After Lauryn Hill released her iconic album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in 1998, there was never a follow-up to the Grammy-winning disc.
Now over two decades later, Hill reveals why her music catalog includes only one solo album.
The “Doo Wop (That Thing)” singer corresponded through e-mail with Rolling Stone for its “500 Greatest Albums” podcast and addressed why she never released a second album.
“I challenged the norm and introduced a new standard,” she said during the conversation. “I believe The Miseducation did that and I believe I still do this. [Myself and my album] defy convention when the convention is questionable.”
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Although “Miseducation” earned her multiple Grammys, including Album of the Year in 1999 — the first hip hop artist to win the category — the “Ex-Factor” performer said no one from her label reached out for a follow-up album.
“The wild thing is, no one from my label has ever called me and asked, ‘How can we help you make another album?'” she said. “Ever … ever. Did I say ever? Ever.”
On the podcast available on Amazon Music, Rolling Stone also interviewed some of the collaborators on the album about the tumultuous years that followed the album’s release, including legal disputes with Hill.
In its ranking of the 500 Greatest Albums, the music magazine named “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” number 10.
Before becoming a solo artist, Hill was one of the original members of The Fugees. The famously private artist wrote a post on Medium in 2018 calling out her haters.
“There are plenty of people, I’m sure, who THINK they know me. This can happen when you do anything that people Love or feel they can relate to. Their perception of me, however, doesn’t make it my reality. […] And yes, Ms. Hill was absolutely a requirement. I was young, Black and female. Not everyone can work for and give the appropriate respect to a person in that package and in charge. It was important, especially then, for that to be revealed early,” Hill wrote.
“The myth that I’m not allowed to play the original versions of my songs is a myth (anyone who’s seen my current show knows this),” she continued.
Hill has continued to tour sporadically in the decades that followed, including The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 20th Anniversary World Tour from 2018 to 2019.
