The 1990s were a time of stomach gnawing agony. Rodney King was beaten on camera, mass incarceration salvaged black communities, and neighborhoods were poverty-stricken following the crack epidemic. Many found solace in the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill where they found parallels and optimism in their struggle. Rap music acted as, “strands of protest and pleasure together into a seamless flow, rap initially expressed both gleeful and aggressive views of survival, social critique, and revelry to neighborhood audiences comprised primarily of African Americans (Philips et al 253).
Though black musicians existed before hip hop, rap unapologetically celebrated black culture and put issues of society at the forefront of the discussions. Hill mirrored the struggle of her audience on the song “Every Ghetto Every City” that she wrote and produced where she recalls her upbringing in Newark, New Jersey. Every time she references something from her childhood in a verse, she notes a record that had an impact on the time as well. Hill sang, “thieves got away through Irvington. Hillside brings beef with the cops. Self-destruction record drops. And everybody’s name was Muslim (children playing, women producing)”. Hill’s music was relatable to those who lived in an inner city. Her lyricism connects her with the audience because they survived the same struggles as her.
KRS One’s record Self Destruction
The record “Self Destruction” that she mentions was monumental because it was dropped by KRS One as a message to the black communities to stop the self-hatred and violence. She also pays homage to the “women producing” because it was and still is a rarity because of musical engineering being gendered as masculine. Hill was able to become successful for her artistry because the music was already vital to the black community before her, but her unparalleled skill and talent separated her.
Before her prolific women such as Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, and Whitney Houston were most known for their heartbroken love songs. In the scholarly article “The People Inside My Head, Too: Madness, Black Womanhood, and the Radical Performance of Lauryn Hill”, the author underlines how these, “women’s public pain- evinced in widely publicized personal traumas which seem to bear out heartbroken love songs… When such traumas are narrated in songs or interviews, they might educate popular audiences to peculiar perils confronting black womanhood in racist/sexist cultural spheres” (Bruce 373). Hill’s music and interviews were more than just tales of her and former lover though she does have songs like “When It Hurts So Bad” and “Ex Factor”.
She critiqued society and sometimes complacency in the black communities. On “Forgive Them Fathers”, she posed the question, “Why black people always be the ones to settle?” She again encourages black people to see their worth and that they do not have to settle for racism, inferiority, and marginalization. These words of encouragement are imperative in the 1990s following seemingly hopeless poverty, racism, and discrimination. In many ways, Hill’s lyrics narrated the lives of millions, so people gravitated towards her helping her pave her way to success.
