The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo studio album by American rapper and singer Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 19, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. Recorded after the Fugees embarked on a hiatus, the album was almost entirely written and produced by Hill. It is a concept album about educating oneself on love, with lyrical themes encompassing relationship complexities, interpersonal conflicts, motherhood, and faith. Predominantly a neo soul and R&B record, it incorporates genres such as hip-hop, reggae, and soul, and features guest appearances from Carlos Santana, Mary J. Blige, and D'Angelo.
After touring with the Fugees, Hill became involved in a romantic relationship with Jamaican entrepreneur Rohan Marley, and shortly after, became pregnant with their first child. The pregnancy, as well as other circumstances in her life, inspired Hill to create a solo album. Recording sessions for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill took place from September 1997 to June 1998, initially in New York and New Jersey, before relocating to the Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, as Hill collaborated with a group of musicians known as New Ark in writing and producing the songs. Gordon "Commissioner Gordon" Williams supervised the project, while Che Pope and James Poyser also contributed to a majority of the tracks. Hill strived to differentiate her musical style from that of the Fugees, and wrote songs discussing the turmoil within the group. As she refrained from following mainstream music trends and sounding overproduced, live instruments were heavily incorporated into the recordings.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was met with universal critical acclaim and became one of the most acclaimed albums of 1998, with most praise directed towards Hill's presentation of a woman's view on life and love, and her artistic range. A substantial commercial success, the album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 422,000 copies, largest for a female artist at the time. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards (1999), it won Album of the Year and Best R&B Album, while Hill broke records for most nominations and wins in a single ceremony for a woman. The album produced three singles—"Doo Wop (That Thing)", which peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 and broke numerous chart records; "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything". Hill further promoted the record with multiple televised performances and a sold-out worldwide concert tour; since 2018, she has also embarked on two anniversary world tours.
The success of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill propelled Hill to global prominence, and contributed to bringing hip-hop and neo soul to the forefront of popular music. New Ark, however, felt Hill and her record labels did not properly credit them for their contributions, and filed a lawsuit, which was settled out of court in 2001. Regardless of the controversy, various critics have exalted the album as one of the best of its era and of all time, due to its tremendous influence on other artists and ubiquitous impact on the music industry; the album was ranked atop Apple Music's 100 Best Albums. In addition, it has been selected for inclusion at a multitude of cultural institutions, including the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album eventually went on to be certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for 10 million units consumed in the US. With over 20 million copies sold worldwide, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is among the best-selling albums of all time. Despite its immense success and achievements, it remains Hill's sole studio album.
In 1996, Lauryn Hill met Rohan Marley, son of Bob Marley, while touring as a member of the Fugees, in support of their widely successful second studio album The Score. Hill and Marley gradually formed a close relationship, and during the tour, Hill became pregnant with his child. After contributing to fellow Fugees member Wyclef Jean's solo debut Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival (1997), Hill refrained from touring and recording due to her pregnancy and cases of writer's block. However, circumstances in her life stimulated her to record a solo album, having already expressed the desire to do so and depart from the Fugees. She credited her pregnancy for rejuvenating her songwriting; according to her then-manager Jayson Jackson, the songwriting was prompted by Wendy Williams revealing Hill's pregnancy on her radio show and the intense media scrutiny over the identity of the child's father, as Hill had never publicized her relationship with Marley prior to the pregnancy.
Of the early writing process, Hill said: "Every time I got hurt, every time I was disappointed, every time I learned, I just wrote a song." While inspired, Hill wrote over 30 songs in her attic studio in South Orange, New Jersey. Many of these songs drew upon the turbulence in the Fugees, as well as past love experiences. In the summer of 1997, as Hill was due to give birth to her first child, she was requested to write a song for gospel musician CeCe Winans. Several months later, she went to Detroit to work with soul singer Aretha Franklin, writing and producing her single "A Rose Is Still a Rose". Franklin would later have Hill direct the song's music video. Shortly after this, Hill did writing work for Whitney Houston. Having written songs for artists in gospel, hip-hop, and R&B, she drew on these influences and experiences to record The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Hill began recording The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in September 1997 at the Chung King Studios in New York City. In an interview, Hill described the first day of recording: "The first day in the studio I ordered every instrument I ever fell in love with: harps, strings, timpani, organs, clarinets. It was my idea to record it so the human element stayed in. I didn't want it to be too technically perfect." Furthermore, she herself played the guitar on "Superstar". Gordon "Commissioner Gordon" Williams, who engineered most of the record, acted as the project supervisor. Initially, Wyclef Jean did not support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered to help as a producer, which she rejected. Columbia Records considered bringing in an outside producer for the album and had early talks with RZA of Wu-Tang Clan. However, Hill was adamant about writing, arranging, and producing the album herself, with Ruffhouse Records executive Chris Swartz ensuring her artistic freedom while recording the album. She formed a team of collaborators named New Ark, composed of programmer Vada Nobles, songwriter Rasheem Pugh, pianist Tejumold Newton, and guitarist Johari Newton. Two of the earliest recordings Hill and New Ark worked on—"Ex-Factor" and "Loved Real Hard Once", which was later retitled "When It Hurts So Bad"—were originally intended for other artists, before being retained due to their personal content. Che Pope was credited as a co-producer of "Lost Ones" and "To Zion", under his pseudonym Che Guevara. He revealed he produced "To Zion" in a small studio apartment in Brooklyn in 20 minutes, and Hill subsequently recorded it at Chung King and the Perfect Pair Studios in East Orange, New Jersey. John Legend, then an obscure artist, played the piano on "Everything Is Everything", which marked his commercial debut.
