How We Met Lauryn Hill

February 16, 2022

Season 2 Trailer: Ms. Lauryn Hill

Ms. Lauryn Hill, the singer, rapper, songwriter, producer, poet, actress, mother, and social activist. Her music and life have been imbued with a spiritual foundation founded on love. Love for Lauryn is the place where her own justice and freedom have blossomed and love is what drives her to fight for the salvation and emancipation of all people. Join the hosts, Lauryn Hill scholar, Krystal Roberts, and Hip Hop scholar, Matt Linder as they explore the spiritual underpinnings of Lauryn Hill’s music.

Contributors include hip hop academics: Raven Jones Stanbrough, Cona Marshall, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan, Alex Nava, and Eric House; musicians: Julius Tunstall and Otis Lambert aka OT The GoldN' Child; and Dissect Podcast Season 5 co-writer: Femi Olutade.

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Logo design by @papercutprayers.

Trailer music by brokebwoy.

Transcript:

Otis Lambert 00:00

There was a meme floating around saying that Lauryn Hill is not a legend, she just created a legendary album.

Matt Linder 00:10

She arrived on the scene as hip hop was transitioning.

Alex Nava 00:16

When “Miseducation” came out this was a period just after the death of Biggie and Tupac.

Krystal Roberts 00:26

She was a Nina Simone for the neo-soul era.

Raven Jones Stanbrough 00:32

This is a black sister coming out, talking her talk and fusing reggae, hip hop, neo-soul all these intersectional musical genres to be able to spread her message.

Matt Linder 00:48

Who's deeply religious.

Cona Marshall 00:53

She was raised Baptist. But then, baptized Ethiopian Orthodox. Her kid's father is Rastafarian. And she became a part of the five percenters.

Krystal Roberts 01:07

Became overwhelmed by her celebrity.

Julius Tunstall 01:11

So then when it all came out, she was like: Oh, I'm actually way more famous than I want to be. I just want to be a mom. I want to be an individual. I want to be a black woman out in the world. Not this overblown like star

Matt Linder 01:28

With a desire to be free.

Femi Olutade 01:32

What she's saying is that all of the system, these things that have been set up are actually causing people to fail, and actually keeping one third of us in jail.

Krystal Roberts 01:39

And getting out of all of your boxes.

Eric House 01:44

People get their jokes off about Lauryn Hill now. Because of things like showing up late to concerts and not putting out new music all the time. I think it's about agency. It's about saying, I don't really care what you all expect for me to do. I'm not living my life by your expectations and your standards.

Matt Linder 02:02

But ultimately arriving at her own peace.

Cheryl Kirk-Duggan 02:07

If you start with her understanding of freedom, you're going to move toward love, because for Lauryn, you cannot be free if you don't know love. You cannot experience justice if you don't have freedom. And it's vocally present in her music and it's present in her life.

Krystal Roberts

I'm Lauryn Hill researcher, Krystal Roberts.

Matt Linder

And I'm hip hop scholar, Matt Linder.

Krystal Roberts

Join us Feb...