I walk into one of my employee's office today and she was playing one of my favorite albums from high school. It was so refreshing to hear a true timeless classic. I felt bad for not playing it for so long. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is ten years old this year. Can you believe it?
This album will sound both fresh and classic in 30 years. 15 perfect songs (and one useless intro) that she would never even try to follow up. Here is a few of my favorite moments:
"Ex-Factor" - The best soul song of the past 20 years... it just makes you wish that Motown still made them like this. The track doesn't peak until about 3:30 in, which hurt its radio potential but made it even more replayable. Perfect.
"Final Hour" - I never imaged a soul singer would be capable of something this tense, dark, and apocalyptic, but she can rap with the best.
"Forgive Them Father" - Now she pulls out reggae and raps out of the Bible. This is the kind of song Wyclef Jean would put out if he had any talent.
"Everything is Everything" - I remember her performing this song at the MTV Video Awards with a 15-piece band; she made every musician in that room look like a joke that night.
"Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" - This is a song that holds it all together for me. After taking us through about 10 musical styles and mastering them all, she writes a piano ballad and belts it out like nobody has since Aretha Franklin. This one is high on my list of "rip your heart out" songs.
She put out one album that was at the same time one of the best rap albums ever, one of the best soul albums ever, and one of the overall best albums of the 1990s. Then she quit and called it a career. Not too bad. I only have one thing to say about that: you don't need the Fugees! Forget them!
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