Throughout most of the initial sessions, Hill simultaneously recorded at multiple locations throughout New York City and New Jersey; even parts of a single song were recorded at multiple studios. Furthermore, "Final Hour" was partly recorded at the Metropolis Studio in London. The majority of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, however, was recorded at Tuff Gong, the studio built by Bob Marley, in Kingston, Jamaica, where the album would be completed in June 1998. Regarding the shift in environment, Hill stated: "When I started recording in New York and New Jersey, lots of people were talking to me about going different routes. I could feel people up in my face, and I was picking up on bad vibes. I wanted a place where there was good vibes, where I was among family, and it was Tuff Gong." Numerous members of the Marley family were present in the studio during the recording sessions, among them Julian Marley, who contributed with guitar elements to "Forgive Them Father". In an interview, Williams recalled the recording of "Lost Ones", stating: "It was our first morning in Jamaica and I saw all of these kids gathered around Lauryn, screaming and dancing. Lauryn was in the living room next to the studio with about fifteen Marley grandchildren around her, the children of Ziggy, and Stephen, and Julian, and she starts singing this rap verse, and all the kids start repeating the last word of each line, chiming in very spontaneously because they were so into the song."
Inspired by Sonny Carson's autobiographical novel The Education of Sonny Carson and its 1974 film adaptation, Hill originally wanted to title the album after it. However, her collaborators urged a more "self-deprecating" title, in reference to Carter G. Woodson's 1933 book The Mis-Education of the Negro, hence devising the title The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Though The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was largely a collaborative work between Hill and New Ark, there was "label pressure to do the Prince thing", wherein all tracks would be credited as written and produced by the artist with little outside help. While recording the album, Hill was against the idea of creating documentation defining each musician's role.
In November 1998, New Ark filed a 50-page lawsuit against Hill, her management and her record label, stating that Hill "used their songs and production skills, but failed to properly credit them for the work." New Ark demanded writing and/or production credits for 13 of the album's 14 tracks, excluding "To Zion", alongside monetary reimbursement. The musicians claimed to be primary songwriters of "Nothing Even Matters" and "Everything Is Everything", and major contributors on others, though Williams described the project as a "powerfully personal effort by Hill ... It was definitely her vision." Audio engineer Tony Prendatt, who also worked on the album, defended Hill, with a statement saying "Lauryn's genius is her own". In response to the lawsuit, Hill claimed that New Ark took advantage of her success. The suit was eventually settled out of court in February 2001, for a reported $5 million. While Pope was not involved in the lawsuit, he claimed he solely produced "To Zion", despite being merely credited as a co-producer, and contemplated filing a lawsuit of his own but ultimately abandoned the idea.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is predominantly considered a neo soul and R&B album. Its musical styles emerge from genres such as soul, hip-hop, and reggae, with some songs based in hip-hop soul. Hill said that she "didn't want to come out with a [Fugees] type of sound", but create "something that was uniquely and very clearly a Lauryn Hill album." She also said that she did not intend for the album's sound to be commercially appealing: "There's too much pressure to have hits these days. Artists are watching Billboard instead of exploring themselves. Look at someone like Aretha, she didn't hit with her first album, but she was able to grow up and find herself. I wanted to make honest music. I don't like things to be too perfect, or too polished. People may criticize me for that, but I grew up listening to Al Green and Sam Cooke. When they hit a high note, you actually felt it." Much of Hill's lyrics dealt with motherhood, the Fugees, reminiscence, love, heartbreak, and God, with multiple critics characterizing the album as a progressive rap work due to its lyricism. Commenting on the album's gospel content, Hill revealed that she frequently read the Bible, from which she sought inspiration. Meanwhile, tracks such as "Lost Ones", "Ex-Factor", "Superstar", and "Forgive Them Father" were widely speculated as direct attacks at fellow Fugees members Jean and Pras. While mostly in English, "Lost Ones" and "Forgive Them Father" both feature singing and rapping in patois, the common dialect in Jamaica. Biographer Chris Nickson accentuated Hill's vocal progression since The Score, both through the expansion of her range and her acquired musical versatility, specifically on "To Zion", "When It Hurts So Bad", and "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", which author Kathy Iandoli attributed to Hill's pregnancy.
