djzyonseven
There are albums I love, and then there are albums I lived.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is one of those albums.
Easily one of my Top 10 albums of all time.
And Lauryn Hill?
For me, she belongs in the conversation of the greatest female vocalists ever.
Period. 🎶❤️
At least 10.
Maybe even Top 5.
What still blows my mind is that Lauryn was only 23 when this album took over the world.
This was her debut solo album, and nearly three decades later, it remains her only full solo studio album.
One album.
ONE.
And she made that one count. 😂🔥
It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 422,000 copies its first week.
This was then a record for a female artist.
Then came the 1999 Grammys.
Ten nominations.
Five wins, including Album of the Year, making it the first hip hop album to win that award.
Lauryn also became the first woman to win five Grammys in one night.
And just in case anybody thinks nostalgia has me exaggerating, Apple Music named The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill the No. 1 album on its 100 Best Albums list in 2024.
Rolling Stone ranked it No. 10 on its 500 Greatest Albums list, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry.
So yeah, the receipts are RECEIPTING. 😂🏆
But none of those accolades are why this album means so much to me.
I can put it on at Lost Ones and just let that joker ride.
Doo Wop (That Thing) is still my jam.
I Used to Love Him with Mary J. Blige.
When It Hurts So Bad.
Nothing Even Matters with D’Angelo.
Everything Is Everything.
Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.
Tell Him (Hidden Track)
And then there’s To Zion.
That song has a special place in my story.
Lauryn wrote it about choosing motherhood and her son Zion, with Carlos Santana playing that beautiful guitar.
She was pregnant while creating much of this music, including sessions at Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica.
For me, To Zion would eventually become a little wink toward a namesake of my own. 😉
I’ll leave that right there because the full story of how I got my DJ name deserves its own post.
Then there’s Ex Factor.
Whew.
That one is personal.
The song has long been reported as being inspired by Lauryn’s complicated relationship with Wyclef Jean.
Years later, it came to represent something similar for me.
Even though Ex Factor arrived after that chapter of my life had ended, whenever I hear it, I think about him.
Ten years of our off and on, loving but toxic relationship.🤢
Ex Factor = Him
Every. Single. Time.
Something about the push and pull in that song mirrors pieces of what we were. 😑
Music doesn’t care about timelines.
Sometimes a song arrives late and somehow finds an old memory that’s been waiting for it. ❤️🩹
inhale
exhale
Then there’s the hidden track, Tell Him.
Man, this song right here, is too deep.
So many layers!
Tell Him pulls straight from 1 Corinthians 13, where love is patient, kind, humble and enduring.
But Lauryn flips it beautifully because there are really two “Hims” here:
Rohan Marley, the man she loved, and God.
One minute it feels like a love song, the next it feels like worship.
That’s deep, because she’s saying real love ain’t just a feeling, it’s faith, commitment and something bigger than us.
I think this is my favorite song on the album.
Nah. Ex-Factor.
But you know what, I need to do a post just about this song.🎵
And finally, there’s also a moment near the end that I’ve always heard almost like Lauryn was talking directly to me.
I don’t even remember what I was going through the first time I heard it.
But I don’t believe i was having a good day.
I really don’t.
“It’ll be alright T,” she sings twice in the last 33 seconds of the song.
But whatever it was, I just remember thinking and feeling, its aight.
Plus my first name is Terry.
I know she wasn’t actually singing to me, but music has a funny way of finding you exactly where you are.
I heard that little moment as reassurance tucked inside a love song, like somebody reminding me that whatever I was facing, I was going to be alright.
That’s music.
That’s why I’m loving these album posts.
Sometimes one song holds a memory.
But sometimes an entire album holds a chapter of your life.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill holds several of mine.
Twenty-8ight years later, I can still press play, leave it alone, and let it ride.
That’s not just a great album.
That’s part of my Soundtrack. ❤️🎶
DJZ7
PS… I play this album several of times a year.
That’s alot with all the music I listen to in a day.
PS2…Yes I’m mad we never got another album.
I know she had her reasons, but only a true fan would respect her as an artist but be honest about how he feels!
#TheSoundtrackOfWhoIBecame, #LaurynHill, #TheMiseducationOfLaurynHill, #ExFactor, #ToZion, #DooWopThatThing, #EverythingIsEverything, #90sRnB, #ClassicRnB, #HipHopSoul, #djzyonseven, #thesoundtrackofmylife
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