One of my favorite lines ever uttered in rap music history is:
“…and even after all my logic and my theory, I add a m*therf*cker so you ignant n*ggas hear me…” ~Lauryn Hill
I effin love that line. Strangely, it’s the concise, succinct written explanation of how I like to live my life. I didn’t realize it at the time that album was released that my life was going to follow that ideology but lo and behold, it has.
And the album?
The Fugees The Score of course, which was released in February of 1996 and some 18 million albums later cemented Wyclef Jean, Lauryn “L-Boogie” Hill, and to a much lesser extent Rah Digga Pras Michel as musical, not just hip-hop, heavyweights. Then in 1998, Lauryn Hill released the critically lauded, Grammy winning, album of the decade, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. I’ll admit to not loving it as much as everybody else does but it is without a doubt a great album.
And through it all, Lauryn Hill was still hip-hop.
Lauryn Hill was on top of the world. Hell, she was the world. She was woman. She roared. Probably even growled too.
Grr.
I can’t think of a man alive who didn’t want to jump her bones. Quite honestly, in my mind, at that point in time (circa 1997-1999), Lauryn Hill was the epitome of woman to me. I wanted a woman like Lauryn Hill. I remember meeting her at North Dekalb Mall in Atlanta while she was signing copies of Miseducation. If ever there was a picture of beauty, it was her at that moment.
Then WHAM!
The world according to Lauryn went black. She started pushing out kids and making controversial comments (to the Pope no less) and became sort of a recluse. She released a confusing few sets of music that introduced us to an insecure and distraught woman. It’s even rumored that over time she required people to call her Ms. Hill in her presence to include motherf*cking Wyclef and Pras.
Lauryn Hill was the top and then she fell off. Hard. And this begs a question to me. As far as the most tragic falls from grace and the hearts of men have gone, is Lauryn Hill ace numero uno??
And it’s especially tragic because Lauryn didn’t have a ceiling. Lauryn Hill could have turned into Madonna. It almost pains me to say this, but Beyonce is what Lauryn Hill was going to be, except you know, the version of Beyonce that’s secretly a scholar quoting Nietzsche and showing up to interviews with a personality.
[***SIDENOTE: I think that Erykah Badu is the mid-point between Beyonce and Lauryn Hill. Erykah Badu can be just as ghetto as anybody else but she's also dropping pure gems on that a**. She's an entertainer to the highest degree who straddles the line between the deep crowd and the chicks who have gold teeth with their babby-daddy's name on each toof. Hell, Erykah has gold fronts. I heart her. ***]
She went from being the quintessential woman to being a confused mother of four with baby daddy issues like you ain’t neva seent. Think about people who have fallen off in the world of urban music. Who else has fallen off so hard?
The only person I can really think of is…gulp…
MC Hammer.
Do you realize he was doing infomercials about credit repair? CREDIT REPAIR?! If you can’t see the irony and comedy in that then you’re probably dead. And if you’re not…
…go kill yourself.
But he wasn’t no Lauryn.
Lauryn’s talent level and ability was recognized by everybody. Everybody loved her and then she lost it. Perhaps it’s the pressure of success or the pressures of talent. Maybe she just lost favor with the music industry as a whole.
It’s funny though. Lauryn Hill is still a name that people love and respect. I think more people got worried about her as a person which is a testament to how many lives she’s touched.
You know, D’Angelo would be giving her a run for her money right now except he released Voodoo. Even still, and despite his apparent attempts at insanity, folks have been waiting for a new D’Angelo album for years.
And thank God Maxwell is releasing an album this summer.
At least other artists from days of yore had the gall to just die to preserve the legacy. And be clear, I don’t want Lauryn Hill to pass…
…I’d just like to know who miseducated her. But for now, I still have the Fugees album and I still have the Miseducation and I still have my favorite line that helped to define my existence on this planet.
M*therf*cker.
So VSBers, is Lauryn Hill the biggest fall from public grace ever?
-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka TANGLE JIG P aka YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD 3
Yes… next question
@shay_d_lady, ole verbose type somebody ain’t you?
@Panama Jackson, further down the thread you will find this to be true..LOL
I hit the submit button to many times… so I have to type something to prevent a duplicate comment and 2 minutes is not long enough for me to say anything for real for real
Word on the street (and by ‘street’ I mean ‘salon’), is that she was blackballed. Also, word is that she slept with a married man and karma’s a b*tch…Oh and that she’s schizophrenic and likely self medicating with OTC drugs and Oxycontin.
But you ain’t hear it from me cus I ain’t one to gossip.
As far as who fell the farthest, I don’t know. You named her and MC Hammer.
@Hostess,
“she slept with a married man and karma’s a b*tch”
Wyclef is the married man she slept with.
@iloVEGrits,
that in itself is punishment enough.
@iloVEGrits, yeah, ‘Clef had a whole song about it on The Carnival, “To All The Girls”
You did say she slept with Wyclef, pretty sure he knew what he was doing at the time this girl was not in her 30′s like in 2009. And letme see I am also pretty sure Wyclef knew he was married unless he had a memory lasp or was in a coma at the time. Stop dogging this woman she cant have an affair by herself.
@Hostess,
Alright Ms. Jenkins(In living Color Reference for all you youngins out there)
This marreid man knew he was married, probally no one forced this beautiful black woman on him. Get real stop trashing women because men want to be a whore. So that make the married man a victum GET REAL.
Lauryn Hill is the most epic fail I have ever seen. Not only becuase there seemed no limit to what she could do but because in the Miseducation album she seemed to be aware of all the pitfalls of both love and fame and dropped mad knowledge that for whatever reason she was not able to follow. She turned right around and let fame rule her, love for dude that dont love you the same ruin her and I think drove herself crazy trying to fit all that awesomeness into the cookie cutter image of what a “good mother” and common law “wife” is…
The only more epic fail was Eve…..smh……from the bible not the ruff ryders
@shay_d_lady, Your comment about her album showing she knew better reminds me sorta of a song I heard this weekend. The dude started by saying, “I don’t really want to change the world. I just pretend to.” Then he launched into a song about changing the world.
Lauren didn’t want to be what she sang that women should be. Being those things all the time is hard work. It’s easier to allow yourself to fall prey to it all. Then, you end up having blogs written about what you could have been instead of blogs written about how you stayed in the game too long.
@shay_d_lady, “Lauryn Hill is the most epic fail I have ever seen”
I concur! I can’t think of anyone else who had a more worse fall than Lauryn Hill. I loved her first album and played it non-stop. She was talented musically and was also one of the few musical artists who could also act (Sister Act). It was sad to see someone so talented not reach their potential…
@shay_d_lady,
Eve is def the most epic. She messed it up for all of us womens! Dang on menstrual cycles and childbirth pains…
@Ashley Neicole,
dam* Adam and his hormones! Should have never listened to Eve. Thinking with that little head, I tell ya!
@shay_d_lady,
I concur
Frankly I don’t think anyone could out fail Ms. Hill. Shout out to D’Angelo for attempting to dethrone her with his waning relevance. If it weren’t for Voodoo, I may have written him off altogether. Well maybe CWtv for canceling The Game, Girlfriends, Half & Half, etc. Oh and Aaron Hall comes to mind for this clip http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=76458857238&h=5A_XW&u=m16ke
@Nola Darling,
Dishonorable mentions go to Robert Sylvester (ironic that his middle name rhymes with………) Kelly and Michael Jackson(the black one).
@Nola Darling, Biggup to u for the she’s gotta have it ref
cosign on MJ, see below for my reasons
not sure i would put Smelly Kelly (as he was called in school) in the fallen off category
@Blacklaw,
MJ takes the cake he was all-world had white girls cryin for him. it all went down hill when he ditched the fro and the dark skin
@Blacklaw,
*blush* thanks
@Nola Darling, Naw, I can’t say that Robert has fallen off – he’s still doing mad remixes, although I have the feeling that some of them are unsolicited by the original artist (see: Beyonce’s “If I Were A Boy”).
@Nola Darling,
” Sylvester ”
HAHA too funny.
@Nola Darling, I was wondering how long it would be before the King of Pop got recognized. He litterally had the whole world in his hands for decades…. I think out of all these artists he had the farthest to fall.
I’m not as nuanced as I could be in the Lauryn Hill story, but I never saw her as a fail, if anything, the industry is a big fail. When you love art, and you do the ish cause it really does get you up in the morning..I can see how it can be hard when it is taken from its organic state and forced to be something else entirely. Its enough to make any well meaning person lose they mind…
I don’t know, I’m really hoping she pulls it together.
@overit,
“Its enough to make any well meaning person lose they mind…”
I don’t know if she has lost her mind (though schizophrenia does show up in late adolescence and adulthood*). I think that maybe she has found a new path and is willing to walk down it whether folks want to follow her or not.
*Remember the movie Love Jones? The chick who played Nina’s friend? The one with the big curly hair? She has schizophrenia. Sad.
@iloVEGrits,
yup. lisa nicole carson. i liked her. she was a good actress and she could sing. that heart my heart when i read that about her.
@SouthernGirl,
damn, i didnt know that and sh*t
@SouthernGirl,
dam i liked lisa to wasnt she on jason’s lyric
@overit,
Its enough to make any well meaning person lose they mind…
this is true, but this fact doesnt negate the fact that she fell off. i mean, regardless of the reasoning behind it, that fact remains true
@The Champ,
Agreed, I think going looney over your craft is an epic fail in itself.
@overit,
I am right there with you, ms. Overit.
Lauryn Hill did not fall, she jumped.
Big a$$ difference.
Failure means you kept trying to produce, that you tried to maintain the love and admiration of your ‘fans’ but they weren’t feeling you anymore.
Folks were thirsty for Lauryn and she said ‘later bishes’.
And despite all the behavior that’s been labeled as crazy, folks are STILL thirstin’ for her.
Fall? Naw, son.
I know a lot of people think Lauryn is crazy…her behavior is erratic. But when folks see the light…when they really see it…they cease to behave in a conformist manner. When you free yourself from expectations, from the belief that you HAVE to do this or you HAVE to live this way, you then find the courage to do and say wtf you please.
Lauryn Hill is not crazy; the rest of us are still in the dark. We should all pray to God tonight that we get so free.