Throughout The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, several interludes of a teacher, speaking to what is implied to be a classroom of children, are played. The teacher was portrayed by American poet and politician Ras Baraka, who was recorded speaking to a group of children in the living room of Hill's New Jersey home. Hill requested that Baraka speak to the children about the concept of love, to which he improvised in the lecture. In a retrospective analysis, Pitchfork writer Carvell Wallace observed Hill educating herself on different kinds of love—love of God through love of her child on "To Zion", love of others and its nuisances on "When It Hurts So Bad", and ultimately love of self on the title track. Regarding the influence of The Mis-Education of the Negro, Hill "adopts Woodson's thesis and makes it part of her own artistic process. Like the songs themselves, the intro/outro classroom scenes suggest a larger community working to redefine itself."
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill opens with a spoken-word intro, featuring Baraka as the teacher taking attendance, with Hill as the sole student absent from the class. "Lost Ones" fuses hip-hop with reggae, and is built on tight snares embellished with spirited toasting and scratching. Its hook interpolates Sister Nancy's "Bam Bam". Despite its sound, Hill defined the song as a gospel track due to its lyrical content, which centers on the concept of karma. While "Lost Ones" discusses the dissolution of Hill's business relationship with Jean, "Ex-Factor" addresses the end of their personal one. A 1960s-influenced soul track received comparisons to Minnie Riperton and Aretha Franklin. It replays elements of Wu-Tang Clan's "Can It Be All So Simple", and ends with a guitar solo by Johari Newton. "To Zion", among the more introspective tracks on the album, spoke about how Hill's family comes before her career, and her decision to have her first child, even though many at the time encouraged her to terminate the pregnancy, so as not to conflict with her burgeoning career. Featuring Carlos Santana, it is an acoustic Spanish guitar-driven hip-hop track. Musically a "short trip through black music", "Doo Wop (That Thing)" fuses doo-wop harmonies, soul horns, contemporary hip-hop, and turntable work before transitioning into an R&B-styled chorus. Lyrically, it advises women to value themselves by not engaging in relationships with deceitful men, or succumbing to superficial trends, while criticizing men attempting to portray a false lifestyle of affluence and power.
Although a track intertwining R&B, hip-hop, and soul, "Superstar" contains an interpolation of the rock song "Light My Fire" by The Doors, against a percussion, harpsichord and harp-driven background. The flute-accompanied jazz and hip-hop track "Final Hour" cautions against hedonistic overindulgence, and instead advocates focusing on one's fate in the afterlife, while containing Biblical allusions. "When It Hurts So Bad" fuses roots reggae, traditional soul, and contemporary R&B, while detailing anguish caused by unrequited love. Mary J. Blige-assisted "I Used to Love Him" follows the protagonist who is now dispassionately reflecting on the concluded relationship in a self-critical manner. Hill and Blige are accompanied by a gospel-influenced choir of background vocalists. The roots reggae-gospel "Forgive Them Father" warns of individuals with hidden agendas and asks God to forgive them; it is an interpretation of "Concrete Jungle" by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Nickson noted a narrative constructed through the track order of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, calling "I Used to Love Him" thematically a "logical successor" to "When It Hurts So Bad", while the "idea of asking God for forgiveness [on "Forgive Them Father"] flowed quite naturally" from "I Used to Love Him". The theme is discontinued on "Every Ghetto, Every City", which sees Hill reminisce about her childhood. A funk track redolent of Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City", it replays elements of David Axelrod's "Tony Poem" and Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body".
Although a large portion of love songs on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill would turn out to be bitter from Hill's previous relationship, "Nothing Even Matters" showcased a brighter, more intimate perspective on the subject. The track is a collaboration with D'Angelo, who also plays the electric piano. It was inspired by Hill's relationship with Rohan Marley. Speaking about its lyrics, she remarked: "I wanted to make a love song, á la Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, and give people a humanistic approach to love again without all the physicality and overt sexuality." "Everything Is Everything" discusses life changes, and expresses dissatisfaction with adult cynicism prevailing over adolescent idealism, while the album's title track, built on the Hammond organ, piano, and strings, encourages self-examination and pursuing one's individual destiny, branding traditional education insufficient. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill also includes two hidden tracks. The cover of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" merges 1960s soul with contemporary hip hop, featuring beatboxing, and offers an optimistic view on the album's recurring theme of love. Nickson described the fingerstyle guitar-driven "Tell Him" as "a prayer that was sung, almost a hymn", recognizing it as a dedication to God, to Hill's son Zion David, and to Rohan Marley.
Having already established himself as a viable art director at Sony Music, Erwin Gorostiza was selected to manage art direction for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. As he concluded Hill was involved with her imagery more than any other artist he had previously worked with, he insisted she be given the art direction credit equal to his. Gorostiza soon enlisted photographer Eric Johnson for the album's accompanying artwork. Hill decided to set the photo shoot at the Columbia High School, her alma mater, to go along with the album's title and concept. While there were numerous images photographed inside a classroom, a hallway, a lavatory, and a school bus, a close-up image of Hill was chosen to be retouched, to look as if it was carved into a wooden desk, for the album cover. The cover has been included on numerous lists of best hip-hop and R&B album covers ever. The high school theme was maintained in the promotional televised teasers for the album, which featured voice-overs by Joan Baker.
