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Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actress. She is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential musicians of her generation on several fronts — redefining/reviving hip-hop through breaking barriers for female rappers and popularizing melodic rap, and helping Neo Soul hit the mainstream.

Hill rose to fame after several bit roles on As the World Turns and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, and through her membership in The Fugees. After two albums, the group disbanded, and Lauryn launched a solo career with her critically and commercially acclaimed solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). The recording earned Hill five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best New Artist.

Unfortunately, success came with a price as Hill ultimately withdrew from the public sphere, opting instead to become a full-time live musician (both solo and the occasional live performance with the Fugees), with her sole follow-up to her solo debut album being a double-album of acoustic songs released under the MTV Unplugged brand.


Albums:


Tropes:

  • Album Closure: The standard version of Miseducation ends with the Title Track, about finding her own path in life.
  • Album Intro Track: "Intro," a recording of a teacher taking attendance in a classroom, fitting in with the album's school Motif.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: In "Doo Wop (That Thing)", she rallies against this trope, telling young women not to go with men they know will treat them badly as "respect is just a minimum." Interestingly, it also warns guys not to go with women that are only about "that thing."
  • As the Good Book Says...: Very fond of this trope, as it's all over Miseducation and Unplugged.
  • Break Up Song: "Ex-Factor" and "I Used To Love Him."
  • Celebrity Is Overrated: She walked away from the immense fame she had after her debut album, in part because of displeasure with the music industry, and her feelings that she could not be herself.
  • Cover Version: Of Frankie Vallie's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You."
  • Destructive Romance: "Ex-Factor," a pained Break Up Song.
    And when I try to walk away
    You hurt yourself to make me stay
  • Epic Rocking: On her debut there's only one song breaking 6 minutes, "To Zion". Yet the MTV Unplugged performance has eight of those, one breaking 12 minutes (the lengths are not helped by uncut rambling before the songs).
  • Genre Mashup: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is difficult to define as an album, containing aspects of Hip-Hop, Pop, {{R&B}}, Folk Music, Soul, and Reggae.
  • Let's Duet: With Dangelo on "Nothing Even Matters" and with Mary J. Blige on "I Used To Love Him."
  • One-Woman Song: Not by Hill herself, but Talib Kweli released a song about her called "Ms. Hill."
  • Self-Titled Album: Miseducation is essentially this.
  • Showmance: She and Wyclef Jean briefly dated when they were in the Fugees.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: The Fugees consisted of her, Wyclef Jean, and Pras Michael.
  • Urban Legends: It was widely rumored for a while that Wyclef Jean actually wrote all of the material on her solo album, when it was first released. In truth, it was split between Hill and a group of producers called "New Ark," the later of whom had to sue Hill over not being credited for their work on the album.

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