Lauryn Hill - "The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill" (1998)

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

It's about time that one of the most legendary, impactful albums from the 20th century get its own thread. Her debut solo album was released on August 19, 1998 by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. The album was almost written and produced entirely by Lauryn.  The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 422,000 copies, largest for a female artist at the time. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards (1999), it won Album of the Year and Best R&B Album, while Lauryn broke records for most nominations and wins in a single ceremony for a woman. The album eventually went on to be certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for 10 million units consumed in the US. With over 20 million copies sold worldwide, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is among the best-selling albums of all time.


Along with Brown Sugar (1995) by D'Angelo, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (1996) by Maxwell, and Baduizm (1997) by Erykah Badu, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is considered to be one of the most important and definitive releases in the history of neo soul music. Credited for bringing neo soul to the forefront of popular music, it became the genre's most critically acclaimed and popular album. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was declared "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress, and selected for inclusion in the 2014 class of the National Recording Registry, becoming the first female rap recording to enter the National Recording Registry. In 2017, Harvard University selected it as one of the first batch of hip hop albums to preserved in the Loeb Music Library. Additionally, the album has also been collected by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, while The Recording Academy inducted it into the 2024 class of the Grammy Hall of Fame.

And still to this day, the album continues to serve as an inspiration to countless artists of different musical genres. I remember how hugely popular "Doo Wop (That Thing)" was. I remember always seeing the video on Vh-1 back then. Share your memories and fave songs from this album. Hugely criminal that she never did a follow up to "The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill".

"Doo Wop (That Thing)" #1 Hot 100, #2 R&B/Hip Hop, #1 Rap, #29 Pop Airplay, #1 Rhythmic



"Ex-Factor" #21 Hot 100, #7 R&B/Hip Hop, #9 Rhythmic



"Everything Is Everything" #35 Hot 100, #14 R&B/Hip Hop, #18 Rhythmic

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

50 Greatest Black Albums Of The Modern Era


www.vibe.com/lists/greatest-black-albums/the-miseducation-of-lauryn-hill-lauryn-hill-1998/

Given how elusive the former Fugees singer can sometimes be—from missing concert dates to never creating another solo record after this masterpiece—it makes sense the album begins with audio of a fictional teacher calling roll and noting Hill’s absence from the class. Focused on making a personal artistic statement of her own, Hill wrote and produced a powerfully emotional series of tunes uniting a wide range of black music styles (with help from ace collaborators like New Ark and Roots keyboardist James Poyser).

Nearly every song here is a classic, from the easy, R&B-meets-Hip-Hop groove of hit single “Doo Wop (That Thing)” to the reggae-flavored bop duet with Mary J. Blige on “I Used to Love Him” and a reimagining of The Doors’ “Light My Fire” as a silky hip hop-soul number, “Superstar.” Hill’s voice floats above it all, blending stories of love, motherhood, and spirituality into a groundbreaking stew that influenced legions of singers and beatmakers afterward. Small wonder this triumph became one of the most acclaimed albums of 1998 and was the first Hip-Hop joint to win Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. — Eric Deggans

[ogletree8701]

Classic album!
It’s one of my favorite albums!