The Perfection of ‘The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’
A Thread:

In this thread, I will discuss why I feel like Lauryn Hill’s debut solo album is a 10 and what factors contribute to its perfect sound. Everything from the Reggae, to Rap, to R&B and Soul.

The beauty of the album comes from multiple sources: the Emotion, Passion, beautiful melodies, well written and meaningful verses, and quality. Whether she’s singing or rapping, Lauryn Hill is constantly feeding us with food for the soul through the entire course of the album.

When this album was released in 1998, it did something different than any other album in the mainstream media at the time. To get a better understanding of what that means, we first need to understand that when this album was dropped, hip-hop was full of misogyny and materialism

Not all rappers were the same but Lauryn Hill presented herself and shared her perspective of a young woman that was dealing not only with sexuality, but also with identity issues. She demonstrates she can be vulnerable and strong enough to be the mother to a newborn all at once

A core inspiration for the album is the theology behind reggae, which plays a huge part in this album. The idea one should be at peace with all things but simultaneously take no bullshit from any oppressor. She wrote + recorded most of the album at Bob Marley’s studio in Jamaica

As she wrote the majority of the content for the album, she was pregnant with her first child and said "I had the desire to write in a capacity that I hadn't done in a while. I don't know if it's a hormonal or emotional thing... I was very in touch with my feelings at the time."

When you take all of these inspirations and mix them up together, you end up with the final product: a timeless classic that shows that it’s okay to show soul in your music and take inspiration from what you live through. People like Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar take from her

There is nothing debatable about whether the sound of the album is perfect or not. Each and every song has the knock of hip-hop, instrumentation of classic soul, and integrity of reggae.

Forgive Them Father is perhaps the best example of all three of those ideas. A beautifully sung chorus respresenting not only faith in religion but forgiveness granted to those who are to blame for these problems. Then the rapping sounding raw and authentic and it’s meaningful.

It’s hard to pick a favorite song from the all 16. The consistency in quality of music on this album goes without saying. Gems are all over the place on here: Lost Ones, Doo Wop, Ex-Factor, Forgive Them Father are my 4 favorite, but every single track is auditory excellence.

The fact that she was facing so many different problems in her life (like an unexpected pregnancy with Rohan Marley or Identity issues) yet was able to craft this masterpiece makes it seem like she was able to handle everything without breaking a sweat.

"Every time I got hurt,” said Lauryn “Every time I was disappointed, every time I learned, I just wrote a song." That quote goes to show that she used music as a source of therapy for herself. After breaking apart from The Fugees, she felt like she needed to speak up for herself

The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill allowed for something more than just music to listen to. After selling 422,624 copies first week and breaking the record for most records sold by a female artist within a week, it gave Lauryn Hill the right to own up to the title of “Genius”.

Thank you all so much for reading. This album has made me appreciate music as a whole on a different level. Rt’s would be appreciated!