The marketing strategy for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was highly concentrated on print media, with Hill appearing on the covers of Details, Essence, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Honey, Interview, The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, The Source, Teen People, Time, and Vibe. Hill's publicist Miguel Baguer pushed fashion magazines to recognize Hill as "a cultural disruptor and a cover girl". Hill was also invested in her styling for the covers, envisioning gold-sprayed locks for the Details cover, as she and her styling team "didn't succumb to mainstream’s definition of beauty". CR Fashion Book editor Faith Brown retrospectively remarked that Hill established herself as a fashion icon during the promotional cycle of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Tamara Palmer wrote for The Recording Academy that the "masterful" accompanying music videos for the album's singles "showed Hill as a woman who transcends the ages". "Doo Wop (That Thing)" featured a split screen showing a block party in Washington Heights; the left side displayed the party set in 1967, with Hill wearing a 1960s-inspired wig and a zebra-striped dress, while the right side showed the party set in 1998. The video went on to win four MTV Video Music Awards in 1999, including Video of the Year, becoming the first hip-hop music video to win the award. "Ex-Factor" first pictures Hill in a light room, wearing white clothing, before transitioning into black and blue-tinged nightclub scenery, while "Everything Is Everything" shows Hill walking around New York City, which is depicted as spinning around on an enormous phonograph. The latter was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was first released in Japan on August 19, 1998, before being released in the US on August 25, and elsewhere throughout the following month. To commence its pre-release marketing campaign, Ruffhouse Records mailed a promotional vinyl of "Lost Ones" to select radio stations; the song managed to garner enough airplay to reach number 27 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"—which originally appeared in the 1997 film Conspiracy Theory—began receiving heavy unsolicited airplay, prompting it to reach the top 40 on the US Hot 100 Airplay; consequently, the song was added on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as a hidden track. "Doo Wop (That Thing)" was then released as the album's official lead single on August 10, 1998, debuting atop the US Billboard Hot 100 and breaking numerous chart records. Stephanie Gayle, senior director of marketing at Columbia Records, retrospectively analyzed: "'Lost Ones' set the tone for how Lauryn the solo artist would be embraced at Black radio (and anywhere hip-hop was being played). But 'Doo Wop (That Thing)' told the world there was nowhere this young lady of color would not be heard."
Hill further promoted The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill with televised performances on Saturday Night Live and at the Billboard Music Awards in December. "Ex-Factor" was released as the second single on December 14, but failed to replicate the success of its predecessor, peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching the top five in Iceland and the UK. Meanwhile, "To Zion" had been released as a promotional single in November, and would be performed with Carlos Santana at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards on February 24, 1999. "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was also released as a promotional single, exclusively in Japan, in March. "Everything Is Everything" was released as the third and final single on May 3, peaking at number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100. Hill performed the song alongside "Lost Ones" at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards on September 9. Furthermore, she performed "Final Hour" at The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards on August 18.
Initially, there was no immediate tour planned in support of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, due to the album not needing further promotion and Hill being pregnant with her second child Selah, whom she gave birth to in November 1998. In January 1999, however, Hill recruited a band and began rehearsals for what would become The Miseducation Tour. Tickets sold out as soon as the tour was announced, which included three sold-out nights at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The Los Angeles Times called the tour "quite possibly the most accomplished tour ever by a hip-hop artist" at the time. Notable attendees included Harrison Ford, Natalie Portman, Star Jones, Casey Affleck, Nina Simone, John Galliano, Rosie O'Donnell, Mary J. Blige, Sean Combs, and a young Adele. The tour featured Outkast, Busta Rhymes, and the Roots as opening acts. According to OutKast's tour manager Michael "Blue" Williams, the tour helped establish the group as touring artists, with Williams elaborating: "After that, we never went under $100,000 a show again. That was because we got in front of Lauryn's 12 million fans, who were hip hop and pop fans, and they became Outkast fans."
The Miseducation Tour began at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on January 21, 1999. Hill performed there again the following night, and played at two other Tokyo venues in the following week. She then flew to London for her performance at the Brixton Academy on February 5. The 20-date US leg of the tour, which featured Outkast as the opening act, started on February 18 in Detroit, and ended on April 1 in Hill's hometown of Newark. Hill began the tour's 14-date European leg on May 13, when she performed at the Oslo Spektrum in Norway, ending the leg on June 2 at the Manchester Arena in England. Hill would return to the US, performing 10 shows throughout July and August, with Busta Rhymes as an opening act. She then returned to Japan, where the tour was completed. The September 7 show in Tokyo was recorded and, in November 2020, released on the live album Live in Tokyo, Japan '99. Hill did not want an extensive tour because of obligations to her family and the difficulties she experienced touring with the Fugees in 1996, which she found desensitizing and isolating. According to Chris Nickson, "there was the possibility of more dates being added ... but it was unlikely that Lauryn would be willing to make the tour more grueling and draining. She'd come to know that there was much more to life than a career."
