Is Lauryn Hill's Return for the Better?

By Jason Newman Posted Aug 31st 2010 03:24PM

Pop-Ed: Last weekend's Rock The Bells festival on New York's Governors Island saw a compendium of legendary hip-hop acts -- including A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan and Snoop Dogg -- performing their respective landmark albums. But for the nearly 20,000 people who paid $100 or more for the festival, a rare appearance by Lauryn Hill, erstwhile Fugee and the force behind the celebrated 1998 hip-hop classic 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,' was a bigger incentive than any classic album.

Despite -- or maybe because of -- a 45-minute delay, crowd anticipation was palpable when Hill took the stage Saturday evening. For many, though, expectation trumped memory and experience, as Hill rendered her classic tracks nearly unrecognizable, injecting most tracks with an aggressive veneer that stripped away any soulful capital she's earned over the past decade.

It's strange to critique a hip-hop artist for veering too far from the things that made them hip-hop royalty in the first place. Live hip-hop has been a dubious proposition for over 15 years, when diverse festivals gave way to increased fragmentation. If you can even get the full group to show up, the sound and concert quality are likely to be akin to playing the album on a bigger and louder stereo.

But in recontextualizing her music to such an extreme degree -- Hill sped up many songs, rhyming double-time at a breakneck speed that confused more than mesmerized -- she effectively alienated many of her (former?) fans. Judging by the looks on many fans' faces, Hill's newfound aggressiveness and lack of singing was disappointing at best and infuriating at worst. The energy was unquestionably there, but halfway through the set, more people were walking away from the stage than toward it. (The next day, at Rock The Bells' Washington, D.C. stop, Hill was reported to have been three hours late due to an emergency manicure-pedicure. High five on priorities!)

This is not to say, of course, that artists shouldn't change their sound and evolve over time. Musicians have been vilified for both alienating their core audience with bizarre musical left turns (e.g. Chris Cornell) and making the same album every time (e.g. Interpol). But there's a line for any musician that falls between the bare minimum of what your audience expects and the whimsical predilections of the artistic spirit. Multiply that tenfold for Hill, who, aside from a smattering of public shows both solo and with The Fugees, hasn't been much of a public figure since her retreat in 2000. As her performance at Rock The Bells proved, the line is a tenuous one. Then again, for someone as fiercely independent as Hill, maybe the audience didn't factor into her mind at all.

So maybe, given her status and reclusiveness -- don't think she'd be lauded as much as she is if she continued to put out albums like the unlistenable 'MTV Unplugged' -- we expected too much of the former Fugee. Maybe the quality of the other acts -- A Tribe Called Quest put on a near-perfect set -- overshadowed Hill's performance. Or maybe we need to scrap the apologist talk and remind our musical heroes that while they don't owe us anything, it's not asking too much to want to hear a song or two the way we fans remember them.

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Tags: lauryn hill, rock the bells

Comments

(31)

Tuesday 31 August

By howiedetroit

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She a racist piece of crap...who cares !!

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Wednesday 01 September

By tina

you are an idiot and a racist piece of crap.

By Sally

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MY first thought when I saw that picture was Cicely Tyson on her way to the drinking fountain in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman".

By Nico Toscani

The Fugees were a very innovative group at the time they hit the scene. It's too bad that Hill and that moron Wyclef have made such giant arses of themselves in the years since.

By jriley1230

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lauryn hill has always been both an MC and a singer. she was at a hip hop show. the arrangement of ready or not posted above... reader, i implore you to listen to it WITHOUT the video. this woman is gifted. she is spitting fire up there and she does the whole damn thang without wyclef & pras... did anyone notice? l straight rocked their verses. get over the fugees.

also dear author, how dare you label the unplugged disc as "unlistenable"? shame on you. you obviously do not have any sort of respect for lyricism. again, lauryn was insulted for singing (like straight up SINGING, just her and a guitar) and not rapping (above as you have just criticized).

please media, be easy on lauryn. she is trying to give and all you are doing is slapping her in the face.

one love.

also how quickly we forget that the "unlistenable" unplugged album basically launched kanye's solo career when he jacked the "it all falls down" like from "the mystery of iniquity" for that mixtape. not saying l made kanye, but for real that album is a GEM full of introspective, creative, honest music. also check out the other youtube vids, lauryn is on some other business mashing it up right. this article offended me, for real. i don't mean to rant but i can't help it.

By cb

straight on...obviously Mr.Newman does not recognize the talent nor genius--truly listen to the music.

By yahoofashion029

wo cao ni ma le ge bi de lou zhu

i like this ways

By Tony

Ignorant, illiterate monkeys. Goodbye to the English language.

Tony. You are an ignorant insecure racist pig. You are obviously an idiot. Blacks do not resemble monkeys in the least. It amazes me when I hear that. Perhaps you and the rest of the white supremacists need to look in the mirror and take responsibility for your miserable lives.

By iviethodaurum

Isnt that aunt ester from sanford and son?I mean thats who that is in the above photo isnt it?LOL

By JD

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I saw Lauryn at Rock the Bells this past weekend. I have always been a fan no matter what her views. I thought she was great but have to agree slightly with this article. I wanted to hear her songs the way I remembered them. It's not to say I didn't like that she tried to put some new energy into her older music but it was slightly disappointing. I was impressed by how upbeat and positive she was through her set. She is still a great performer.

By decaturdog

She can't even follow the music - she's totally off-key and horrible. If you like this no-talent singer, try Mrs. Miller - she's a bit better but really awful, too!

By Gunther

Lauren Hill is a jazz singer. She's up there letting it all hang out. Hill is rapid fire rage, love, all that and it's evident in her peformance. It's just too bad the hip-hop thing continues to go nowhere, and no one can go anywhere in it which might explain reclusiveness -- one hit ... where else can one go doing the exact same thing over and over again?

By donna

She needs to get off the dope...what a mess!!!!!

By bbb

I was a fan. I was there. It was ugly. I had to leave.

By rand0mhero

F lauryn hill....she was 2-3 hours late to rock the bells in bmore...and her performance was horrible

By bapplb1

Racist piece of TRASH

By kamen

Surprise! Hurts whites to the core when they find out that black people hate them just as much as they hate black people! Get over yourself.

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