:23.920 youth. She supported scholarships in Jamaica. 00:27:24.329 --> 00:27:27.230 And much more recently, after the Michael Brown 00:27:27.230 --> 00:27:29.710 shooting in Ferguson, she released that haunting 00:27:29.710 --> 00:27:32.670 track, Black Rage. Yeah, that was incredible. 00:27:32.789 --> 00:27:35.130 It was set to the tune of my favorite things 00:27:35.130 --> 00:27:37.730 from The Sound of Music. But the lyrics were 00:27:37.730 --> 00:27:40.410 all about the centuries of trauma and police 00:27:40.410 --> 00:27:43.049 brutality. It was chilling. And then she refused 00:27:43.049 --> 00:27:46.109 to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show in 00:27:46.109 --> 00:27:48.869 solidarity with Colin Kaepernick. She has, at 00:27:48.869 --> 00:27:51.829 every single turn, consistently chosen her morals 00:27:51.829 --> 00:27:55.339 over the money. That is the one through line 00:27:55.339 --> 00:27:57.740 that connects everything. From the very beginning, 00:27:57.900 --> 00:28:00.039 turning down that forced gangster rap image, 00:28:00.180 --> 00:28:02.980 to refusing to apologize to the Vatican, to refusing 00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:05.640 to file taxes in a system she viewed as fundamentally 00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:07.859 corrupt, to turning down the Super Bowl. She 00:28:07.859 --> 00:28:10.200 is nothing if not consistent in her principles. 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:12.059 So we circle all the way back to the paradox 00:28:12.059 --> 00:28:14.519 we started with. She released one perfect solo 00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:17.099 album 25 years ago. We are still dissecting it. 00:28:17.140 --> 00:28:19.460 We are still listening to it. The industry calls 00:28:19.460 --> 00:28:21.940 her difficult. They call her crazy, unreliable. 00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:25.640 Is that a fair assessment? Difficult is so often 00:28:25.640 --> 00:28:28.279 the label that a patriarchal industry gives to 00:28:28.279 --> 00:28:31.460 a woman who simply says no. And Lauryn Hill said 00:28:31.460 --> 00:28:34.140 no. She said no to the machine. She said no to 00:28:34.140 --> 00:28:36.400 being a product. She said no to the follow up 00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:39.200 album they demanded. She said no to the schedule, 00:28:39.259 --> 00:28:42.759 to the expectations. So did she fail by not following 00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:45.619 up? Did she somehow waste her incredible potential? 00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:48.299 I don't think so. I really don't. I think she 00:28:48.299 --> 00:28:50.779 succeeded by surviving. I mean, think about it 00:28:50.779 --> 00:28:53.279 in an era where artists are basically content 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:55.839 farms expected to release a new project every 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:58.700 18 months and post on social media five times 00:28:58.700 --> 00:29:01.200 a day just to stay relevant. Yeah. Lauren Hill 00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:04.200 proved that one perfect, authentic, undeniable 00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:07.059 piece of work can sustain a legacy for a quarter 00:29:07.059 --> 00:29:09.779 of a century. And counting. She just opted out. 00:29:09.819 --> 00:29:12.240 She took the hit to her public reputation, maybe 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:14.680 even to her bank account. But in doing so, she 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:17.039 kept her agency. And she kept her soul. I think 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:19.059 that's the question her career forces us to ask. 00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:21.519 When we look at her story, we shouldn't see a 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:23.700 tragedy of wasted talent. We should see a revolution. 00:29:24.299 --> 00:29:26.779 She challenged the very definition of what it 00:29:26.779 --> 00:29:29.119 means to be a star in the modern world. And she 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:33.400 forces us as listeners to ask ourselves, what 00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:36.259 is the true cost of our own authenticity? in 00:29:36.259 --> 00:29:39.460 our own lives, in our own jobs? And are we willing 00:29:39.460 --> 00:29:42.059 to pay the price she paid? That is the ultimate 00:29:42.059 --> 00:29:44.259 question she leaves us with. And that's the thought 00:29:44.259 --> 00:29:47.000 to leave you with today. Pull up The Miseducation 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:49.359 of Lauryn Hill. Listen to it again. But this 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:51.519 time, don't just listen to it as a nostalgia 00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:54.000 trip. Listen to it as a historical document, 00:29:54.200 --> 00:29:56.559 as a blueprint for someone claiming their space 00:29:56.559 --> 00:29:58.500 in the world, no matter what the consequences. 00:29:59.019 --> 00:30:01.299 Well said. Thanks for diving deep with us. We'll 00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:01.859 see you next time.