The Miseducation Tour was co-sponsored by the Italian luxury brand Armani. American denim brand Levi Strauss & Co. also sponsored the tour, and sold a denim outfit designed by Hill on their website, which helped improve the company's declining sales. Those sponsorships marked a relatively new concept at the time, which strayed from the traditional jingle-based brand collaborations. Thembisa Mshaka of Okayplayer emphasized the importance the sponsorships for black artists, writing: "The Fortune 500 brand partnerships with Black musicians that are ubiquitous today, were seeded by the success of Lauryn’s solo debut." Outfits worn during the tour have been displayed during exhibitions at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Met Gala. In 2019, Andscape named the Miseducation Tour the greatest female hip-hop tour ever.
Though Hill had toured extensively in support of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, she had not performed the album live in its entirety until August 2011, 13 years after its release, when she co-headlined the annual hip-hop festival Rock the Bells. Her performances were met with a mixed reception, with reviewers criticizing her alterations of the songs' arrangements. Hill continued changing arrangements and tempos of the tracks in subsequent concerts, elaborating: "There's no way I could continue to play the same songs over and over as long as I've been performing them without some variation and exploration". Speculation arose over Hill being prohibited from performing original versions in the aftermath of New Ark's lawsuit against her, which she refuted.
In April 2018, Hill announced The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 20th Anniversary Tour, with its first North American leg scheduled to commence in Virginia Beach on July 5, and finish in St. Louis, Missouri on October 5. In the months preceding the tour, Hill performed at a myriad of festivals worldwide. As the Virginia Beach date was postponed and ultimately cancelled, the tour commenced in Boston on July 11. Nas, Dave Chappelle, M.I.A., Santigold, ASAP Rocky, SZA, Big Boi, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Talib Kweli, and Shabazz Palaces, among others, were announced as the tour's special guests. Reviewing the tour's Portland stop, Eric Diep of Billboard praised the set list and Hill's "sharp" verse delivery. The tour was subsequently extended into Europe, with the leg starting in Brussels, Belgium on November 18, and ending in Stockholm, Sweden on December 10. In a review of the Arena Birmingham show, published via The Guardian, Kitty Empire criticized alterations of the song's arrangements, but commended Hill's "lucid and engaged" stage presence. Despite mostly favorable commentaries on Hill's performances, her frequent tardiness elicited backlash from both audiences and critics. The controversy intensified in February 2019, when the tour visited Australia, with Hill notoriously over an hour late to her Sydney show and appearing too ill to perform. Regardless, Hill continued the tour until late September, with legs in Africa and South America, and various festival concerts across North America and Europe.
In August 2023, Hill announced The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 25th Anniversary Tour, with initial dates spanning from September 8 to November 9, 2023, throughout North America and Oceania. With the Fugees as the opening act for the North American dates, the tour also served as the group's reunion tour. In October, Hill announced 10 additional shows. The following month, however, she postponed remaining dates until 2024 due to a vocal strain. The postponed dates were subsequently incorporated into a new tour, The Celebration Continues Tour, which is co-headlined with the Fugees to honor The Score in addition to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Furthermore, Hill's son YG Marley is set to accompany the group as a special guest. Upon the tour's announcement, Hill and Marley performed together on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and at the BET Awards 2024. The tour was originally set to begin in Miami on August 9, 2024, with its European leg scheduled to commence in Manchester, England on October 12. However, on August 7, Hill issued a statement elaborating the abrupt cancellation of the North American leg the previous day, citing low ticket sales, which she attributed to media sensationalism over the November 2023 tour postponement.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was met with widespread critical acclaim. According to Los Angeles Times journalist Geoff Boucher, it was the most acclaimed album of 1998, with reviewers frequently praising Hill's presentation of a woman's perspective on life and love. Eric Weisbard from Spin called her a "genre-bender" whose confident singing and rapping was balanced by vulnerable themes and sentiment. In The New York Times, Ann Powers found it "miraculous" and "exceptional" for Hill to use "her faith, based more in experience and feeling than in doctrine", as a means of connecting "the sacred to the secular in music that touches the essence of soul." AllMusic's John Bush was impressed by Hill producing most of the album "not as a crossover record, but as a collection of overtly personal and political statements", while demonstrating "performing talents, vocal range, and songwriting smarts". David Browne, writing in Entertainment Weekly, called it "an album of often-astonishing power, strength, and feeling", as well as "one of the rare hip-hop soul albums" not to lose focus with frivolous guest appearances. Browne applauded Hill's artistic vision and credited her for "easily flowing from singing to rapping, evoking the past while forging a future of her own". Dream Hampton of The Village Voice said Hill seamlessly "travels her realm within any given song", while Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot deemed the record a "vocal tour de force" with arrangements which "bristle with great ideas". An editor of XXL wrote that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill "not only verifies [Hill] as the most exciting voice of a young, progressive hip-hop nation, it raises the standards for it", with the album being the first ever to receive an XXL rating.
