MS. LAURYN HILL is celebrating twenty years of her anthemic debut solo album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” released twenty years ago just last month. The GRAMMY® Award-winning artist who earlier this year announced the North American leg of her huge world tour, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 20th Anniversary Tour, will return to New Zealand in 2019 joined by very special guest, longtime collaborator and friend NAS.
Last seen in New Zealand for Raggamuffin festival in 2010, of the upcoming tour Ms. Hill notes, “This album chronicled an intimate piece of my young existence. It was the summation of most, if not all, of my most hopeful and positive emotions experienced to that date. I loved and believed deeply in my community\'s ability to both love and heal itself provided it received the right amount of support and encouragement. Our world today, both complex and changing, is in need of the balance between moral fortitude and cathartic expression. I hope the love and energy that permeated this work can continue to inspire change with love and optimism at the helm.”
Ms. Lauryn Hill established her reputation in the music world as the lone female member of the Fugees, whose record sales would make them the second biggest selling R&B act worldwide since Michael Jackson. The now multi-platinum selling artist took the world by storm two decades ago as a solo artist with “The Miseducation of Ms. Lauryn Hill”. Her singles including \Doo Wop (That Thing)\ and \Everything Is Everything\ catapulted her to superstardom.
Her iconic solo album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” changed the face of popular music when it was released in 1998. The album’s innovative mix of traditional soul, hip-hop beats and politically charged rap was a revelation. It won 5 Grammys the year it was released and has gone on to be included in dozens of “Greatest Albums Ever” lists such as Mojo’s 100 Greatest Albums of Our Lifetime, Q’s Top 100 Albums Ever, Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and it came in at number 2 on NPR’s 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women.
Born in New Jersey to a schoolteacher mother and computer programmer/system’s analyst father, it was obvious from a young age that Ms. Hill possessed extraordinary talents, abilities and propensity for creativity. Walking and talking early, she would soon impress family and teachers alike with a seemingly quick mind and extended vocabulary. She excelled throughout school in all areas of academic, athletic, creative and extra-curricular activity.
Ms. Hill grew up in a home where the sound of music was a household staple. She very early, probably in the second or third grade, discovered a treasure chest’s worth of 45 singles that belonged to her mother and father that chronicled the lives and careers of some of the world’s most renowned and soulfully successful musicians-from the offerings of Motown, Staxx, Atlantic, Capitol and Mercury Records, and the like, who were at the time recording ‘the greats’ like Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, The Dreamlovers, Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions, The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and a plethora of other artists who were influencing music and recreating the world.
Ms. Hill sang and deeply appreciated music at a young age, known for being very animated, she also acted, danced and enjoyed performance art of various kinds. She spent her formative years acting in plays and being cast in television commercials, as well as the daytime drama ‘As the World Turns’, Steven Soderbergh’s “King of the Hill”, and “Sister Act II” with Whoopi Goldberg. Ironically, all of this was done while she was still a full-time student. After graduating high school with stellar grades, she attended Columbia University in New York while a member of the then up and coming musical group the Fugees.
Ms. Hill was a great academician, but her unique gifts, interest and pursuits would take her in the direction of profound experience and great accomplishment not just in the classroom, but also beyond it. This of course would not negatively alter her life-long love of learning, invention and acquiring knowledge, but would enhance it.
Iconic American rapper Nas, who currently joins Ms. Lauryn Hill on her North American tour dates will feature as a very special guest in Auckland. Nas rose to fame in 1994 with the release of his debut album “Illmatic”, arguably the most revered rap album in the genre’s history, its vivid depiction of inner-city New York, its multi-syllabic wordplay and stellar beats ensured the album didn’t flag from beginning to end. Nas and Ms. Lauryn Hill’s story begins at a similar time with their single, ‘If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)’ released in 1996, at a peak time in the Fugees career and a career kickstarter for Ms. Lauryn Hill’s solo path.
Twenty years on and the cultural significance of her debut solo recording “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” remains one of the most influential pieces from the 20th century. This one-off Auckland performance will celebrate the making of an icon and a recording that changed the face of music.
“One of our era’s greatest artists.” – Double J
“Hill’s songs bring the craft of Joni Mitchell or Carly Simon to the dawn of the 21st century… delivered with universal empathy that makes it impossible for anybody ignore.” – BBC Music
