Lauryn Hill evidently had a lot to get off her chest. On Monday (August 27), the former Fugee published a lengthy op-ed on Medium, essentially dispelling any rumor every told about her.
From the myth she “hates” white people and her tendencies to run late for her performances to Robert Glasper’s recent criticisms of her and plagiarism allegations, Ms. Hill goes into meticulous detail about it all.
“I’ve remained patient and quiet for a very long time, allowing people to talk, speculate, and project, while keeping my nose to the grindstone fighting for freedoms many folks aren’t even aware matter,” Hill begins. “The arrogance of presumption that allows someone to think that they could have all the facts about another person’s life and experience, is truly and remarkably… presumptuous.”
As she continues, Hill rebukes the notion she ever claimed to hate white people. The origin of the rumor came from a 1997 interview with MTV when Hill supposedly said, “I’d rather die than have a white person buy one of my albums.”
“Just to clear up an old urban legend that somehow people still believe, I do not hate white people,” she writes. “I do, however, despise a system of entitlement and oppression set up to exploit people who are different.
“I do loathe the promotion and preservation of said system at the expense of other people, and the racist and entitled attitudes it gives rise to.”
Regarding her solo performances, it’s well documented that she often doesn’t show up on time and routinely leaves her audience disappointed. But, she insists it has nothing to do with not having respect for her fans. It’s more about being a perfectionist.
“Me being late to shows isn’t because I don’t respect my fans or their time, but the contrary, It can be argued that I care too much, and insist on things being right,” she explains. “I like to switch my show up regularly, change arrangements, add new songs, etc.
“This often leads to long sound checks, which leads to doors opening late, which leads to the show getting a late start. This element of perfectionism is about wanting the audience to experience the very best and most authentic musical experience they can from what I do.”
And as far as Glasper’s allegations that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill consists of stolen music? She says he entitled to his own “perception.”
“I’m confused as to why such a principled musician, who thought I ‘stole’ from his friends, would show up to work for me anyway,” she writes. “If that was hypocrisy or opportunism instead of genuine interest, it would further explain why an artist would feel the need to put his or her guard up.”
She continues, “No matter how incredible the musicians who play with me are, MY name is on the marquee. The expectation to make it all come together is on me. The risk and the financial losses are on me. Hence, MY VIBE, though not the only consideration, is the priority.
“Few people actually know what this road is like, but many want to judge and comment, having never done it. Try doing what I’ve done yourself. If nothing else, you will gain some insight into and respect for my process.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy1tjxXCQXs
Elsewhere in the essay, Hill debunks the rumor that she can’t play original versions of her songs, details why she lives remixes her music, explains why she demanded to be called Ms. Hill, opens up about writing “To Zion” and speaks on black women in Hip Hop.
Read the full essay here. [apple_news_ad type=”any”]
About a few years too late with this one
In short “Ive never done anything wrong, I don’t apologise to those fans, the world is against me.”
Who?
She might not hate them but I do lol
What a sad little life you must lead.
IDC IDC IDC and I DONT CARE!!!
She is a Legend and I won’t break a sweat if I end up being her last and only fan left!
The mess she’s been and rose thru is a story in itself and NOT. Only cuz we from the same city!!
I will never look at MS Hill, as Common and Mos Def respectfully addresses her, any different
She had ONE great album and ONE ok album. How does that make her a legend?!
That’s like saying Derrick Rose is a legend.
She has one transcendant album and a hip hop classic. Those would be the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and The Score. Respectfully, you would have to understand the climate of hip-hop during her era to understand why she is revered as a legend.
Your analogy is a bit off: Derrick Rose never won the championship. Lauryn Hill not only won the championship she changed the game. Mush of what is popular in hip-hop can be traced back to her in some way. When Jay-Z calls Andre 3000 a male version of Lauryn Hill everybody gets it.
She is the first( and likely only) MC who was a top tier soul singer, and a top tier MC. Not to mention that she was on her way to being a credible actress. No great hip-hop artist from her era downgrades her and sadly ignorance and time allows many to easily throw her away.
No, her own actions since those albums make it easy to discredit her. She has a 20 year career and outside 2 albums she hasn’t done shit to justify calling her a legend.