In a less enthusiastic review for Q, Dom Phillips felt the music's only flaw was "a lack of memorable melody" on some songs that did not use interesting samples. John Mulvey from NME quibbled about what he felt were redundant skits, Hill's "propensity" for histrionics, and declarations of "how brilliant God is" on an otherwise "essential" album. Pitchfork's Neil Lieberman found some of the ballads tedious and the melodies "cheesy". Citing "Lost Ones" and "Superstar" as highlights, The Village Voice music editor Robert Christgau deemed it the "PC record of the year", featuring exceptionally understated production and skillful rapping but also inconsistent lyrics, average singing, and superfluous skits. He appreciated the "knowledge [and] moral authority" of Hill's perspective and values, although he lamented her appraisal of God on record. In the Los Angeles Times, Soren Baker believed Hill was more effective as a critical rapper than a singer on the more emotional songs, where her voice was "too thin to carry such heavy subject matter".
Critical acclaim for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill persevered with retrospective commentaries. Including it in their 2003 listing The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone credited Hill with retrieving 1970s soul and popularizing it within the hip-hop culture. Jon Caramanica, writing in The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), called the record "as earnest, unpretentious, and pleasantly sloppy an album as any woman of the hip-hop generation has ever made", and said that, by appealing to a wide spectrum of listeners with hip-hop filtered through a "womanist lens", the album propelled Hill to superstardom "of epic proportions" and "the focal point at hip-hop's crossover into the mainstream." According to Billboard, the album "taught a generation about the power of baring your soul through song". Upon the record's 15th anniversary in 2013, rapper Nas reviewed the album for XXL, hailing it as a model for artists of all genres to follow. He further labeled it "a timeless record, pure music", and said it "represents the time period—a serious moment in Black music, when young artists were taking charge and breaking through doors." Chris Mench of Complex wrote that the album "set a new standard for rap women, and even for rap in general", adding that "its influence extends far beyond the genre walls of hip-hop", emphasizing the impact it had on respective artistries of Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar, Adele, Amy Winehouse, and FKA Twigs. David Opie of Highsnobiety declared that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has educated "pretty much everyone who's recorded music since", as well as "inspiring both newer artists and hip-hop stalwarts alike." Writing for The Guardian, Kitty Empire called the record a "game-changing cri de coeur" and a predecessor to Beyoncé's Lemonade (2016) and Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer (2018), proclaiming that it "channelled some precious learning for a generation or more of young women, black and white alike; one in which a ferociously talented artist preached self-determination and self-respect, self-knowledge and getting one's due". In the same publication, Kelefa Sanneh heralded the album as "the high-water mark of the conscious hip-hop movement".
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and its tracks were nominated for a myriad of industry awards, winning most. At the 1998 Billboard Music Awards, the album won R&B Album of the Year, based on its performance on the Billboard charts. Hill was among the biggest winners at the 1999 NAACP Image Awards with four awards, including Outstanding Album for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and the President's Award for "special achievement in furthering the cause of civil rights and public service". Hill's 10 nominations at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards marked the most Grammy Award nominations in a single ceremony for a woman. Winning five awards, Hill became the female artist with most wins in a single ceremony. Among the awards was Album of the Year for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which marked the first time a hip-hop artist won the award. The album also won Best R&B Album, while Hill won Best New Artist, as well as Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Doo Wop (That Thing)". Hill was the most awarded artist at the 1999 Soul Train Music Awards as well, winning Best R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year and Best R&B/Soul Album – Female for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the Sammy Davis Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year – Female, and the Michael Jackson Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video for "Doo Wop (That Thing)". The album subsequently won the Source Hip-Hop Music Award and the Soul Train Lady of Soul Award, both for Album of the Year. At the American Music Awards of 2000, Hill won Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist, while The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill won Favorite Soul/R&B Album. Internationally, the album was nominated for Best Album at the 1999 MTV Europe Music Awards, and International Album of the Year at the inaugural NRJ Music Awards.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was declared "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, and selected for inclusion in the 2014 class of the National Recording Registry, becoming the first female rap recording to enter the National Recording Registry. In 2017, Harvard University selected it as one of the first batch of hip-hop albums to preserved in the Loeb Music Library. Additionally, the album has also been collected by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, while The Recording Academy inducted it into the 2024 class of the Grammy Hall of Fame.