As far as her relationship issues please know that her man is a Marley and she, through her children, has continued a legacy. As a creative person, I can imagine it is hard for her to completely walk away from a family where 90 percent of the kids play musical instruments, sing and feel her on a creative level. If she chooses to maintain with that man, it doesn’t necessarily mean she has low self esteem or has fallen short of expectations, it just means she has found something that fills her and yeah, it may not come in the package that everyone thinks it should, but she likes the product nonetheless and is buying it.
And what she did at the Vatican? Brilliant. I am from a strict Catholic family, was raised in the church…and I wish more folks had the courage to stand up, in the church’s holy land, and speak their minds about the evils of the church.
I too was on the “Lauryn is crazy” bandwagon and started listening to some of her interviews. She has some ish to say, if folks can get past their pre-conceived notions and listen.
She’s doing it her way. I ain’t mad at her.
@iloVEGrits, I am now forever an iloVEGrits STAN for this whole comment…not that I wasn’t b4 tee hee… but this right here just slays me
@pgh muse,
Thank you.
We should get matching t-shirts.
@iloVEGrits,
…and a room
@pgh muse,
Yep, let’s start the “I stan for iloVEGrits” movement.
I, too, am quite smitten!
@iloVEGrits, you know I love you but I gotta disagree on this one…
she didnt quit she took a break….. . but I think she planned on coming back and the longer she was gone.. the more the requirement of her comeback became bigger and more epic….and instead of trying full out..she gave up=fail
We are not in the dark.. we were for a long time. it took us a long time to realize that she forced us to hold her to a standard she couldnt live up too and she stopped trying. Lauryn has made several small attempts at testing the water and when she saw that people werent just going to gobble up whatever she threw out, I believe she got scared, scared that she wouldnt be able to deliver, it was no longer about making an album of music that she loved there was expectation out there that she couldnt live up to.
I mean really, no one can live up to it. She is a legend now. Thats not fair and now shes trapped, scared to move forward but theres no turning back…
And what does him being a marley and the marley legacy have to do with the fact that dude and his regular ninja ways and her loving and putting all of herself on the line for a dude that from the outside looking in aint willing to do the same? there is nothing deep about that and all the legacy in the world cant make up for that.
I aint mad at her but by the same token I am not going to sit back and assume that she is the one that got it right and IM crazy.. . its not brilliant,, she hasnt thought this all through, this is not how she planned it.. she is just as lost and confused as any body else….
maybe shes not crazy..but she definitely aint a master puppeteer…
@shay_d_lady,
And what does him being a marley and the marley legacy have to do with the fact that dude and his regular ninja ways and her loving and putting all of herself on the line for a dude that from the outside looking in aint willing to do the same? there is nothing deep about that and all the legacy in the world cant make up for that.
major co-sign.
@Gem-balaya,
See my response to Shady.
Clearly y’all don’t know any musicians/rastas or rasta musicians.
@iloVEGrits,
i was once an aspiring musician. so i know PLENTY of them. but just becuz musicians (or rastas or n*ggas around the way) behave a certain way when it comes to relationships doesn’t mean that it’s OK. it just makes it predictable. but i dont think some one should stay in an unstable or unhealthy (assuming that’s what it is) relationship sitch on some “he’s a Marley” or “that’s how musicians/rastas” are BS.
i’ll never condone that.
@Gem-balaya, i was once an aspiring musician. so i know PLENTY of them. but just becuz musicians (or rastas or n*ggas around the way) behave a certain way when it comes to relationships doesn’t mean that it’s OK. it just makes it predictable. but i dont think some one should stay in an unstable or unhealthy (assuming that’s what it is) relationship sitch on some “he’s a Marley” or “that’s how musicians/rastas” are BS.
i’ll never condone that.
returning the co signage … exactly…
@iloVEGrits,
LOL. I know all of the above. And it’s still not okay to sleep with my cousin!
@iloVEGrits,
I am rasta not alota people
@BLUNTBLAZER,
dam pressed the button to soon
….but yea not alota people know about rastas we are hell spiritual people. and why they always blame the guy/dad? she aint to normal herself
@shay_d_lady,
“Lauryn has made several small attempts at testing the water”
Lauryn has been steadily working on music…posting ish on her website. There was a petition a while back demanding the record company to release the album she finished. But being record execs, they didn’t think it was marketable and shelved it. They made the decision for the consumers.
I don’t think she’s scared; I don’t think she cares.
And as for him being a Marley…
clearly you ain’t been around no Rastas.
lol.
He is a Rasta plus he comes from a musical dynasty. Hard to combat that. And yeah he’s got regula ninja ways, I agree with that. But for a girl who writes nonstop and plays guitar and writes poetry, to be around that has to be a dream, regular ninja ways be damned.
Ask Rita Marley…she sang back up on “Turn Your Lights Down Low”…a song Bob wrote for ANOTHER woman. When you are standing in the shadow of greatness, as crazy as this may sound, it is hard to leave the shadow. I think Lauryn may love the legacy more than Rohan, but I don’t know her so I can’t say. My theory. lol.
I actually think she lives in Miami and he in Ghana, so I don’t know if she has put it all on the line for him. I think he calls her up when he’s in town and they knock boots for old times sake. And she probably ain’t got time to date so she let’s him come over. Being a Marley, he is fertile as he!!…so baby’s happen. Again, my theory.
@iloVEGrits,
but just becuz that is what’s EXPECTED of him (or any n*gga really) doesn’t mean it has to be what’s ACCEPTED. yeah it mighta been great to bask in the greatness of Marleyness, but at some point the newness of the awesomeness wears off and you have to move on. do for self. make the most of your own ish.
@Gem-balaya, I completely agree, being a Rasta or Marley is not the end all be all. After their relationship started and evolved into whatever it is now, you saw the transformation in her. It’s almost as if she forgot who she was. I think she has been in a daze for a minute and its time for her to come down. It’s disheartening to read stories of her walking the streets of NJ barefoot and talking to her self. I for one believe that one day she will come back, maybe not a 100 percent but any percentage of her would be better than the foolishness that some these “artist” call real music.
@Gem-balaya,
I agree. And being that they don’t even live by all the tenets of Rastafarianism (as much makeup as she wears?!) that’s not an excuse at all. We gotta call it like it is. Lauryn wasn’t excepting Rasta life, she was just accepting bullshyt
@Me fail english?,
Sometimes I know which “accepting” to use, sometimes I don’t. This bothers me.
@iloVEGrits, it doesnt matter what her tie to him is.. its still toxic. being a Marley doesnt make it any easier… nor justify it…at the end of the day it is still a toxic relationship/chronic baby momma situation (He just hits it when he comes in town? he doesnt live with her and she has 5 kids.. like she really wanted to be a single mother of 5 cmon)
and she is still a regular chick trying to figure out what to do with a dream deferred…..
@shay_d_lady,
But does that make her a failure?
I don’t think so.
I think she found a situation that for, whatever reasons, she is happy enough to continue with.
Folks judge women on their choices and I have an issue with that in general (though, obviously, as a human, I judge folks, too. Like, I wonder if Jay-Z gets bored talking to Beyonce).
You don’t know why people do what they do. But if it makes ‘em happy, then they need to do them.
Just cuz it isn’t what we as a collective think it should be or were told what a relationship should look like, doesn’t mean it’s not a good one for her.
@iloVEGrits, thats the point I dont think she is happy. I have not seen anything that indicates happy, her music, her look and and the scant few interviews all lead me to think she is very troubled.
I think in life you are judged (and by judged I mean people form an opinion about you) by choices you make and I think you should be. The decisions you make in life tell a lot about you. Men and Women. Should you only be judged by your personal decisions? No
I mean I dont know Lauryn personally, so is my opinion truly informed? no, none of our opinions are and we all bring our own past experience to the table that skews the way we look at things. Maybe you know of a similar situation where the woman was happy with a fly by night rasta genius (by the way I dont think Rohan has really proven any brilliance he seems to just be getting by of being a marley) but I have never witnessed it…
I can concede that she is not a failure at LIFE but career wise I do consider it a faillure.
@iloVEGrits, the rumors of her chasing him down and him cheating with her cousin”
I have never heard these rumors. What filth you be reading? lolol.
Girl you gone make me stay up later and google it! i just remember there were lots and lots of rumors of infidelity and the one that supposedly drove her to breakdown was her cousin.. i will look for it tomorrow… I’s ti’ed now….
@iloVEGrits,
” Like, I wonder if Jay-Z gets bored talking to Beyonce).”
I was with you up until this.
Go sat down……
@iloVEGrits,
Like, I wonder if Jay-Z gets bored talking to Beyonce
Why did I have the same conversation with the SO recently? Because I truly wonder…
His take: “Jay-Z has all he thinks he ever wanted. loads of money and a hot chick(the hottest by lots of accounts). It’s his vision of “kinghood” and it’s the vision he had for his life. He’s not bothered that she can’t put 2 coherent thoughts together. He just looks at her 2 titties”…
Men, so simple.
@shay_d_lady,
“He just hits it when he comes in town? ”
Imma share a personal story to put a different perspective on this.
I have a friend (who happens to be a musician). We were in a relationship four years ago. Since then he’s been around the world, blah, blah. He lives in the U.K. now. He was in town last October for a month. We hung out all month. He’s in town this summer for 4 months. We are hanging.
Obviously, I date when he’s not around and if I am in a relationship I don’t see him, but I have friends question why I would hang with someone who only pops in for a month here, four months there.
Why? Cuz we get along. I’m free. And single. And the chex is good and I can get down w/o adding to my tally.
Maybe Lauryn is like me.
@iloVEGrits, Maybe Lauryn is like me.
Shes not.. she has five kid…
That makes it very, very very different.
@iloVEGrits, Maybe Lauryn is like me.
She probably was at first and thats what got her trapped….
thats the type of stuff that is fine to do but believe you me.. 5 kids and he aint never around to give her break? he cant cook breakfast, drop them off at soccer practice or sit and chill with them while she gets some much needed me time? There is a resentment that builds from lack of shared responsibility. I just cant see it that way.. again single or 1 child? maybe…
@ shay d lady,
Maybe Lauryn is like me and 5 kids make things different…
I agree with you. But if the situation is that he isn’t helping her (which we don’t know), it’s no different than any divorce. It’s not like she has 5 kids by 5 different men and is living in the projects. She loved a man and had his kids… that’s perfectly normal and natural for a woman. If things didn’t work out that too is normal. Everybody’s relationship doesn’t last forever.
