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Lauryn Hill reached the pinnacle of her professional career with the record-breaking success of her solo album titled The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998. auded by critics and it went on to become one of the bestselling albums of the year.
However, The Fugees rapper virtually disappeared after the groundbreaking success of her solo album. Her public appearances slowly dwindled and she turned down major acting roles in high-profile films like The Matrix, Charlie's Angels, and The Bourne Identity. Fans never got a follow-up to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
The singer opened up about her disappearance from the public limelight in a January 2021 interview with Rolling Stone's podcast on Amazon Music called 500 Greatest Albums. According to the Fugees rapper, her recording label never contacted her for a second album after the astonishing success of the first project.
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"The wild thing is no one from my label has ever called me and asked how can we help you make another album, ever...ever. Did I say ever? Ever!" the rapper said.
Additionally, Hill was bogged down by the lofty expectations set by the success of her first album.
"I was considered an enemy" — The Fugees rapper talks about her experience after The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill's success
Lauryn Hill's debut album was produced by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records and released on August 19, 1998. The same recording label was responsible for producing Fugees' first album, Blunted on Reality in 1994.
Hill also opened up about the truckload of expectations from her second album. According to the singer/rapper, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill gave her the freedom to experiment with different tools and genres. However, the pressure of matching the success of her sophomore album was enormous.
She talked about people who tried to take credit for the success of her debut album and would shun her if she contradicted them. She said:
"After the Miseducation, there were scores of tentacled obstructionists, politics, repressing agendas, unrealistic expectations and saboteurs everywhere."
Hill went on to say:
"People had included me in their own narratives of their successes as it pertained to my album, and if this contradicted my experience, I was considered an enemy."
Despite taking a seemingly permanent sabbatical from work after her solo album, Hill released a live album of folk and soul songs from her 2002 MTV Unplugged Special. However, the album was compared as inferior compared to her debut album and received middling reviews.
With regard to her work, Lauryn Hill explained that she felt like it was "her duty" to reflect the political and social efforts of her ancestors through her music:
"My intention was simply to make something that made my foremothers and forefathers in music and social and political struggle know that someone received what they had sacrificed to give us, and to let my peers know that we could walk in that truth, proudly and confidently."
Although Lauryn stayed out of the public eye, she did embark on several tours featuring her solo album and Fugees. The singer is currently on The Miseducation Anniversary Tour with her son YG Marley and The Fugees.
Despite the criticisms, the album has been widely sampled even by juggernauts like A$AP Rocky and Kanye West in their music.
