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)

Wednesday 01 September

By generalcurt

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racist, no talent, rapper. I've never seen or heard a rapper, black or white, who showed any talent.

By kim

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listened to 15 secs of the video and could not understand one word of what she was saying cos that sure as hell was not singing. rap, hip hop isn't singing just ryming non since words that don't mean a thing to anyone.

By iceprinzess54

i was at the LA rock the bells show, and i could not agree with this article more!!! thanks for writing it! lauryn hill was the main reason i bought a ticket and her performance was definitely disappointing to say the least! i wanted to hear the songs we all know and love, the way we remember them! I love her voice, i wanted to hear her sing, not rap! is that to much to asK??

By MZ

Love that affirmative action!

By Roxanne

She looks horrible and sounds terrible

By Dan

Hill is at 14min.and 59 seconds of her 15 minutes of fame. And that's a good thing!

By Tommy Walker

Whether people consider thsi good or bad, I hardly consider this "music"

By tina

You racist jerk. Speaking of affirmative action what about untalented individuals like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan etc.? Need I go on.

Thursday 02 September

By Tiwes

I dont know what some of you all are talking about but she sounds great! Just enjoy the music and not judge the person!

Peace