@iloVEGrits,
Agreeing with you pgh muse. (your jewelry is fire btw, I accidentally gave credit to PBG but it’s yours, lol. Saw your site).
Back to Lauryn: if it didn’t work out (and again, we don’t know that deal so you are right, shay d…we are bringing our personal perspectives to the discussion), it didn’t and it’s okay to smash for old times sake. I kid, I kid.
Also, we don’t even know if she wants him around all the time, cooking and taking kids to soccer. Not every chick wants the white picket fence. Kids or no kids.
@pgh muse
She loved a man and had his kids… that’s perfectly normal and natural for a woman. If things didn’t work out that too is normal. Everybody’s relationship doesn’t last forever.
that was my point.. she isnt happy with it and I didnt say it was abnormal. My point was she’s not brilliant and hasnt found a new way of doing it and we all sleepin on it…
as I state above
“she is still a regular chick trying to figure out what to do with a dream deferred…..”
@shay
But why can’t she be happy with it? Cuz it’s not the way it is in movies, in commercials, in greeting cards?
I personally have not seen anything from her to show she was unhappy with her man. The last time I saw her refer to her in an interview (it was a while ago; they could be broken up, lol) she called him her husband. They took the kids to Disneyland and to South Africa; a normal family trip (this was when she had 4).
Unless she stabs him dead or releases an unmixed track titled “I hope my baby daddy dies”…how will we know she’s unhappy? I don’t think putting on some crazy outfits and checking out the music biz is a sign of unhappiness with her man so much as it is a sign of unhappiness with the music business.
I dunno.
@iloVEGrits, Also, we don’t even know if she wants him around all the time, cooking and taking kids to soccer. Not every chick wants the white picket fence. Kids or no kids.
they might not want the picket fence but I havent met one yet that didnt want the dad to be a full time dad… they might not want him as a husband…
do I know women who want children enough to give up on the dream of having a father for their child and go the the solo route? yes but I dont think Lauryn falls into that category..
@shay_d_lady:
“I havent met one yet that didnt want the dad to be a full time dad… they might not want him as a husband…”
I know several.
@iloVEGrits, personally have not seen anything from her to show she was unhappy with her man.
Really Veg?
I even before the comeback meltdowns in the interviews she did right after her second pregnancy she was CLEARLY not happy with him. .from her comments, the rumors of her chasing him down and him cheating with her cousin, now again was I there? no but as someone stated earlier you could see the change in her.. that wasnt ONLY about the music business.. I think before she could turn to music to get away from his crazy and then she couldnt anymore because of all the pressure… and she turned inward and thats what we got.. but Happy? Hell to the No… and the trip to south africa and all that shows me that she does want him around and she is willing to take whatever he has to offer.. which is sad to me….I dont see her as empowered in this situation. but again my background has only shown me one side of this picture and unfortunately it never had a happy ending…
@iloVEGrits and shay d lady, “she is still a regular chick trying to figure out what to do with a dream deferred…..”
I agree w/ both of you… (thank u VEG for the love too
), but to shay d lady, I’m sure that when she started popping out them babies she prolly wanted things to end up differently. But she also chose to have all those kids. She is Lauryn Hill, she could have got fixed 25 different ways if that is what she wanted. She wanted to have all them kids. Me personally, no amount of love is going to make me birth 5 babies if I don’t want to… this is 2009, so I don’t think that her life is perfect, and I don’t think things ended up for her how she pictured, but I don’t think that means she’s unhappy. I do agree that she’s still trying to figure things out, like all the rest of us, but she’s had fame, and she has money, and she loved her man for better or worse. I’m just saying she may not still be in the limelight but that doesn’t mean that she isn’t still doing her thing. And she’s still getting plenty royalty checks.
@shay
“the rumors of her chasing him down and him cheating with her cousin”
I have never heard these rumors. What filth you be reading? lolol.
@Shay-d-lady,
I havent met one yet that didnt want the dad to be a full time dad… they might not want him as a husband…
Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Because it does.
@iloVEGrits,
I think the difference between you and Lauryn may be that she became an angrier, more condescending person after dealing with her musician. Maybe it’s not because of him but if you’ve been watching her on camera since 1994, you’ll notice a vast difference in her whole demeanor now.
@iloVEGrits,
i’m a lurker but just had to share that Ro and Lauren are no longer together. he lives in Los Angeles and is “dating” someone I know. I figure she’ll be knocked up by July-ish.
*back to the shadows*
@iloVEGrits,
Lauryn Hill is not crazy; the rest of us are still in the dark. We should all pray to God tonight that we get so free.
i don’t buy that at all. i do not think they lauryn that has been surfacing in the media the last few years is SET FREE. while i wouldn’t label her “crazy”, i don’t honestly believe she is happy or ok with herself or even mentally healthy. her behavior suggests that she is suppressing a lot of hurt and her “unplugged” album just screams of unresolved issues. even in Dave Chappell’s Block Party she seemed unsettled and not really excited to be performing with her folk again.
idk. i clearly don’t know the woman personally or have the inside track to her personal life. but from where i’m sitting, she doesn’t look free. like her spirit is outside of her body– tangled in her hair or something. somebody please take the shackles off her feet so she can dance.
@Gem-balaya, idk. i clearly don’t know the woman personally or have the inside track to her personal life. but from where i’m sitting, she doesn’t look free. like her spirit is outside of her body– tangled in her hair or something. somebody please take the shackles off her feet so she can dance.
LMAO.. you a fool.. but yeah if thats happy and free.. point me in the direction of some shackles…..
@Gem-balaya,
lolol at the spirit being tangled in her hair.
She has said she was working through issues when she did Unplugged (she was also learning to play guitar and shouldn’t have been playing live…but I digress). The album was putting a spotlight on those issues.
I’ve seen recent tv interviews with her (all Euro television; last 3 years or so) and she sounded very rational, extremely introspective and thoughtful.
@iloVEGrits,
well if she is currently sounding different than she was a couple years ago, then i think that’s great. and i hope she’s in a good place so she can focus on herself and her children.
the problem with having ovaries in the music industry is that women can’t afford to go “crazy”. becuz they are mothers and the primary care takers. women gotta hold it down and keep it all together. men can go off the deep end, be smothered in drugs and @$$ cheeks, or be straight up psychiatric-ly ill, and we simply attribute it to their musical genius. it’s ok, do you. kill yourself for the music. it’s all about the music.you got a wife or sister at home to take care of the kiddies.
but women don’t have that same option. they can’t BE the musical geniuses AND take care of home. they aren’t allowed to go off script and get lost in their music or the industry becuz they have others to think of. it’s not fair but it’s life. sacrifices must be made i suppose.
@Gem-balaya,
I agree with your comment but it also speaks to why women DO go crazy, no matter what walk of life they come from. They are trying to live up to the myth of Superwoman.
I’d rather be called a nut than die trying to please all kinds of folks and never really being myself.
@iloVEGrits,
i don’t disagree with you on this.
@iloVEGrits, i’ve also seen interviews with her where’s shes seemed (and looked) batsh*t crazy.
i love lauryn hill and all, but i can’t just pretend that she’s “free” when she looks like she’s gone through 3 personal hells and is acting like the arse of all arseholes.
@Gem-balaya, like her spirit is outside of her body– tangled in her hair or something. somebody please take the shackles off her feet so she can dance.
BWAHAHA! dang Gemmie… hilarious
@Gem-balaya,
“i do not think they lauryn that has been surfacing in the media the last few years is SET FREE. while i wouldn’t label her “crazy”, i don’t honestly believe she is happy or ok with herself or even mentally healthy.”
i have to agree. i think alot of people get clouded by a persons artist “deepness”, and give them life passes off the strength of that. i know the majority of the people sympathetic and making excuses for l-boogies plight probably wouldn’t do the same if it was an artist like a beyonce or a ciara or something.
i mean really, when you take the “deepness” spin off of it, how much different is her situation than whitney houstons?
@The Champ,
Word. And you best believe that if Bobby was effin around on Whitney and she just kept popping out babies and cussing out concert goers nobody would be saying “well maybe it’s that way by design”
@iloVEGrits, i have to agree with shay-dy, miss hill is not okay.
she came down to South Africa a few years ago to do a show, and behaved so strangely – yelling at the audience that she was ‘a strong, african queen!’ – okaaaaaay…. her set was horrible, she acted so erratic – and as a performer, it was just a low, low point. yelling at the band onstage, stopping songs midway to preach (my pet peeve!)
everyone left the place shaking their heads on some ‘lauryn hill’s gone mad’.
@superwoman,
I saw her twice perform twice after the Unplugged album dropped. A couple of years apart each. She DID bring the crowd down with the preaching, I will not lie.
But I did not get ‘crazy’ from her so much as ‘evangelist’. She has some ish to say and says it when she wants to.
@iloVEGrits,
fair enough (re: someone being allowed to express themselves if they’ve got s’thing to say). the thing is, i worked in the music industry at the time she came down to joburg, and EVERYONE she interacted with on this trip was shocked at how unhappy and dark she was – there was nothing even vaguely serene or free or ‘enlightened’ about her – she was just angry, erratic, disrespectful, snappish and bizarre.
as for her performance…. it was tragic, she looked like a woman in the middle of a nervous breakdown. you get those performers who wanna do nothing but drop their superior knowledge on your unsuspecting head – but they generally look smug, happy and fulfilled (annoyingly so)…
NOTHING about lauryn hills demeanor and vibe suggests she’s at peace – NOTHING. i think the woman’s in trouble.
@superwoman,
i saw her perform before the unplugged album hit. and that’s basically how she acted—a daggone fool on stage. i was like LAURYN GET OFF THE STAGE. or just sing a song. do a dance. something! but she hummed and did a little spoken word, but she spent so much time yelling at the audience and being distracted by this that and the other, it was horrid to witness. i couldn’t believe my senses. we decided to get up and walk around the amphitheater until the next act came on. *smh*
@iloVEGrits, This comment is the truth.
@iloVEGrits, i read your whole comment and you said a lot of good stuff.
with that said, you ma’am, are wrong. lol.
@Panama Jackson,
hater. lolol.
@iloVEGrits, all a y’all,
lawd! is this now the longest vsb thread?
anywho…people did a small profile on her a little while ago asking these very questions. and rohan’s @ss was quoted all up in it. i was a little shocked to see this in people but it was interesting and sh!t.
