Why didn’t Lauryn Hill make another album?
In the modern world of hyper-celebrity pop stars and commercial marketing, the legacy of an album rarely overshadows the individual who released it. Evaluating that thought in the uber-digital 2020s, you think of Brat being thrust to mega-stardom but the marketing of Charli XCX herself existed right alongside it. Of the albums that push back that mode of approach, Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is arguably the most iconic.
With a successful acting career and a place in the cultural zeitgeist confirmed by her work with The Fugees, Lauryn Hill has all the makings of being recognised as a megastar fit for transcending something wider than any individual album. But the release of her magnum opus, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, left such a cultural footprint related to every pocket of modern life that the artist’s almost public disappearance thereafter hasn’t left her fans feeling abandoned.
And if you want to question the reach of her work, you don’t have to look any further than Little Simz. The North London rapper is swiftly carving an iconic legacy of her own and makes no bones about being the beneficiary of Hill’s work. In a 2019 interview with The Independent, she spoke about the album and subsequent interactions she had with Hill, saying: “I remember when I first took in that album. I remember where I was in life, hearing it and having goosebumps for the first time, and thinking, ‘Oh, shit, I didn’t know music could do that for you”.
She continued, “I didn’t know music could make you cry. And then I got to tell her that’s what it did. Insane. And it was dope to see how you could take those songs that are years old, and still breathe new life into them.” She added, “That’s true artistry, isn’t it? Not being bound to just one thing.”
The ease with which Hill could breathe new life into the tracks was simply down to the record’s timelessness. When Apple Music named it number 1 in their Best Albums of All Time list, host Zane Lowe said: “It has not dated, not even a fraction.” He added. “In fact, it feels more fresh and more relevant the more you listen to it… There are a lot of young artists hearing it, and it’s becoming part of their artistic DNA. It’s inspiring and influencing them… It’s timeless.”
These sorts of glowing assessments are commonplace in the orbit of Hill’s album. And with it being her solo debut, it’s hard to identify any negatives from being in such a position. However, for a musician as empathetic and honest in their relationship between emotion and art, the commercial expectation that awaited her was somewhat perilous.
Any concerns she had were heightened by the rather swift legal troubles the album was quickly embroiled in. During the album’s recording in 1997, Hill split her time between New York City and Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. During the Jamaica sessions, Hill collaborated with a collective called New Ark, who was featured on the record. However, upon release, New Ark was not credited; instead, the notes only mentioned Hill concerning the production, writing, and arrangement.
Subsequently, New Ark filed a 50-page lawsuit against Hill and Columbia Records. In their statement, New Ark said Hill “used their songs and production skills but failed to properly credit them for the work.” While Hill disputed the claims and raised concerns over New Ark’s motives for a lawsuit following the commercial success of the album, she ultimately had to settle to the tune of $5million.
In an interview for Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Albums” podcast, Hill spoke of the time, saying: “With the Miseducation, there was no precedent. I was, for the most part, free to explore, experiment and express.” She added, “After the Miseducation, there were scores of tentacled obstructionists, politics, repressing agendas, unrealistic expectations, and saboteurs everywhere. People had included me in their own narratives of their successes as it pertained to my album, and if this contradicted my experience, I was considered an enemy”.
Genuine trust is hard to come by when you’re a megastar, but following the legal ordeals of her debut album, it seemed somewhat of an impossibility for Hill at that point. She soon entered a relationship that inspired her to go to bible study and ultimately abandon every aspect of celebrity life.
Unfortunately for her fans, her music output was deemed a factor of such celebrity, and they have not enjoyed any new material from Hill since. Given the evident genius of Hill’s work, what reads as another tragic story of artistry drowned out by celebrity politics is made harder to swallow. But fortunately, for fans of Hill, such is the transcendence of The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, that it’s gone on to endure decades since, satiating the appetite of music fans yearning for a heightened sense of life understanding.
