Micro-Chopping Lauryn Hill — An Exclusive 16-Track Playlist of Lauryn Hill Production
After flexing her production skills on The Fugees’ 1996 album The Score, Lauryn Hill went on a brief but remarkable production run. From 1997–1999 she co-produced/produced her entire Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album while supplying tracks for Mary J. Blige, Aretha Franklin, and Carlos Santana. In a mere five years since entering the industry in 1994 she’d become one of the most sought-after musicians in the world.
Even though The Fugees were riding a wave of success after The Score came out, gaining creative control of Miseducation no easy feat. Columbia/Ruffhouse had reservations about giving Hill so much autonomy on her solo debut and even considered bringing in a high-profile outside producer. But Hill was adamant about her vision and fought hard to call the shots on her most personal project to date. “It would have been more difficult to articulate to other people. Hey, it’s my album. Who can tell my story better than me?” she said in Chris Nickson’s book She’s Got That Thing.
Hill was right, nobody could have told her story better than she did. Almost 20 years later Miseducation remains a remarkable feat of musicianship, songwriting, storytelling, and poetry. Hill somehow managed to write deep, introspective songs and find the perfect blend of instrumentation to pair them with. The end result was a seminal album that will likely endure for many years to come.
Although her work with The Fugees and Miseducation may be her crowning achievements, Hill’s outside production also holds up well. It’s unfortunate she only produced two songs for Mary J. Blige, as they seem like a natural artistic match that should further explore working together. She also did an expert job of blending her own style with Carlos Santana’s legendary guitar skills on “Do You Like The Way” — no easy feat for an emerging producer without a great deal of experience working with other artists.
In addition to the aforementioned high profile production credits, Hill also provided a few gems to lesser known artists Andrea Martin and CeCe Winans. Throw in the pitch-perfect soundtrack contributions “The Passion” and “The Sweetest Thing” and the end result is a compelling, albeit brief, production discography.
Although Hill’s recording output and production has been infrequent and scattered since the early 2000s, she contributed six songs to the 2015 Nina Simone tribute album NINA REVISITED… A Tribute To Nina Simone. Her future as a producer and singer remains uncertain, but this may be a hopeful sign of things to come.
Connect with Lauryn Hill on Facebook, her website, and on Twitter @MsLaurynHill.
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