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20221692,00.html
@SouthernGirl,
“The duo are not married and don’t live together, but Marley says they are “spiritually together,” though he lists himself as “single” on MySpace.”
lol, this line is classic
@The Champ,
DEAD @ Ms. Hill being jumped off
@The Champ,
It’s classic alright…lol
Classic BS.
@miss t-lee,
Right! And aren’t you tired of all these Adnan Ghalib/Bobby Brown azz ninjas tryna tell us their crazy azz girlfriends aint the ones with the problem? And how we’re the crazy ones?
Ol’ Nino Brown on the witness stand, finger pointing azz ninjas.
@Me fail english?,
This whole comment just made me laugh.
Loudly.
*daps*
@The Champ,
“spiritually together,”
She done pulled a Brandy.
@SouthernGirl,
Ok. I just read the whole article and this actually made me sad in real life. Even if I didn’t like her music and Rohan and the music industry have nothing to do with it, I can’t see how anybody can think this is the portrait of a woman at peace.
@iloVEGrits,
***Amazing Grace Church of Good Hope Faith Baptismal Holy Onction***
Lauryn has five kids now, if I am not mistaken.
i think musically, Lauryn has fallen off. hard. with no helmet. she has, indeed, failed at bringing the raw, intensely crafted, make you say hmmmm music she did with Miseducation. she spiraled downward into becoming this melancholy tragedy whose sound brought about more depressing imagery than the thought of being buried in a House of Dereon outfit–talk about eternal damnation.
but as far as her having baby daddy drama,exhibiting insecure behavior, and wildin out on the many ppl who put her on the pedestal she once occupied (i.e. the fugee crew AND her fans), she’s no different than many other sistas out there. the lauryn we see (or don’t see) today is a regular sistah down on her luck. i feel bad for her, but life happens. maybe she needs therapy. maybe she needs Jesus. maybe she needs to make another Sister Act sequel. maybe she needs to Ask The PBG. who knows??
but in life, i don’t think she has failed. she has just lived. i just hope she finds her way to happiness. for her children’s sake.
@Gem-balaya, but in life, i don’t think she has failed. she has just lived. i just hope she finds her way to happiness. for her children’s sake.
interesting point…
I can agree with that.. at the end of the day we put Lauryn on a pedastal and found out that she isnt the next prophet but a woman who makes the same mistakes and is struggling to find her way through just like the rest of us…
never quite living up to our full potential.. and thats sad
@shay_d_lady,
“thats sad”
What’s sad is that we expected her to be one thing and when she turned out to not be what we expected…folks called her a failure.
@iloVEGrits, What’s sad is that we expected her to be one thing and when she turned out to not be what we expected…folks called her a failure.
We expected her to be the woman she sang about….. calling her a failure is harsh but
it is what it is…
@shay_d_lady,
Show me a woman who is exactly and consistently the together, strong, independent woman she claims to be in front of her friends, her family and at work…and I’ll show you a woman who is gonna find herself in the grave way before her time.
@iloVEGrits, i don’t think that’s sad, actually. her body of work and her presentation put her in a place where we had expectations. it aint like she’s Soulja Boy where expectations are null and void. Lauryn is a victim of her own doing. that aint exactly our fault.
hell, people have expecations of me, and you, your momma and your cousin too, and its all based upon what you’ve done. when people see potential and it isn’t met, folks are disappointed.
in the regular world, we call that irreconcilable differences.
@Panama Jackson,
Well said. But even if we don’t have high expectations, whenever the image is 180 degrees from what you turn out to be, you’ll fall on the suspect list.
Imagine if we found out Soulja Boy was a 30 year old Fulbright scholar. That would make me think that ninja is crazy (c) Pryor…or at least must be going thru some stuff to be changing a whole identity. Music industry or not.
@shay_d_lady,
I think we’re making the “public” out to be more vicious than they (read: we) actually are. It’s not like we thought Lauryn was a saint and were disappointed to find she was normal. We thought she was a saint and were disappointed to find she was an effin TRAINWRECK!!
These are NOT average woman problems. Sleeping with one married man only to get knocked up by another dude who was already taken all the while wearing clown makeup and appearing to descend into insanity (rude, un-PC comments, crazy outfits, not showing up for concerts, demanding to be called Ms. Hill, etc.).
She went from sainthood to exceptional assholery. That is NOT the average woman. That was a complete 180. If Cassie or Ashanti or even Olivia stopped showing up for shows and got knocked off by all types of un-single dudes and rocked clown makeup yall would call the betch crazy! At least I know would.
@Me fail english?,
If Cassie or Ashanti or even Olivia stopped showing up for shows and got knocked off by all types of un-single dudes and rocked clown makeup yall would call the betch crazy!
***nodding head***
@Me fail english?,
the difference b/t lauryn and the girls that you named is that those girls were irrelevant even when they were still in the game, and they do/did not garner the same respect as lauryn. lauryn has definitely gone off the deep end, but people really loved her, and those who did are not too keen on calling her crazy…even if all evidence seems to show that she is….
@N.I.A. naturally….,
Agreed. If anything, her former hip hop, boho image is her main protection now. When Britney was shaving her head and attacking photogs with umbrellas nobody was claiming she had freed herself from the restraints of pop life or whatever. That betch was just crazy!
@Me fail english?,
yeah, BritBrat had a nervouse breakdown. I think she really needed some help…and so did Lauryn during her episode. does anyone know what she’s up to know….
know should read “now”. thanks
@Me fail english?,
“We thought she was a saint and were disappointed to find she was an effin TRAINWRECK!!”
good point.
@Me fail english?,
Who is Olivia??
@V Renee,
She sung that song “Bizounce” and she was on a song with 50 “Best Friend”. I think she was on 50′s label if I’m not mistaken.
unfortunately I don’t have an answer at the moment… lol
but that line from Lauryn is always part of my away message … **insert corny smile here**
I just imagine how awesome that Unplugged album could have been if her voice wasn’t gone that day and if she didn’t showcase her raggedy guitar playing of one chord. The lyricism of that set was BANANAS, really I implore all of you to find the lyrics somewhere on the innawebs and soak it up…..
Another music fall from grace on the group tip is En Vogue, they were a girl group done right and ventured out on solo FAILDOM… I loved them so… Now they are trying to recapture the magic, negative…. le sigh…
@Naturally Alise, The lyricism of that set was BANANAS, really I implore all of you to find the lyrics somewhere on the innawebs and soak it up…..
Co-sign. It didn’t have any beats , but was still a good album.
@pgh muse, i disagree that it was a good album. if only the words were good, then it was a good reading.
@Naturally Alise,
“I just imagine how awesome that Unplugged album could have been if her voice wasn’t gone that day and if she didn’t showcase her raggedy guitar playing of one chord. The lyricism of that set was BANANAS, really I implore all of you to find the lyrics somewhere on the innawebs and soak it up…..”
I so AGREE with you!!!
She had NO business playing guitar in public at that point. If you don’t know if it’s in tune, if you have to ask someone, like she did, you ain’t ready for a public performance.
And she, like Whitney, is someone who needs to not speak for a week before singing.
But the lyricism was there. The elements were there. Had she had an experience guitar player behind her and a week’s vocal rest, nobody would say ish.
I don’t think the album was depressing…it was raw and was about something.
@iloVEGrits, cosign
her albums were heavy, no rap she got busy on the entertaining and the lyrics not many have been able to combine the two
@Naturally Alise, just imagine how awesome that Unplugged album could have been if her voice wasn’t gone that day and if she didn’t showcase her raggedy guitar playing of one chord. The lyricism of that set was BANANAS, really I implore all of you to find the lyrics somewhere on the innawebs and soak it up…..
and you know how I feel about that..
if if was a fif? exactly
she is an entertainer.. she was making SONGS not spoken word. lyrics alone dont cut it… whatever the reasons were she couldnt get the stars aligned to make them accessible to the public in the way that Miseducation was….
she doesnt get a free pass..she is still required to make a song otherwise.. write for someone else and let them perform it or.. do Def Poetry Jam
@shay_d_lady,
oh you are right, i completely agree, it is about a complete package… a girl can dream though, lol, that shit woulda been so hot with production omg!!!…
@Naturally Alise,
It’s actually a mixtape floating around where the dj stripped her vocals from that unplugged album (sans the preaching) and inserted them on other music instrumentals from various genres of music (i.e. The Beatles, The Doors, Floetry, Eric B. & Rakim, etc) I’ve been trying to find it for a couple of years…it was dope.
@AkShone,
That sounds hot. i loved the deepness of that albulm and all the bibical reffernces. She was very troubled but saying alot of real stuff, if you ever do track it down could you please let us know? Thanks!
@shay_d_lady, she doesnt get a free pass
I agree. You have to pay to play and in somethings non-conformists have to conform… but maybe that’s why she stopped trying.
@shay_d_lady, exactuf*ckinmundo.
an album is the marriage of words and beats. if you remove one, it aint an album.
I really just have to co-sign VEG’s comment. I can’t say it better. I truly think that in LIFE (maybe not the music industry) she won. It ain’t like she’s out there pushing garbage to stay in the game or to stay relevant. I think she was true to herself. It’s not a failure to cease trying to be what everyone else wants you to be… it’s a victory. Sheeit… you try having 4 or 5 kids back to back, be a good mother, and still be a mega-famous entertainer… all those pregnancies and little kids running around alone is enough to drive someone batty. Her and her man are still together as far as the world knows, whatever drama they go through. I don’t think Lauryn was on the mic telling other women what to be, I think she was speaking truths… but we are all human… so shyt happens. I don’t know if she’s schizophrenic or not. If so, then that’s sad, but there was an article on some blog a couple months back that showed her taking her kids horse back riding. There she was looking regla as he!! (sans clown makeup which coulda been the same as Prince walking around w/ Slave on his face) with all her kids riding horses. What’s wrong with that? She’s still RICH and is still super talented – if she makes a comeback good for her. Maybe she’ll write a book and get more of our money.
@pgh muse,
“It’s not a failure to cease trying to be what everyone else wants you to be… it’s a victory”
i cant agree with this and sh*t
@pgh muse, yeah, i’m gonna go ahead and disagree with you here too. Lauryn didn’t win at life. at least not based on her output, both musically and thru interviews and stuff. hell she made a song about not getting caught up, “that thing” and then she got caught up.
i dont know her personally, but my guess is she wasn’t TRYING to have 5 babies by a man she cant keep faithful.
