Lauryn Hill at age 13 at the Apollo

This is from 1987. There is a good chance I saw her then – it was a show I watched – but like the audience there I would not have thought much of her! But in less than ten years she would become huge, more powerful than two Cleopatras.

See also:

• Lauryn Hill: Everything is Everything
• Lauryn Hill: Ex-Factor
• Lauryn Hill: The Sweetest Thing
• Why I love Lauryn and do not care for Beyonce

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Singing contest: Lauryn, Leona, Celine and Roberta

Here is Lauryn Hill, Leona Lewis, Celine Dion and Roberta Flack singing “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”:

Lauryn Hill:

Leona Lewis:

Celine Dion:

Roberta Flack:

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Why I love Lauryn and do not care for Beyonce

I just read the Black Snob’s rant about Beyonce. It was great stuff. It put into words why I love Lauryn Hill but find something not quite right about Beyonce. Here is some of it:

It’s not that I don’t think Beyonce has inner drama. Everyone does. Everyone has doubt and failings and pain. My argument is that Beyonce does not want you to know of this drama, any real drama, that is. She’s closely guarded with an even more tightly guarded image. She is more about being the fantasy of what she thinks you want her to be (cue “Sasha Fierce!”) rather than revealing anything of character….

A true artist brings the pain.

I don’t have to convince you that original Fugee’s member, musical genius and lost child, Lauryn Hill has issues. We all know, homegirl has issues. But often, when I wanted to think of a modern song, like Etta James’ classic “I’d Rather Go Blind” or Issac Hayes’ cover of “Walk On By” that makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry, I think of Hill’s “Ex-Factor.”…

Hell, you don’t even have to be a woman to cry during Ex-Factor. Just be from the land of broken toys. Be the neglected. Be the rejected. Once you get to the end where Hill pleads, “you said you’d be there for me” over and over she could be singing Pslams for all I know, wondering where is God and why He abandoned her. That’s how universal, yet specific, her vocal pain is.

And what does Knowles have? “If I Were A Boy?” a song, I HATE WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING. It’s a nice enough song. But it’s not particularly deep or painful. It basically entails that if Knowles were a man all she’d do is drink and hang out with guys without question….

Read the whole rant.

See also:

• Lauryn Hill: Ex-Factor

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Lauryn Hill: The Sweetest Thing

The sweetest thing I’ve ever known
Was like the kiss on the collarbone
The soft caress of happiness
The way you walk, your style of dress
I wish I didn’t get so weak
Ooo, baby, just to hear you speak
Makes me argue just to see
How much you’re in love with me
See, like a queen, a queen upon her throne

It was the sweet, sweetest thing I’ve known,
It was the sweet, sweetest thing I’ve known

I get mad when you walk away
So I tell you leave, when I mean stay
Warm as the sun dipped in black
Fingertips on the small of my back
More valuable than all I own
Like your precious, precious, precious, precious baby, dark skin tone

It was the sweet,the sweetest thing I’ve known

It was the…Aaaaaah
I try to explain
Aaaaaah…but baby, it’s in vain

Speaking on my mother’s phone
The touch that makes me think I’m grown
Sweet prince of the ghetto
Your kisses taste like amaretto
Intoxicating, oh, so intoxicating
How sad, how sad that all things come to an end
But then again, I’m, I’m not alone

It was the sweet, sweetest thing I’ve known,
It was the sweet, sweetest thing I’ve known

Aaaaaah…Sometimes watch you in your sleep
Aaaaaah… Excuse me if I get too deep, hey

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Lauryn Hill: Everything is Everything

Everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually

Everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually

I wrote these words for everyone
Who struggles in their youth
Who wont accept deception
Instead of what is truth
It seems we lose the game,
Before we even start to play
Who made these rules? were so confused
Easily led astray
Let me tell ya that
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
After winter, must come spring
Everything is everything

I philosophy
Possibly speak tongues
Beat drum, abyssinian, street baptist
Rap this in fine linen
From the beginning
My practice extending across the atlas
I begat this
Flippin in the ghetto on a dirty mattress
You cant match this rapper / actress
More powerful than two cleopatras
Bomb graffiti on the tomb of nefertiti
Mcs aint ready to take it to the serengeti
My rhymes is heavy like the mind of sister betty
L. boogie spars with stars and constellations
Then came down for a little conversation
Adjacent to the king, fear no human being
Roll with cherubims to nassau coliseum
Now hear this mixture
Where hip hop meets scripture
Develop a negative into a positive picture

Now, everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually

Sometimes it seems
Well touch that dream
But things come slow or not at all
And the ones on top, wont make it stop
So convinced that they might fall
Lets love ourselves then we cant fail
To make a better situation
Tomorrow, our seeds will grow
All we need is dedication

Let me tell ya that,
Everything is everything
Everything is everything
After winter, must come spring
Everything is everything

Everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually

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Lauryn Hill: Ex-Factor

It could all be so simple
But you’d rather make it hard
Loving you is like a battle
And we both end up with scars
Tell me, who I have to be
To get some reciprocity
No one loves you more than me
And no one ever will

No matter how I think we grow
You always seem to let me know
It ain’t workin’
It ain’t workin’
And when I try to walk away
You’d hurt yourself to make me stay
This is crazy
This is crazy

I keep letting you back in
How can I explain myself
As painful as this thing has been
I just can’t be with no one else
See I know what we got to do
You let go and I’ll let go too
‘Cause no one’s hurt me more than you
And no one ever will

No matter how I think we grow
You always seem to let me know
It ain’t workin’
It ain’t workin’
And when I try to walk away
You’d hurt yourself to make me stay
This is crazy
This is crazy

Care for me, care for me
I know you care for me

There for me, there for me
Said you’d be there for me

Cry for me, cry for me
You said you’d die for me

Give to me, give to me
Why won’t you live for me

…

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