Marley: Lauryn and her mom took her album to Sony Records and they said, “This is coffee table music. Sony never wanted her to make a solo record they wanted her to make another Fugees record. I love that.Ĭommissioner Gordon: My wife, Suzette, signed Lauryn as a songwriter and said, “Lauryn wants to talk to you about doing a solo record.” Lauryn said, “I want you to be my co-pilot.” The recording took about a year and a half. But that human element, that’s what makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. You can’t get that from a computer, because a computer’s too perfect. I don’t like to use compressors and take away my textures, because I was raised on music that was recorded before technology advanced to the place where it could be smooth. I like the rawness of you being able to hear the scratch in the vocals. Lauryn Hill: write songs that lyrically move me and have the integrity of reggae and the knock of hip-hop and the instrumentation of classic soul. She wanted it to sound muddy, like an old record scratching and her engineer Gordon was able to capture it. The genius of that record, it began with her and it ended with her. I remember her talking about the New-Ark guys like, they’re cool dudes and they’re young.
So when she started on her own, she was lonely. With ‘Clef and Jerry Wonder, they just kicked ideas and that’s how music got made. Jackson: Music was always a collaborative effort with her.
By the time the album was done I actually had to re-do their stuff and make it stronger. That’s when she brought Vada and New-Ark in. She wanted me and James Poyser at her utter disposal. Nobody else wanted to work with her because there was little feud going on and Wyclef was telling people, “You work with Lauryn, you don’t work with me.”Ĭhe Vicious (formerly Che Guevera producer): I worked with ‘Clef and Lauryn knew I wasn’t happy with some of the business with ‘Clef, so she asked me to come co-produce. Rohan Marley (Bob Marley’s son/father of Hill’s five children): She took these guys New-Ark from out of the ghetto in Newark and created a team and taught them what she knew. Vada was a programmer who made drum beats, Kilo would write hooks and lyrics, Tejumold Newton played piano and Johari Newton played guitar. Her mother said that Lauryn prayed for a situation like this.Ĭommissioner Gordon Williams (engineer/project supervisor): In the beginning, the New-Ark guys were the core who put the basic tracks together. She was looking to put together her own creative support team.
She was saying she’s moving on from the Fugees and considering doing a solo record. Vada Nobles (producer/programmer): My friend Kilo called and said, “Yo, bring some music, Lauryn Hill wants us to come to her house!” In her living room, Lauryn had on a brown robe, she was pregnant. And she was like, “I don’t wanna fuck with them, I just wanna get a whole new crew.” I’ve been talking about making my solo record for the longest and they’re doing everybody’s solo record but mine! I’m leaving the group, I’ve had it.” I was like, call Donnie Ienner. Jayson Jackson (former manager, Lauryn Hill): The Fugees were on the road in the summer of ’96 and Lauryn called me like, “I can’t believe these muthafuckers. RS Recommends: 5 Devices You Need to Set Up Your Smart Homeħ0 Greatest Music Documentaries of All Time To celebrate the album, Rolling Stone spoke with many of those responsible for making it: a then-little known pianist named John Legend, D’Angelo, engineer Commissioner Gordon, backup singers, New-Ark producers, Hill’s longtime companion Rohan Marley, and her Fugee bandmate Pras Michel. It was, in fact, a huge group effort, as underlined by a lawsuit settled out of court in 2001 for a reported $5 million. Miseducation‘s liner notes mostly credit Hill with producing, writing and arranging the entire album. “I think now people feel a little more comfortable playing with the parameters. “Music is about to change,” Hill told Rolling Stone‘s Touré for his 1999 cover story. Blige hailed it as “one of the most incredible albums ever made” and the record influenced a generation of soul and hip-hop artists. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was released in the final weeks of August 1998 and went on to sell more than 8 million copies, win five Grammys and earn a four-star review in Rolling Stone.
0 kommentar(er)