@Panama Jackson,
She got caught up by “that thing” times 10.
@pgh muse,
You are an artist… Hence, you get it.
And you’re my e-twin too.
@Sula, um…i’m an artist too. why for come i don’t get it?
@Panama Jackson,
But are you my e-twin though?
@Sula, that’s all you got, huh?
lol.
@Panama Jackson,
I actually had a long diatribe… then I thought, eh… the crazy guy at church singing off-key thinks he’s an artist too, so why bother? Everybody is an artist in their mama an ‘nem eyes…
Yung Berg is an artist.
@Sula, good one.
my work will be in your stores soon. LOL.
@Me fail…
so is Spencer Pratt.
@pgh muse,
true I think L-Boog is still better than Bey, j-lo, etc anyone else I still like Badu to. I mena she gotta life to live also.
Michael Jackson is the biggest fall Ive ever seen. Lauryn is a very spiritual sister and I give her that, and damn she fine as hell. Maybe she’s crazy or maybe she has bad PR
Shoot if a camera followed everything I did I’d come off a little touched too.
On the other hand I would still kick it with her crazy behind any day, hell I’d babysit them lil rugrats……
But MJ this dude went from a brown-skinned relatively good-looking dude to a monster of a human being. His self hatred is soooooo deep that his children that he “fathered” are white than a mafu&*er.
With that said, his albums can make everyone move at any juncture, any event, any occasion. Go into any building and let ‘Off The Wall’ come on, tell me some folks aint gonna be movin
MJ will go down in history as what fame, self loathing, media attention, f-d up parenting, drug addiction, hella cash, musical genius, and a jheri curl can do to a man……(soul glo playin in the background)
@Blacklaw, Michael Jackson is the biggest fall Ive ever seen.
H3LL YEAH!! The whole Jackson family. Now THEY are crazy!
@pgh muse,
lol hell yea mj is the biggest fall cause his whole fam fell
I feel sad for you. Is all I can.
@Blacklaw, I think MIchael failed more at life but musically.. he delivered for decades…
oh and what cameras were following lauryn around forever? the info we got is the shyt she came out and did… thats what sparked the crazy talk her interviews and performances..
@shay_d_lady,
Girl…Mike failed at music.
His ish started to decline dramatically.
The dance moves have not changed since the 80s and the quality and originality of the music stopped in the early 90s.
He was obviously no one hit wonder but c’mon.
Michael has not made a substantial musical contribution since Bad.
@iloVEGrits,
Yes, he has been doing the same moves forever, people kept giving him passes bc he was the King of Pop, but how many times can i watch a decrepit a$$ moonwalk and spin moves….
@Naturally Alise,
Lmao. Exactly.
@iloVEGrits, Girl…Mike failed at music.
His ish started to decline dramatically.
yes after more than 3 decades in the biz.. his MUSICAL fall off is the fall off all old heads experience..nobody stays on top of the game forever..they all get old and lose touch..
@shay_d_lady,
He more than lost touch.
Michael was pushed out the music biz.
@iloVEGrits, Michael was pushed out the music biz.
I dont know.. if that album he released with butterflies on it had been more than mediocre it might have been a different story… the deck was stacked against him sure but if he could have shown he could still sell they would have pulled his a.s.s back in
@iloVEGrits, what?!?!
The Dangerous album had some hits on it, “Remember The Time”.
and i actually really liked, “rocked my world”
@Panama Jackson,
speak on it.
I secretly liked “they dont really care about us” also the video was wild plus it hella knocked
I had four 12′s in my trunk and that song would bang hard
@Panama Jackson,
Haha. Yeah I think “Blood is on the Dancefloor” ws the only MJ record I didn’t really bump.
@iloVEGrits, lmao at “his dance moves haven’t changed since the 80′s”
cosign
@iloVEGrits, Yeah but how many artists have remained musically relevant for 4 decades. Staying musically relevant for more than one album does not equal a fail in my book….. Now MJs life is a totally different story
@shay_d_lady,
I think MIchael failed more at life but musically.. he delivered for decades…
yeah mike DEF failed at life. (twitter) whale fail. epic fail. he IS alone fail. mummified man in the mirror fail. just one big BAD fail. *smh* damn shame.
@Blacklaw,
“Shoot if a camera followed everything I did I’d come off a little touched too.”
Can I get a witness????
Especially if only my most touched moments were reported.
Hell, I HAVE run to the corner in striped toe socks, flip flops, mens basketball shorts and a tank. That LOOKS crazy…but I am not (and was not) crazy at the time I dashed out in said outfit.
@iloVEGrits, Hell, I HAVE run to the corner in striped toe socks, flip flops, mens basketball shorts and a tank. That LOOKS crazy…but I am not (and was not) crazy at the time I dashed out in said outfit.
running to the corner store and running out to perform a whole show.. not the same thing….
@shay_d_lady,
Dunno. I wanted to do me. And she wanted (wants?) to do her. The premise is the same, though the venue is different. She spoke at length on Unplugged how she hated getting dressed up for shows, putting on a front, doing songs the old way.
@iloVEGrits, Dunno. I wanted to do me. And she wanted (wants?) to do her. The premise is the same, though the venue is different. She spoke at length on Unplugged how she hated getting dressed up for shows, putting on a front, doing songs the old way.
uh and she said that while not looking like a dayum fool…sorry VEG
@shay_d_lady,
She looked a mess…compared to the other Lauryn…on Unplugged.
DooRag, Jeans, Jean shirt, Ball cap on the doo rag.
She was shat on for that outfit in the media, for not bringing the ‘designer ish’. Same for a similar outfit at the Essence Awards during the same time period.
Her outfits now are not my taste, I’m not into clown looks – but some blog a couple of years ago pointed out that the ish she was wearing was Euro couture. Not that it makes it cute, but she is clearly taking the time to (or have someone) buy these high end, high concept clothes. She has a fashion vision that the rest of the world hasn’t – and hopefully will not and definitely should not – caught on to yet.
@shay_d_lady, Her outfits now are not my taste, I’m not into clown looks – but some blog a couple of years ago pointed out that the ish she was wearing was Euro couture. Not that it makes it cute, but she is clearly taking the time to (or have someone) buy these high end, high concept clothes. She has a fashion vision that the rest of the world hasn’t – and hopefully will not and definitely should not – caught on to yet.
LOL okay on this note? i am going to bed..
VEG cmon now.. I see that you clearly are a fan but you know good and dayum well that that clown get up was not hot on ANYONES boulevard….
@shay_d_lady,
“you know good and dayum well that that clown get up was not hot on ANYONES boulevard….”
that’s what I said. lolol.
@iloVEGrits, i’m gonna go ahead and disagree with you here VEG. you ARE crazy if you run outside in striped toe socks and flip flops. mostly cuz toe socks scare me.
scary = crazy.
@Panama Jackson, there is something about them toe socks that aint right. I heard they are real comfortable from a girl I used to mess with…..
we aint together no mo’
@Blacklaw,
aww damn.
@Panama Jackson,
was the deal on those socks are they better then real socks? like glovke vrs a mitten or sumthin?
@Blacklaw,
Amen! Amen!
I think one thing a lot of people are forgetting that the Lauryn on the first album was a package. A product (very much like the packaged ice-y pop princess Whitney Houston when the REAL Whit really like cheap beer and smoked menthol cigs). She spoke at length about that on the Unplugged album and in interviews afterwards. It was not her reality. So folks are judging her, saying she didn’t live up to what she presented to the public, when she made it very clear that that image was not her reality.
@iloVEGrits, I think one thing a lot of people are forgetting that the Lauryn on the first album was a package. A product (very much like the packaged ice-y pop princess Whitney Houston when the REAL Whit really like cheap beer and smoked menthol cigs). She spoke at length about that on the Unplugged album and in interviews afterwards. It was not her reality. So folks are judging her, saying she didn’t live up to what she presented to the public, when she made it very clear that that image was not her reality.
this is a cop out.. Lauryn said she wrote that album and SHE said it was her truth. yes I do think the packaging, the makeup the fashion and all of that was the record company trying to control her public persona but that album from her own mouth was a true representation of her artistry. AGain we are talking about the music .. nobody gave a dayum whether she glammed up or not.. if she would have shown up looking like a clown and given a good show the would be calling her eccentric like prince….
also how you gone say in one breath she’s brilliant and got it all together and in the next paint her as this tragic victim of the music industry?
LOL thats okay you go hard for her..I just ask that you do the same for me when I change the world with my life story!
@shay_d_lady,
Where did I paint her as a tragic victim?
I’m quoting her.
Unplugged, if you follow her musical journey, was the beginning of her freedom. She wrote (though that was disputed in the courts) the songs but heck for all I know maybe she was writing the ish she thought would sell. And maybe she wasn’t comfortable with that. I can only base my opinions on what comes out of her mouth…her interviews…etc.
If you are seeing that as a tragic victim, it’s the lenses you are wearing but it’s not the picture I’m painting.
And yes, I will go hard for you when you bring fire to the world. Always.
I have hard time judging the chick cuz she decided to do things differently than was expected. I need far more evidence (the barefoot incident not withstanding, if that was true…umm…yeah) to make a ‘crazy’ diagnosis.
Until then, using her words, she’s free now.
@iloVEGrits, I dont know VEG she was all about her journey with miseducation..she claimed that album allowed her to free herself of her demons and all that. …. She wrote that album and those words and then for whatever reason couldnt find that synergy again. all that other shyt? I dont know..
all I can say is that it doesnt seem like she knows what freedom is….and that in iteself shows that she is lost.
and its sad… it really does sadden me because I came of age with miseducation. I listened to those songs and those words and you would have thought she was the second coming of Jesus. Looking back I realize that I was wrong to expect her to be anything other than a regular old chick.. to put her on that pedestal.. but what hurts the most is the lauryn I fell in love with, in my mind, would have come out and said it, she wouldnt run and hide she wouldnt give bullshyt excuses and jack leg preaching…..she would have just said it was to much and gracefully bowed out..but she didnt.. and I have trouble reconciling that.. again I totally agree that my expectations of her were probably way to high…..but it is what it is.. and with that.. good night!
@iloVEGrits, yeah, i’m with Shay, IF that is the case, the it is a total cop out.