She wasn’t close to being a credible actress, she didn’t write her own songs, she stole music. She was a decent vocalist at best when compared to actual singing legends like Aretha, or Whitney and as an MC she wasn’t close to being a Rah Digga or a Jean Grae.
The problem with her era which I was around for is everybody fucking thinks they’re a legend. Every MC who dropped between 87-95 gets considered a legend. Fucking Raekwon calls himself a legend based on one dope album (Wu are legends collectively) and it’s all bullshit. If everyone is a legend the word doesn’t mean shit.
Respectfully, I think she’s a low rent MC Lyte who can also sing.
Also, 80% of hip-hop consumers are white, so saying she hates white people was kind of dumb.
And those 60 out of those 80 hate blacks if you are not going to be hypocrite and admit it. The few ones like you probably who may not shut up when shit is being said about blacks. What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander. And don’t @ me no nonsense.
nobody hates blacks, quit letting white liberal democrats use race to politically weaponize people. They have been doing it since the 1800’s
where’s the new album though?
People been asking that for like 20 years. She married to one of Bob Marley sons. Pretty sure her and her husband can drop a fire collab project or something. smh
Shes a lying sack of garbage
agreed.
Please, sister Lauryn, put out some studio albums. that will only add to your legend in a positive way. No, Lauryn Stans, she doesn’t “owe” us anything. But at this point, it’s what, one proper solo album, one acoustic LP, and the three Fugees group albums and that’s it, the last proper album was in 1998? God bless, but even Sade puts out material with more frequency.
Never believed that she said that from when I first heard it. When I miscarried my daughter, The Miseducation of Lauren Hill is what got me through that horrible time. I will be a fan till the day I die. Love you Lauren. ?
I seen the interview. When asked what she wants to say to all the little white girls that were buying her album (largest percentage at the time), she answered, ” I don’t give a damn about no little white girls”, with a smirk on her face and laughed. How things change when you’re no longer at the top.
She is a hipocrit. She says she loathes entitlement of white people and not liking how people discriminate people who are different, but she did that. I still like her music though ?
It doesn’t make sense to say, “I would rather die than have a white person buy my album” at the end of the day, she is profiting off of that. She may have gotten canceled during that time saying that, but she still made money off of the words she said because more and more people want to know what happened, making her more known.
I honestly don’t know why she would even say something like that. You would honestly think she would understand that just because the color of someone’s skin, doesn’t automatically mean they are the same. I will agree that there are a ton of white people in the world who are racist, but that doesn’t mean every white person is racist. I’ve noticed that racism stems from the way parents raise their kids. If the parent says negative stereotypes about races around their kids, their kids will end up believing it leading to a never ending cycle of racism. I’ve met so many people who go around saying the N word thinking they can say it because they are a minority. I agree no white person should be saying the N word, but neither should other races that aren’t black.
In todays world kids joke with each other about racism with each other joking about their own race. I know that they’re joking and all, but at the end of the day you have to respect your culture. People’s ancestors did not fight for equality just to see the same cycle repeat in the modern world. It’s 2023, and society is still struggling to accept that not every person is the same. Please stop hatred guys. God made every single one of us, and who are you to judge his creation.
– if Lauryn really hated white people then why did she sample ready or not from the track Boadicea by an IRISH artist named Enya. (She’s that one artist that Kraft Mac N cheese used for their commercials (the song Only time)) as a musician I believe that music evolves within time. There is no single artist in the world that has their own original rhythm. Music stems from inspiration, which I think is ridiculous to see artists like Dua Lipa getting sued by a no name white reggae* band just for a common rhythm known as the Charleston which is used in tons of songs. Dua Lipa even stated she got her inspiration from the song Rosa Parks by OutKast. **reggae originated in Jamaica!!
I love the album the score, but her saying she is original and a legend isn’t really true. She has 2 known albums, and in one of her most known tracks she sampled the background from Boadicea, and ready or not by Jackson 5. Killing me softly is sampled off of Bonita Applebum, and killing me softly by Roberta Flack (1973) her only lyrics that are original are her rap verses. I could go on about other songs but those are the 2 songs that most people know.
No mean to disrespect her in anyway, I love the style in her voice, and freestyling.