Facts

Facts Updated News!! Lyrics Links Photo Gallery Quotes Contact L.Boogie Merchandise

The Facts on Lauryn Hill Lauryn Hill was born in New Jersey, and currently resides in South Orange, New Jersey. At the age of 12 cute lil' Lauryn performed on "Showtime at the Apollo's Amateur Night." At the age of 16, she landed a role on the soap opera, "As The World Turns." At the age of 18, she co-starred in the film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Jennifer Love-Hewitt. Thousands of people enjoyed the film and even more enjoyed Lauryn' performance. In fact, most critics felt that Lauryn's talent was poorly placed in this story whose plot is far from original. "Hill has a big joyful musical voice and luminous smile, and is another example of talent gone to waste." --Roger Ebert In the same year, Lauryn also had a small role in the movie, "King of The Hill." During high school Lauryn joined a music group consisting of her friend, known as Wyclef Jean, and his cousin known as Pras. They became the group "The Fugees." Talk about a balancing act! Lauryn juggled school, acting, and The Fugees...and she never let her grades slip! She can remember nights when she did homework in the bathroom stales of nightclubs where The Fugees first performed. All that extra work paid off...L got accepted to every college she applied: Yale, Rutgers, Spelman, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. The Fugees(Tranzlator Crew ) as they were originally known, first album Blunted on Reality did pretty decently in sales. Lauryn decided to cut her education at Columbia University shortly after one year due to The Fugees' upcoming tour. If you own the album, you know that it does not show the potential of any of the group's members. They seem overly excited, and they drown out their skills with overrated hyper-activity. There are a few good songs on the album, however, and Lauryn's true lyrical ability shins at this young state in her career. "Some Seek Stardom," a song written entirely by Lauryn is quite exceptional as the message is one everyone needs to hear. Some consider their second album, Bootleg Versions to be responsible for their popularity that caused the tour ending Lauryn's educational career at Columbia. Shortly there after, the Fugees capitalized off of Bootleg's success and used its songs as models for the vast majority of the songs for thier next album, The Score. The Fugees dropped "Tranzlator Crew" because it was played out, and released The Score in 1996. The song, "Killing Me Softly" was a huge hit, and is still being played today...four years after the album's release. It was with this song that people started to realize Lauryn had it going on. Other hits off the album include "Ready Or Not," and Fu-gee-la." This album ended up sending the trio home with two grammys... one under each arm. The Fugees never put up a front. They sang about issues that were real to them. Wyclef, the preacher's son, and Pras, both coming from Haiti had a lot of issues with politics, religion, violence, racism, anger, and hate that they addressed through music. Lauryn rapped about the same issues along with sexism, the values of strength, pride and intelligence, and the corruption of the music industry. Such devotion to meaning as well as sound was never expressed in the hip-hop community aside from Public Enemy who came a few years prior to the Fugee's first release. In 1996, Lauryn founded The Refugee Project, a non-profit organization that provides cultural and recreational activities for inner-city kids. It's a great cause and I've simplified it so much, so go visit their website through my Links page and check it out. In 1997 Lauryn made three film appearances. She appeared as herself in "Ryhme & Reason." She played the role of Debra in the African-American comedy, "Hav Plenty." She also played the part of Malika, on the TV movie "Daddy's Girl." In 1998 She had a small role as Leslie in the poorly advertised movie "Restaurant." Lauryn finally decided to do an album project in which she controlled every single aspect. The album later became known as "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." Both the album and Lauryn blew-up! To DEF! That's right, Mised. was HOT TO DEF! The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has recently been certified 6x Platinum!! The title of her ablum comes from Carter G. Woodson's novel, "The Miseducation of the Negro." If you read the book you'll come to realize that the template of the book is exactly the same as the template of the album. It's not just a title, it's a way of thinking...a way of viewing Lauryn and the album. L took the art of music-making and album producing to a whole new level, that most people can't appreciate, because they havr yet to read Woodson's book. "Miseducation" revealed Lauryn's true musical talent which is phenomenal. She blasts you with an awesome and new beat, and smacks you twice (can you hear the smacking sounds? Feel the sting in your cheeks??) with lyrics straight from her heart. She's inspired tons of people with her honesty, and dedication to herself and her art form, and her love for God, people and music. Her words are slammin' she is definetly more powerful than two Cleopatras! As always, she gets mad props from me. BIG UP! So I bet your wondering who inspired Lauryn Hill? Without her having to say it, we all know God has made a great impact on her life and always comes first. Ella Fitzgerald, and Bob Marley are just two of many artists that had an effect on Ms. Hill. Bob Marley Ella Fitzgerald Recently, I recieved an email from an irate web surfer claiming that Stevie Wonder is Lauryn's idol. I must correct this visitor who called him/herself "a true Lauryn Hill fan." No one is Lauryn's idol, however Stevie is one of the many artists Lauryn admires that I chose to omit do to lack of space. The list goes on and on from Aretha to Mary J. to The Supremes to the entire Motown family and so on and so on... I know what you're all thinking... What is she going to do next? How will she ever top Miseducation? Fear not...Lauryn did not just get lucky with this album (Despite what New Ark says...EFF a NEW ARK!). Music is something that's inside of her..that's what happens when you listen to and love music every minute of every hour of every day. Lauryn has brought something new to the hip-hop scene and let's not forget the powerful messages she gives us through her lyrics.