SHE made that album. SHE chose to deliver that album. SHE could have decided she wasn’t going to be anybody’s pawn and just not released an album.
So you’re telling me, instead, she delivers a seminally classic album that resonated with over 10 million people on some sh*t that wasn’t genuine?
now its possible that in retrospect, she came to realize that isn’t who she was, but at the time, she at least thought that’s who she was.
true artistry doesn’t lie.
I’m going to take a break from the music world and go to a topic both near and dear to me…basketball.
My nomination from largest fall from grace goes to my all-time favorite NBA player:
Shawn Kemp.
@Jah,
Man I don’t know a lot about him but drugs will mess you up! I saw pics of him after all of that…he looked like a dead man walking.
@Jah,
dayum I had actually forgotten about Shawn Kemp.
Tragedy.
@Jah,
yeah, shawn kemp definitely ranks up there. i cant think of another ball-player who fell off so quickly and it wasnt injury related. (maybe vin baker?)
@Jah,
I just saw Kemp on Joes vs. Pros the other night. He actually looks to be in better shape and he has lost some weight. I heard that he had been playing ball over seas…I don’t know.
@Jah,
True. Shawn Kemp’s fat ass looks like he was the one pregnant with all them kids. Haha @ his garnishments!
@Me fail english?, idk…its a sad story but i think Linn Bias (spell check) was the basketball epic fail. you die before you sign your deal or play your first game off some party and drug BS. thats and EEEEEEEPIC fail…
@Me fail english?,
yea kemo was havin kids in every area code way before luda made the song
I think that Lauren Hill was definitely one of the tops, but I think Mike Tyson tops them all. He was the highest paid athlete on the planet, and now he’s broke. Bankrupt and broke. Lauren Hill could come out her cave right now and drop a hot album that most of us would buy. Mike Tyson has ruined his name as we know it.
(I’ll prob catch flack for this due to what recently happened with his daughter, RIP).
Some other notables (forgive if already mentioned):
1. Wesley Snipes (tax evasion? for real nucca?)
2. Whitney Houston (crack kills)
3. Arsenio Hall (where the heck is he????)
4. Sexy Spec of Pretty Ricky (He wasn’t on the top of the world, but with that video he just came out with, he fell off of something)
5. Michael Jackson (a successful black man turned into a weird, pedophile white woman)
@Ashley Neicole,
“Sexy” Spec didn’t fall offa nuffin. He just fell out that stuffy musty azz closet (all while causing my retinas to detach themselves and quit me).
He’s free now.
@blackberry molasses,
Exactly lol.
@Ashley Neicole,
so true re Wes snipes! at one point he was arrested in south africa for forging a passport!! i couldn’t believe it!! i think they detained him at the airport coz he was using a fraudulent S.A. passport… this was when he was wanted in the US for tax evasion, so we were all like ‘hmmmmmmm…. DODGY, wesley, very very dodgy!!’
@Ashley Neicole,
When I was reading the PJ’s intro, Mike was the first person I thought of after the trance I was in from looking at that picture of Lauren (d@mn, those eyes and chocolate skin). I was and still am a BIG Tyson fan…his documentary is epic.
With all he’s had to overcome in his life with wealth, deception, lack of guidance and loss; I can only hope it doesn’t end tragically with the death of his daughter.
@Ashley Neicole, i dont know if i agree about Mike Tyson, only because he was screwed before he even made it to the top. Iron Mike was at the top financially, but inside that dude was the epitome of f*cked the f*ck up. what happened later was his inside world and outside world stopped living in parallel universes and resumed being the same.
@Panama Jackson, cosign Mike had a steady income making him appear less crazy….but when the money and PR are gone it’s hard to not look crazy biting ppl and ish
Yeah…poor Lauryn. She was so flyy, and the lyrics? Wow.
I still dust off the Score and Miseducation erry now and again. Daang.
I nominate: Canibus
@miss t-lee,
LOL. LL ruined his career.
@Ashley Neicole,
Haha. “99% of your fans…don’t EXIST!”
That’s gotta be one of my fav rap battle lines of all time and I didn’t even like that song.
@miss t-lee,
The death of Canibus was due to his WACK production. I think Wyclef is a really talented dude, but his production killed Canibus’ career to me…not LL.
@AkShone,
I just think as much hype as he was getting, and his so-called beef with LL, he should’ve been able to get some shine for a bit longer than he did.
Kinda like Joe Budden
LOL
@miss t-lee,
True, but at least Joe Budden can make actual thought provoking songs out side of battle rapping. I didn’t like “Padded Room”, though. The Mood Music series was better to me.
@AkShone,
True. Tahiry’s salad tosser never lost his following. Canibus on the other hand..
lol@ him getting salty at Meth about the Vibe list. Ol’ Kobe-azz ninja
@AkShone,
This is my argument… I’m so spent w/ it. ugh
@miss t-lee, um, Canibus didn’t exactly…blow in order to fall.
plus his first album was total wacksauce. you can blame ‘Clef like most people do, but I blame the fact that ‘Bus just can’t make a song. battle rapper extraordinaire, songwriter wacksauce ordinaire.
@Panama Jackson, true
5 hottest rappers of all time Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, and Dylan
@Blacklaw,
*crying*
@Blacklaw,
Don’t laugh if as I ask this wacky question but are you referring to Bob Dylan or is this a line from a song or movie? Bob Dylan is the man either way though.
@pinksghetti,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9lg6HqJeY0
@Blacklaw,
I just saw him in Miami. He is broke with yellow teeth
@Me fail english?, Well you know puffy aint tryna part with no money so I cant say I m surprised
Heard he got little kim some breasts instead of paying royalties…(she took the new chestacles from a horrible plastic surgeon instead of some money she could invest…damn shame)
Also heard that it took some threats for him to break Shyne off but hay it’s all hearsay
@Blacklaw,
I believe ALL of that. I also heard he charges his artists for appearing at their shows and on their songs. WTF?! As much as he be featured. I bet he’s rich off that alone.
And Red Cafe had the nerve to sign with him! What else?!
R.I.P. Arm and Hammer Man. That’s what else!!!
@Blacklaw,
ijustdied.
And thank God Maxwell is releasing an album this summer.
Amen, Halleuhia, shanananananana!!!
Lauryn has definitely fallen from grace…she fell, not to be confused with failed. If she dropped an album next week, I would have it tomorrow…LOL!
others who have fallen off(at least for the moment)
–Taye Diggs
–Morris Chestnut
–Gabrial Union
–Vivica Fox, all downhill after 50
–Mike Vick, but I expect him to make a full recovery
–The Republian Party…a shell of it’s former self. smh….
@N.I.A. naturally….,
others who have fallen off(at least for the moment)
–Taye Diggs
–Morris Chestnut
–Gabrial Union
lol, dont you hafta be “on” to fall off?
@The Champ,
hey…Taye did a few decent movies, and tried to have that t.v. series…can’t remember the name of it .lol. and Gabby was at least working consistently, and now she’s everywhere but not really doing anything. but you are right about Morris…LMAO!!
@The Champ, My sentiments exactly.
@N.I.A. naturally….,
Lol, most of those are black actors in Hollywood…they’re only going to let 5 black actors at the most, get some shine. And if you’re a sista…maybe 2 if Halle Berry ain’t up for the part…ask Nia Long.
@N.I.A. naturally….,
i’m having real keyboard issues today…that should read Republican. smh. LOL!!
@N.I.A. naturally….,
me too i need friday to come soon
@BLUNTBLAZER,
yeah, i need Friday to come, but i’ll settle for Happy Hour after work…lol
I’m sorry, but I haven’t figured out yet why the general public gives Ms. Hill such grief. She is human! And just because her follow up album and public appearances did not present her in the perfectly coiffed manner we had come to expect, she’s crazy? Personally, I respect her. Most entertainers (i.e. Beyonce) or people in general don’t have the balls to let down the facade and let people see them for who they truly are, flaws and all. When you’re in the public eye, everything has to be calculated – clearly she miscalculated, but she also clearly didn’t care. Being up on the pedestal, being in the public’s graces was not a priority, and frankly, if that’s not where she wanted to be, then who are we to judge?
@Sydnie,
When you’re in the public eye, everything has to be calculated – clearly she miscalculated, but she also clearly didn’t care
if she took the time to “calculate”, though, doesn’t that imply caring to some extent?
@Sydnie, see, i dont think it takes balls to drop the facade and let people see you for the a** you might be. and i definitely dont think it was intentional on her part. i think she hit a wall and kind of lost it a little.
her music and performances reflect it. she’s lost.
she needs google maps.
@Panama Jackson, i think she hit a wall and kind of lost it a little.
her music and performances reflect it. she’s lost.
exactly..
On another Note, the statement about having the balls to drop the facade. I dont know if I call that balls. I dont think its ever a good decision to open your whole life up in a professional setting. I think you should have a professional persona. I think it should be based on your true personality (being someone completely removed from the real you is just as dangerous).. but i think its necessary to prevent the shyt that lauryn is going through….
@Sydnie,
Pgh Muse, Sula and I are having a party.
Your e-vite is on the way.
@iloVEGrits,
Right?
Lol!
http://www.openentrance.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/lauryn-hill-011508.jpg
This sums it up…enjoy…
@CPT Callamity,
you need to attach some “warning” caption to that pic
…d@mn.
Reminds me of that fine chick back in high school, that every brotha wanted. Now, she’s a hot mess and have every brotha runnin’…away.
I nominate Michael Jackson for most epic fail. But Lauryn is a close second
Ok. I just thought of some more ish…
I don’t think fans are being hypercritical of Lauryn by saying she fell off hard. If her image and her actual personality are at opposing ends of a continuum it is a fail. Stars at that level spend so much time in the public eye that I’d imagine the pressure’s on to stay in character nearly all your waking hours and that kinda sucks. I’d rather work a desk job. If your life sucks, you failed.
As for the criticism being based on Lauryn embodying a womanhood that I could only aspire to…not really. I weep for (or at least laugh at heartily) anyone whose persona is exposed as being so different from their reality that it makes you question their emotional health. I’m looking at you Rowse (Ross)!
@Me fail english?,
I think the proof in wether an artist fell off or not… would be the zerooooooooooos hangin’ off the edge of their bank statement. If she aint broke….. she aint fell off!
