Lauryn Hill released her one and only solo album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," in 1998 to critical acclaim. During her headlining set at the ONE MusicFest in Atlanta on Saturday (October 8), The Fugees MC teased a tour in celebration of the iconic album's 25th anniversary.
“25 years on," she said. "So we gonna be back with those songs the way you can recognize them, aye?”
Featuring hits such as “Doo Wop (That Thing),” “Ex-Factor” and “Everything Is Everything,” "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with over 422,000 copies sold in its first week. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, Hill became the first Hip Hop act to win the coveted Album of the Year award.
The project was ultimately certified diamond by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in February 2021 and remains the highest-selling female rap album in history with over 20 million sales worldwide.
In a January 2021 email interview with Rolling Stone, Hill explained why there was never a follow-up to the landmark album.
“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,” she wrote. “Did I say ever? Ever! … With the Miseducation, there was no precedent. I was, for the most part, free to explore, experiment and express.
“After the Miseducation, there were scores of tentacled obstructionists, politics, repressing agendas, unrealistic expectations and saboteurs EVERYWHERE. 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.”
The Fugees briefly reunited last year for what was supposed to be a 25th anniversary tour in honor of "The Score," but after just one show in New York City, they canceled all remaining dates, citing COVID-19 as the cause for the cancelation. During an interview with RAPstation's Kyle Eustice in July, Wyclef Jean said he was hopeful it would be rescheduled.
"All I could do is tell you that with the Fugees, I’m very excited and I look forward to it getting rescheduled,” he said. “I look forward. As a fan of the Fugees, I’m very excited. All I could do is just tell all the fans, do not lose hope, because y’all know we the Hip Hop Grateful Dead. We going to get this thing cracking [laughs]."
