Lauryn Hill Talks ‘Miseducation’ Album

If Lauryn Hill isn’t going to release any new music, the next best thing she can do is allow us to relive the brilliance of her only solo studio album, 1998′s ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.’ The celebrated hip-hop star sat down with Reebok to discuss her classic record.
Hill says she didn’t realize how big the album would become: “We understood that it was going to be landmark, but I don’t think I understood to what degree other people would be deeply impacted by what was done. I was really trying to express myself. I say all the time, I make music not necessarily for selfish reasons, but I make music that I wanna hear. And when you find that other people want to hear that too, how could you not be excited about that?”
Highlighted by the hit singles ‘Doo-Wop (That Thing),’ ‘Ex-Factor’ and ‘Everything Is Everything,’ ‘Miseducation’ won five Grammys, including Album of the Year. Hill’s goal on ‘Miseducation’ was to modernize classic pop styles for a new group of listeners: “I was excited about taking this music that I thought was beautiful — old school doo-wop music, cats used to harmonize, the beautiful harmonies and melodies — and taking that and making something contemporary that my generation could get excited about.”

She continues, “I made a piece of music from a sincere place, and I think that sincerity has no choice but to resonate with people. My motives were probably in the right place at the right time. And I think it represented something for a generation of people who wanted that at that time. I was in a very blessed position to be able to be the carrier of that message.”
Hill released an unplugged live album in 2002 but has never followed ‘Miseducation’ with another studio record. The singer has embarked on occasional concert tours over the years but has mostly remained focused on her six children, the latest of which was a baby boy born just a month ago.