@Laneianna,
Meh, money isn’t the end all be all. Especially if we’re judging you on artistic impact and quality of life, both of which seem to have nosedived for Ms. Hill.
If all your old friends think you’re nuts, you just might be having a problem bigger than dough.
@Laneianna,
Also, I don’t care how much he got in his account. Ice T fell the eff off!
Lauryn Hill had it all. Very beautiful, great singing voice and thoughtful lyrics. She must have got caught up in some issues with the Marley fellow along with her own issues plus the entertainment industry seems to rob peoples’ souls (literally).
Shai- Those dudes were all fine and could sang. One of my fav. songs of all time is “If I Ever Fall in Love”.
Jodeci-singing/songs were hot, now they are all just a hot mess.
AZ Yet-another group with all hot guys who could really sing but only had 1 or 2 hits (remake of “Hard to Say I’m Sorry”)
Toni Braxton-she didn’t fall off too hard but she’s not as popular as before.
Kriss Kross- come on they were real popular “Jump, Jump” was the bomb.
Babyface-sorry I love him but he hasn’t had a hit song since the 90′s either his singing or written for someone else.
Busta Rhymes-hopefully he’ll comeback with this new CD. But when he was back in the 90′s he was the creative voice of Hip-Hop.
@pinksghetti,
lol, are you naming people who fell off or just cd’s you own?
@The Champ,
::chuckling::
@The Champ,
LOL, though I do own Jodeci and Busta Rhymes greatest hits but that’s not the point, lol. I just liked Shai and Az Yet because, 1 they we’re all hot (heehee) and 2 they could really, really sing. And we all know Babyface was the man in the 90′s writing songs for everyone from Eric Clapton to Whitney Houston and now he can’t buy a hit (sorry Face). We all know Busta branged (yes I said it) the creative videos and songs back in the day (Missy kind of copied his style).
@pinksghetti,
I wouldn’t exactly say Babyface fell off, I actually liked Grown and Sexy, I think he just sort of made way for the up and coming. He was on top of the game as a singer and producer for a long time.
Jodeci was a big disappointment and I agree they fell hard.
KrisKross just got old, that was some kiddy things they were doing, but yeah they fell off.
I think Busta and Toni just took a break.
@pinksghetti,
Blech! Yuck! Patooey! @ AZ Yet
@pinksghetti,
oh yea JODECI they changed my whole RnB world after they broke up I moved on to Ginuwine you kno guys need the smooth mood music for the ladies.
Thats what getting caught up with the wrong mutha*fu*%@a can do for you……ph&8k your whole program……thats the biggest thing I take from L’s story so far…she can still turn it around tho.
@OrangeStar616,
Cosign the last part. She’s still in my top 10 MCs ever and if she dropped some hot ish today, I’d cop it…legally! Heh heh
I tried to read some of the comments and did not see this mentioned but I feel that Lauryn fell off because the music industry did not want her message to become household name. She was in a position where she could not do no wrong and she had a strong uplifting message that is somewhat against what the record label and powers that be would like a little black girl to emulate. She would have changed the game where blac girls would view and carry themselves differentlyy. Now imagine if we had her instead of what Bey is representing. Heck, we might not have the Beyonce that we currently have. So, I blame corporate America who wanted to keep us in our lanes and not allow us to aspire to do better.
Either them or Wyclef Jean since he is the link btw Lauryn and Bey.
@aceklub,
I tried to read some of the comments and did not see this mentioned but I feel that Lauryn fell off because the music industry did not want her message to become household name
so they caused her to f*ck married men and make sh*tty music?
@The Champ,
LMAO
@The Champ,
yes.
@The Champ, LMAO exactly.. conspiracy theory.. gotta love em.. record execs dont give a dayum about a message, good or bad they want a mofo that is selling. if she could have produced some saleable shyt they would have put it out.
@shay_d_lady,
Ha! So what are you saying? You think execs would rather pay their mortgages than plot on the destruction of little black girls?!
SHOCKING!
Yes she is. And it’s devastating.
Terrific writing here, homie.
@Tyler, thanks homes.
I have never posted here, but I am a huge fan of Lauryn. I have followed her even when the spotlight has been turned off. I think you guys are speaking from a tremendous amount of misinformation when it comes to her. I think if you took a little time to listen to this interview with Lauryn. I think you will have a better undetstand of her. Go to the bottom of the page and please listen to Lauryn.
http://cocoamode.podbean.com/2007/08/08/shawna-renees-interview-with-lauryn-hill/
@forevergone,
Good interview.
@forevergone,
welcome and sh*t
there’s a latent point going on in some of the comments here that i strongly disagree with…that a person doesn’t have any obligations to use their talents.
l-boogie (and any other person bestowed with outstanding, once-in a generation type gifts) DOES have an obligation to use those gifts. not even so much for the fans sake, but for God’s (or Allah or whoever you believe in). its actually a form of blasphemy to be given these talents and throw them away. even from a more holistic standpoint, just think of the millions of young sistas (and brothas) she would have been able to inspire if she continued on her path.
i’m sorry but, to be aware of your potential panoramic positive influence and to intentionally shun it IS an absolute failure.
@The Champ,
good point….
@The Champ, well said.. especially when that is the argument people use against the rick ross’, plies of the world.. they could be doing so much more, spreading a better message etc.. then you get a ch ick like l boogie and you willing to throw every excuse in the book as to why she shouldnt do the same….
@The Champ,
I AGREE with your point.
But she says she’s writing music for her.
SHe was quoted as saying she uses music now to inform her children and if the rest of the world gets something from it, so be it.
Just cuz she ain’t using it the way you think she should, who is to say she ain’t using it?
@iloVEGrits,
SHe was quoted as saying she uses music now to inform her children and if the rest of the world gets something from it, so be it
lol, come on. this is bs and you know it. i’m gonna need for you to take your l-boogs goggles off
@The Champ,
Ok, I’ll be the bad guy. I really don’t think you’re obligated to help. It’d be great (and the Christian thing to do) if you did, but… I won’t throw stones from my glass villa.
We all have the ability to do more. I feel blessed just to have been born in the land of plenty. Doesn’t mean I’m breaking my neck to mentor, clean city parks, save an apple for the homeless guy on my way to work. But maybe I’m an assh*le.
@Me fail english?,
But maybe I’m an assh*le.
maybe?
@The Champ,
I know it’s hard to believe
@The Champ,
l-boogie (and any other person bestowed with outstanding, once-in a generation type gifts) DOES have an obligation to use those gifts
First of all, says who?
Second of all, not because the masses aren’t getting it means she’s not using her talent.
The mainstream(if I can call VSB readers that) doesn’t know about 85% of artists… and very talented ones at that. How many of us are following the “musical journey” and career of Kathleen Battle? But she sure is using her gifts.
You don’t have to be have Beyonce-like presence all over the place to be equated to using your gifts. Lauryn is using her gifts… the mainstream just doesn’t like/understand it…
@Sula,
This is also true. And if the music industry drives ppl batshet crazy, I don’t think God will mind if you take a less popular route.
@Sula,
i think we just have different world views.
in my opinion, when a person has the ability to be a positive muse for millions of people, and knows they have that ability, its basically a crime not to use that…even if it causes a bit of self-sacrifice.
i mean, if you believe (as i do) that art (music specifically) has the power to inspire, influence, and incite, then a person like a lauryn hill, with her reach and influence, has the ability to ultimately save hundreds (or thousands) of lives, and i can’t excuse someone who decides to make decisions to basically ruin that gift.
i know its a comic book cliche, but great responsibility does come with great power (and talent)
@The Champ,
I understand where you are coming from and what you are saying…. but to use an other overused cliche, I live by the Airplane Oxygen Mask… You owe it to YOURSELF first then to others second.
But I totally understand your viewpoint and actually can see why someone with this viewpoint would be disappointed in Ms. Hill’s life story.
@The Champ,
i dunno its not l-boogs fault that all this cookie cutter music is selling. I swear after pac died and the 90′s left music sucked majorly. If she dropped a cd she would go plat cause people are hungry for some real music with a real message especially in crazy times like this day in age.
Kinda off subject but I had such high hopes for Halle Berry she was good in Boomerang, very good as Dorthy Dandridge, then there was that horrible movie she did for Oprah”there eyes were watching God” I think it was a made for tv movie… Losing Isaiah……things we lost in the fire…..I am still tryna understand her academy award…..I know she’s talented I just dont know what that tallent is
Side bar….She bad as hell tho
@Blacklaw,
She got the Academy Award for that scene with Billy Bob Thornton. Point. Blank. Period.
Halle’s a hot chick and all, but she can’t act her way out of a paper bag…kinda like Yawnce…lol
@miss t-lee, Halle Berry (she’s fine) is the greatest actress since T-Boz.
@Panama Jackson, that was coooooold bloooded…unity!
@Panama Jackson,
T-Boz! Wow! T-Boz in Belly! LOL
@Ms. T,
If her and Nas wasn’t the non-actingnest couple of non-acting history I don’t know who was. They made my mind bleed with that terrible shti
“Fcuk it! Let’s just go to Africa yo!”
*Gush, gush, leak*
@Blacklaw,
I have an essay I wrote called “When Oprah happens to good books”. Her “Eyes” movie was horrible. Halle was bad in it, but Oprah’s interpretation of the book was off.
@iloVEGrits, send a link Id like to give it a read
The book “there Eyes were watchin…” is supposed to be killer but I never read that one But Oprah does have a habit of oversteppin but she means well I guess
@iloVEGrits,
I agree. I couldn’t watch to the end. I was thoroughly disappointed and felt Halle just didn’t fit her role. I’m not even gonna speak on the choice of Michael Ealy! Oprah read the cliff’s notes. That or she has no cinematic vision. Probably both
@Me fail english?, yeah, Oprah dropped the ball on that movie something awful. Their Eyes…is my favorite book ever and I had high hopes for it, but that asstastic mess of a movie Oprah did ruined a lot. now, whenever i see it, i think of halle as Janie and there’s no way in the F*CK Halle should EVER be cast as Janie.
i just wanted to fight the whole movie.
@Panama Jackson,
“i just wanted to fight the whole movie.”
LMAO! I’d just love to see this is a movie poster testimonial!
@Panama Jackson,
i just wanted to fight the whole movie .
Chortling loudly
I agree Champs last point was good one……… but let me ask what if you misuse your talents and gifts. not for the Glory of GOD but in a selfish way etc etc if you will?????
