I really hate saying this but I never really appreciated “The Miseducation of Laryn Hill.” With all of the success and accomplishments Ms. Hill achieved with her debut back in 1998, her multi-award winning album was completely ignored on my part. Around that time I was in full swing with the whole Hip-Hop underground movement ignoring great commercial releases from Lauryn Hill and even Jay-Z for underground acts like Company Flow, Planet Asia and The Living Legends Crew. It was a different phase in music I am grateful for. At that time I was attracted to homemade beats with above average street knowledge on a higher level. I completely gave up on the radio and attended live shows buying underground tapes and burned CD-R’s with local acts. That was the scene back than and this was done before the internets use in MP3’s went into full swing. Maybe 1998 wasn’t the right time for me to listen to “The Miseducation of…” Fast forward to 2008 and I’ll shamelessly say this was the first time I really gave the album a chance… and I loved every moment of it. This is one album that shouldn’t have gotten lost in the shuffle.

“Miseducation…” (references Carter G. Woodson’s book, The Mis-Education of the Negro) is one of those great albums you could listen to and not skip a track. Every track is beautifully complimented with upbeat vocals from Lauryn, backed with solid production that holds everything together. Collaborations include D’Angelo (on “Nothing Even Matters”), Santana (on the emotional conscious “to Zion”), Mary J. Blige (featured on “I Used to Love Him”) and an unknown John Legend on the piano for “Everything is everything.” Each track is filled witt so much emotion and soul it pulls you in on just how talent Ms. Hill is. Whether if its the soulful throwback styles of “Doo Wop (that thing)” to L-Boogie lyrically boasting that lyrical roughneck on “Lost ones” (with a raggae twist) the range of creativity just gets loose wand wilds out in the most respected manner. “Everything is everything” is probably my favorite track of the album showing off both her skills singing and rhyming out on a positive note. You get the best of both performers in one with Lauryn, a solid vocalists with that neo-soul vibe and an up-lifting lyricists worthy of any Hip-Hop title. Lauryn Hill is a total package within Hip-Hop culture, if not music itself.

Lauryn Hill is a gifted individual whose brought magic with the words and music she creates. I know she’s got some personal issues and sees society in a different perspective as we would but when the time is right, I think she could come back strong with a broader message, the same way she lifted us with “The miseducation of…”