In the US, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart dated September 12, 1998, becoming the first number-one album by an unaccompanied female rapper on the chart. It also became the first debut album by a woman to debut atop the Billboard 200, which made Hill the first artist to debut atop both the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 with the first entries. The album's first-week sales of over 422,624 copies broke the record for female artists at the time; they remained the highest first-week sales for a debut album released by a woman in the 20th century, and the highest for a female rapper ever. In its second week, the album remained at the summit, selling 265,000 copies, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It stayed atop the chart in its third week, before descending to number two, and returning to the top in its fifth week. By late October, it had spent nearly two consecutive months within the top three. The album's chart stability was considered rare for a hip-hop release at the time, since most high-debuting hip-hop albums would quickly plummet. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill had sold 2.9 million units in the country by December 1998, becoming one of the best-selling albums of the year, and topping the year-end Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Sales increased after the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, as it sold 234,000 copies during the week of March 3, 1999, and 200,000 copies the following week. The album spent a total of 92 weeks on the Billboard 200, being the longest-charting debut album by a female rapper until it was surpassed by Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy (2018). The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill remains the only rap album by a woman to spend over one week at number one, and one of the longest-running number-one rap albums ever on the Billboard 200. In 2021, the album was certified diamond by the RIAA, denoting album-equivalent units of 10 million in the US; Hill thus became the first female rapper to receive a RIAA diamond certification.
In Canada, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill debuted at number 16 on the Canadian Albums Chart dated September 12, 1998, peaking atop the chart on October 17. By August 1999, it had sold 700,000 units in the country, being certified septuple platinum. In the UK, the album debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, while debuting atop the UK R&B Albums Chart, where it spent 18 non-consecutive weeks at the summit. In 2022, it was certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting album-equivalent units of 1,200,000. As of October 2023, the album is among the 20 most streamed albums of the 1990s in the country. In Ireland, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill became the first rap album to reach number one on the Irish Albums Chart. Across Europe, it reached the top 10 in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, and Sweden, as well as number two on the European Top 100 Albums. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) certified the album double platinum, for sales of two million copies in Europe, in 1999. In Japan, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill peaked at number six on the Oricon Albums Chart, and was certified million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) in September 1999. In Australia, the album was a sleeper hit, debuting at number 47 and peaking at number two in its 23rd week; it was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) in 2019, denoting units of 140,000. In New Zealand, the album peaked at number five, and was certified triple platinum for shipments of 45,000 units. Within its first year, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill sold 10 million copies worldwide, having sold over 20 million by its 20th anniversary, when it was also confirmed as the most streamed 1998 album on Spotify. In addition to being one of the best-selling albums of all time, it is also the best-selling neo soul album ever.
In The New York Times, Danyel Smith stated that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill "dragged rap back to the land of the living" after the twin drive-by murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. Hill appeared on the cover of the February 8, 1999 issue of Time, becoming the first rapper to do so. Later that month, Hill broke a multitude of records at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, winning Album of the Year—often recognized as the most prestigious award in the music industry—for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, among other awards. According to music executive Clive Davis, the win helped the Grammy Awards become more accepting of rap and hip-hop music, while Amazon's former senior music editor Pete Hilgendorf stated the win marked the start of "the progression of R&B moving into hip-hop".
Radio personality Ed Lover argued that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill offered a different perspective from other women in hip-hop, who generally rapped about sexual themes or being "rugged", while rapper Redman emphasized its empowerment of women and compared Hill's lyrical impact to Martin Luther King Jr. Jay-Z stated that Hill "made something that's going to stand the test of time" with the record, while Cyndi Lauper remarked that the album "changed everything and everybody. Lauryn Hill changed phrasing. She started a whole new kind of singing, taking church and hip-hop and stirring it with this freaking great feeling and voice." Christian rap artist Lecrae credited the album and its religious themes for introducing him to gospel music. Talent manager Nick Shymansky recognized The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill prompting him to search for an artist similar to Hill, which led him to discover Amy Winehouse, who eventually began working on her debut album Frank (2003) with Commissioner Gordon.
Along with Brown Sugar (1995) by D'Angelo, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (1996) by Maxwell, and Baduizm (1997) by Erykah Badu, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is considered to be one of the most important and definitive releases in the history of neo soul music. Credited for bringing the genre to the forefront of popular music, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill became neo soul's most critically acclaimed and popular album. Kyle Anderson of MTV emphasized the album's influence on neo soul artists such as Badu, Alicia Keys, and Jill Scott. Encyclopedia of African American Music (2010) noted that, while some tracks are based in hip-hop soul more than neo soul, the record is filled with live musicians and layered harmonies, "and therefore it is a trendsetting record that connects modern hip hop, R&B, and classic soul music together, creating groundwork for what followed it in the neo soul genre." In conversation with the Los Angeles Times about the success of Black Diamond (1999) by Angie Stone, editor Emil Wilbekin of Vibe stated that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill introduced new practices to contemporary R&B, such as recording with live instruments.
