Having watched and rewatched the tribute to Lauryn Hill at the BET awards, I cannot help but feel nostalgic about growing up in late 90s London. This album was the mission statement when it was released, and I remember everything about that time. I remember where I was when I listened to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill for the first time. I skipped college that day and together with my friend headed to HMV to buy the album before heading back to her house in Camden Town where we huddled together in her single bedroom on her single bed and listened from top to bottom on the little JVC CD player.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill educated us. Ms Lauryn Hill raised us. Every single song was a map of my life at the time and to this day it has stayed with me. The goosebumps I get from her tribute to Zion whom we all claim as a brother because we witnessed his mother’s greatness as he blossomed within. We saw an everlasting tribute to him in song. A mother’s undisputed praise for the love of her world in Zion. That song resonated with me at the time, not because I was a parent; I wasn’t and I’m not, but because it talks of a different level of love. A higher level attained when you know for certain what is to come is meant to be and the voices outside of you, telling you to consider an alternative, are talking from a lower plain than you are. To be so sure of a love so deep, so profound, is what I found most moving. It still my favourite song on the album.
I Used to Love Him with Mary J Blige saw me through a most memorable break up and DooWop that Thing was a carnival chune we played getting ready to head to Nottinghill Carnival and to the clubs afterward.
The video for Everything is Everything remains one of the most iconic of all time and to this day it cannot be beat especially in an era where everything is much too overthought and overhyped, and digitally miscalculated. Much like the Miseducation is an album for all time. For all of our live maps.
Every ghetto every city was an ode to how we grew up outside and a throwback to the way our parents were. It is pure nostalgia and a call to push forward whilst your story, whatever it is, should not hold you back but spur you on.
Ms Hill raised me from girlhood and shaped my womanhood, she elevated my mind in a manner that informed and still informs the way I navigate in the world, because the lyrics of her songs stay true. The way I navigate self-worth. The way I carry myself and allow the world to see me in my fullness. Over two decades, now nearly three and this album remains a masterpiece. When I lament the dearth of true music and musical talent, this is what I mean; they do not make them like this anymore save for a few.
I wonder, did she know then what we know now, just what that album would come to meant to us. To us girls who grew up navigating a world we did not understand but were too eager to see it all. It was her love letter to us. She gave us her heart and continues to in the lyrics of the songs. She talked us through her heartbreak and the noise from within that gives the little voice its roar. It was and still is the lions roar and for generations to come there will be nothing quite like it.
She sings to the evolution of the girls we were and the women we have become. Giving language to the many emotions we go through; inexplicable many can be especially during those painful adolescent years, the madness of young adulthood and growing into oneself. She gave language in song to the emotions we did not understand. The highs. The lows and the murky middle ground.
She created a movement that has carried on to today. This body of work is seminal. For many lifetimes to come it will always be the blueprint because there is nothing like it out there today. Her sound transcends time and it stays relevant to any day it finds itself. Her lyrics define emotions and give language to a feeling you cannot quite place but stays deep within you.
It is love and joy and heartbreak and hope.
It is an ache for what was and a desire to dream for what will be.
Lauryn Hill raised us all; young girls, fast girls, shy girls, hype girls.
The ones who hung out on the block too long who didn’t go home even when the lights came on.
The ones who did the walk of shame come morning,
The ones who stayed in hopes they could leave.
The ones who left and never looked back in regret.
The ones who went against the grain in joy and hope.
She raised us all; her miseducation became our education because when she said; “don’t be a hard rock when you really are a gem. Baby girl respect is just the minimum.’ That was THE BAR! Because I am still a baby girl. As we all are.
Thank you Ms Hill.