I think in that sceanrio not only will you lose your talents and gifts, but you’ll also have to answer for the misuse……
I don’t think L did that, but I do think she was afraid of doing that…..
To whom much is given much is required…thats a heavy equation and some folk bend, while some other folk break under that pressure…..
@OrangeStar616,
but let me ask what if you misuse your talents and gifts. not for the Glory of GOD but in a selfish way etc etc if you will????? .
Aren’t most used in a “selfish” way….to get that PAPER!!!!
@V Renee, i’m all about that paper cuz!
@V Renee, no…. reason being done right, prosperity will come but thats never the main motivation is this sense.
@OrangeStar616,
I guess I think of truer artists as vessells, thats why money is seldom the main motivator..think of Prince, Sade, Esthero, Lauryn even etc..its the art first for arts sake.
@panama
People do tend to expect a certain level from you once you’ve demonstrated your talent. Thus I am a consistent underachiever. Won’t be no blogs like this bout me!!! Lmao!!
Falls(won’t call them fails)
MJ
Lauryn
Mariah(I know she’s still workin, but I wish she would pull a Lauryn and runn away with the butterflies somewhere!!)
Whitney
Brittney
New edition
I find it interesting that this blog has so many psych majors on it! None of us can speak on her state of mind or personal happiness. Also, I recall her saying at a show in atl that she was trying to record but I believe under contract that she couldn’t get out of. She should pull a prince, write slave on her face, and complete her contractual obligations. I can’t call her a fail professionally as she managed to create at least one album that has made her historical in music. Who is out now that can say that? And not some cotton candy album, but one that was all around fantastic! Reminiscient of the type of album your parents would have put on back in the day. Qaulity over qauntity.
@treble,
“I find it interesting that this blog has so many psych majors on it! None of us can speak on her state of mind or personal happiness. ”
I get that you’re being facetious, but since when do you need a psych degree to tell if someone is happy?
I’ve been a Lauryn fan since Blunted and without any advanced education I can tell you this is a huge and dramatic departure from who she was and not for the better.
@treble,
new edition- I still think bobby brown’s “dont be cruel” was the best RnB cd ever made I mean . Tenderoni, every lil step, dont be cruel etc i mean the whole cd was fulla bangers
@BLUNTBLAZER, Yeah you right about that, Bobby Kilt that ish Thats why Whitney annointed him the king of RnB
Bobby!!!!
PS
Most greats leave the game too soon for us. I’m already grieving Lupe’s exit after this next album. not sure if its a fail if you decide to leave the game.
@treble, hmm, i might ease up on calling Lupe Fiasco a “great”. he’s the current owner and operator of two underwhelming albums. sure you can hear the potential in him, but really, when you hear that ninja in interviews and stuff, you kind of have to wonder who’s writing his lyrics. he comes off as quite the ignoramus at times.
@Panama Jackson,
That’s putting it nicely. And to be completely honest, I didn’t give The Cool but one or two spins but half the ish off his debut was incoherent. I had no idea wtf he was talking about like 35% of the time.
@Me fail english?, yeah, to me, Lupe is overrated as hell.
he’s like Nas without Illmatic. bad beat selections talking about lots of random stuff…badly.
@Panama Jackson, you cut me deep on that Nas reference he is a rapper’s rapper in my opinon but God his beats are horrible sometimes and yeah he may need a couple classes on history (See “I know I can”)
I truly, truly heart L-Boogie. Crazyness et al. Because I understand it (ok… I know this might imply that I am crazy too, but for my girl Lauryn I am willing to be called crazy!)
She made a choice that makes a society obsessed with “success” uncomfortable. She decided to focus on her PERSONAL life regardless of what it might look like from the outside. Fans are selfish by nature. We want our artists solely devoted to us… especially when the talent is as pure and genius as it was for Ms. Hill…
I own all of her subsequent so-called “crazy” music… And I understand the journey. Let the girl learn and grow and evolve and be crazy… if that what she wants to do…
By the way, “Zealots” is one of my favorite tracks of all time… but my favorite line is this one:
“You can’t have two MC’s in the same place at the same time…. It’s against the laws of Physics….”
I sincerely miss you, L-Boogie but I love you so much I’ll say: DO YOU!
Addendum
I think she removed the m*therf*cker… and people can no longer understand all the logic and theory
@Sula, eh, that’s questionable at best. perhaps she doesn’t HAVE any more logic or theory. and she’s the ignorant motherf*cker her use of the word motherf*cker was addressing in the first place.
hmm? hmm??
how about that?
@Panama Jackson,
It’s a possibility… but since she was the one who thought of the line and wrote it first, I’ll put my bet on the masses being the m*therf*ckers… Just me though.
After all, she
rank[s] top percentile
Many styles,
More powerful than gamma rays…
But, eh, what do I know…. I am not an artist like you. ::palin wink::
@Panama Jackson, u know… i was wondering why u think Lauryn’s an a$$hole and I figured it out… and I agree that she has been an a$$hole…even when you are at your worst, and down in the dumps… u still have to shake it off and be considerate of other people. I still have the same opinion about Lauryn’s epic “fail” but I do understand where u are coming from. If you slump so deep into your own ish that you have your friends from way back calling u Ms. Hill then there is something wrong. But we all go thru a$$hole moments, and crazy moments. Her’s are just caught on camera and put on the internet.
@Sula,
couldn’t agree more.
@college bunni, I think there is something to be said for the ability to drop greatness more than once (the Score and Miseducation) maybe we are being too hard on the sister I know she somewhere like damn what do I have to do to please yall ppl
It isn’t her fault that there is sooooo much wackness in the music industry
Im embarassed as a grown man listening to solja boy gettin hoppin out of bed and getting his swag on and liking it (the song was catchy Im sorry)
But some of these other artist gotta step it up
I like Beyonce…. chick is sexy as hell and i heard her live performances are hit or miss but she talkin bout being an Icon like Diana Ross and Im sorry she just aint (admittedly Diana in lady sings the blues aint the best “ackin” ive ever seen but it was good)
I feel Lauryn made her contribution now its time for Chrisette Michelle to get some better production so ppl can see she is actually extremely talented
@Blacklaw, you know, you might have a point about chrisette michele b/c i kind of cant’ stand her and its b/c of her interviews (she comes off as an ass – and i’ve met her more than once and she came of as an ass) and her music just aint that great to me, music wise. sure she can sing. but so can that homeless cat i passed on the way to work this morning.
Good convo.
And Lupe is tight, but he tries a little too hard, and he strings together too much stuff.
@Big Man, i just don’t get all the Lupe love. Honestly, I think folks love Lupe so much for the same reason they love Alicia Keys so much. he gets more credit for what he isn’t (down South, LCD rap) than for what he is (capable rapper who is on some non-sense most of the time). i hate positive-by-not-being-negative points.
Alicia Keys gets all that same credit cuz truly, she’s no more talented than any number of folks but she gets hailed as this queen of musicality and sh*t.
none of her albums are really that good.
@Panama Jackson,
Amen to both points! If Alicia was around during the time of Roberta Flack, Carole King or Carly Simon she wouldn’t exist. Superwoman my arseparts.
@Me fail english?,
we don’t need to go that far back…she’s not as good as jill scott. she’s not as good as any of the soul/neo-soul artists out there. but, she has commercial appeal, and that’s what sells. when Panama posed the idea that Drake’s appeal was partially due to him being light & bright, i immediately thought about A. Keys.
@N.I.A. naturally….,
Damn, don’t know how I forgot about Jilly! Hell, I’d rather bump Lily Allen than A. Keys. And I like some of Alicia’s music. I just think her popularity is mostly undeserved.
@Me fail english?,
I just think her popularity is mostly undeserved.
true true.
@Me fail english?,
A keys is SUPER OVERRATED…. LOL
@Big Man,
yea kick push was boring
This is for you PJ: http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/editorial/archive/2009/05/28/21618793.aspx
BTW – I LOVE LOVE LOVE ‘Peace of Mind’ on Unplugged. Matter of fact, I really like that album.
@V Renee, I saw that. I don’t hate on Drake. I just don’t get his buzz.
My post yesterday was an attempt to clarify his popularity.
But, like Reggie Noble, I’ll be dat.
What? No Gary Coleman?
@Wanjiru,
Bwahahaha!
Thinking about Lauren Hill…makes my heart hurt!! I still play her CD
fully agree with BlackLaw including the soulglo playing in the background….
Yes, she is.
And she has FIVE kids, not 4. She had her latest sometime in ’08. Poor Lauryn.
Gotta love the sweet mammary presentation in the picture.
I hated that Miseducation album, however. It wasn’t made for me.
And a lot of female artists are done when they start popping out babies because they tend to prefer being the happy homemaker over going even harder careerwise (notable exceptions notwithstanding).
I do agree she could have been as large as you said, or at least on Badu status if she stayed consistent. But hey, I’m happy in the understanding that some acts doom themselves to be a moment in time….
I actually loved all the stuff that she came out with after ‘Miseducation.’ It was deep, soulful, and you really felt every bit of heart and emotion she put into each verse.
I know Lauryn personally and the only reason that she fell off was due to her having kids and wanting to give them her attention. Why is that so hard for people to believe?
I hate how people think she is “crazy” just because she didn’t sellout to the record industry. It’s too easy to write her off as a “failure” when it’s clear she has a secret stash of ingenuity at her fingertips–this woman is a musical/lyrical genius. People who even question her sanity are mindless to say the least; I mean do they even understand her lyrics for them to make assumptions like this? You have to think how sane these people are themselves when all they listen to/watch is garbage. I’m actually glad she went into hibernation because superstardom is very isolating and draining. I really, truly respect her decision.
“Beyonce is what Lauryn Hill was going to be, except you know, the version of Beyonce that’s secretly a scholar quoting Nietzsche and showing up to interviews with a personality.” – But, Lauryn wouldn’t of been allowed to be herself. See Gwen Stefani? Remember her and her bandmates with No Doubt? Remember when she was a Tom Boy who swore to never sell out? Well, she reneged on it and sold out alone with No Doubt and her uber image of the “Skater womyn” for the diamonds and pearls of a pretty bitch. Lauryn Hill knew that. She knew better than any of us, that she wouldn’t be allowed to be herself, that she would have to sell out to get that height/ amount of fame…and she didn’t which is why she DROPPED OUT!