In The Rough Guide to Rock (2003), author Peter Buckley hailed The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as the "ultimate cross-over album of the hip-hop era". The album has been cited as one of the earliest to fully blend rapping and singing, with Genius dubbing Hill as the first recording artist to excel at both simultaneously. Writing for The New York Times in 2018, Jon Caramanica noted the influence the performance style had on Drake, adding: "Rappers are singers now, to the point where the framework of singing has been refracted almost wholly through the needs of hip-hop." When speaking to Pitchfork about the album, rapper Vince Staples called it "a classic body of work", and credited Hill for her innovative singing-rapping style, lyricism, and arrangements. Janelle Monáe shared a similar sentiment, arguing that Hill "was hip-hop and R&B, but nobody had used [the combination] in the way she did. She created something that we had never tasted before." Kathy Iandoli recognized how the album touching upon themes of love, distrust, pregnancy, and self-actualization introduced emotionally charged lyricism to hip-hop, allowing rappers such as Kid Cudi and Kanye West to showcase vulnerability in their music.
A multitude of artists have cited The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as an inspiration for their work, including Omar Apollo, H.E.R., Ella Mai, Rachel Platten, Maren Morris, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Tierra Whack, and Macy Gray. Furthermore, Rihanna, Dan Smith of Bastille, and Adele have all called The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill their personal favorite album. Donald Glover stated that it's his most listened album, while Zendaya, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar have cited it as their favorite album by a female artist. Maxwell named it his favorite album of the 1990s, praising it for its combination of "incredible songwriting and hip-hop". In celebration of the album's 20th anniversary, Billboard interviewed 16 artists who have cited the album as an inspiration—Maggie Rogers, Rapsody, Chloe Bailey, Jessie Ware, Lizzo, Ruth B., K.Flay, Anne-Marie, Jess Glynne, Jazmine Sullivan, Seinabo Sey, Andra Day, Saweetie, Normani, Teyana Taylor, and Ella Mai—with each artist commenting on one of the album's tracks. Film director Gina Prince-Bythewood stated that she was inspired by Hill and "Ex-Factor" while filming Love & Basketball (2000). Actress Alexa Demie mentioned that she drew inspiration from "To Zion" for her role in the HBO drama series Euphoria.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has been credited with influencing the albums The College Dropout (2004) by Kanye West, Confessions (2004) by Usher, 4 (2011) by Beyoncé, Daytona (2018) by Pusha T, and Immunity (2019) by Clairo. Producer Savan Kotecha told Vulture that he and Ariana Grande listened to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album during the recording of Grande's album Sweetener (2018), and that the chord changes in Grande's song "No Tears Left to Cry" were modeled after the album. Country singer Lucinda Williams stated that her album World Without Tears (2003) and its single "Righteously" were influenced by The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and its hip-hop elements. Hill's album inspired the 2002 Maroon 5 album Songs About Jane, most evidently on the track "Sweetest Goodbye", which drew from "Tell Him". Numerous artists have titled their projects after the album, including Freddie Gibbs with his mixtape The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs (2009), whose cover artwork also imitates Hill's, Lil' Kim on her mixtape track "Mis-education of Lil' Kim", which heavily samples and interpolates "Lost Ones", and Calboy and Lil Wayne on their 2021 single "Miseducation".
Following the success of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Hill rose to international prominence and established herself as a pioneering woman in hip-hop, as well as a "quadruple threat"—a successful rapper, singer, songwriter and producer. As early as March 1999, she was described as a hip-hop icon in Jet. Brandon Tensley of Time remarked that she achieved the icon status through the impact of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill alone. However, the record remains Hill's only studio album. After its success, she shunned her celebrity status and pursued a private life, raising six children, but both personal and professional difficulties followed. As Miami New Times journalist Juliana Accioly explained, Hill was reported to have spent years "on a spiritual quest while dealing with bipolar disorder. She was sued over songwriting credits. She served a three-month prison sentence in 2013 for tax evasion. She was deemed a diva for wanting to be called 'Ms. Hill' and criticized for her erratic performances." In 2021, Hill revealed that she had never released another album due to Columbia Records not offering her adequate support in producing it, and due to fearing jeopardizing her artistic authenticity by continuing to record for the label.
In 2015, Marvel Comics released a series of variant comic book covers inspired by influential contemporary rap albums, which included a reimagined The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill-themed Ms. Marvel comic cover. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts music collective UnderCover Presents released the tribute album UnderCover Presents: A Tribute to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 2017. In September 2018, in conjunction with the album's 20th anniversary, Legacy Recordings launched "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill Album Cover Experience", which allowed users to recreate and personalize the cover, and subsequently post the final product on social media. The album was the subject of the 2018 book She Begat This: 20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by author and journalist Joan Morgan. To further commemorate the anniversary, Hill collaborated with American clothing company Woolrich to design Miseducation-inspired pieces for their collection "American Soul Since 1830", and starred in its accompanying advertising campaign. She performed at New York Fashion Week to promote the collection. Meanwhile, Spotify both presented the art installation "Dear Ms. Hill" in Brooklyn, which featured fan letters, and launched the miniseries Dissect, whose first season covered The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and its impact. Furthermore, a 2019 episode of the BET anthology series Tales was inspired by and titled after "Ex-Factor".
All tracks are produced by Hill.
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.