Lauryn Hill Reflects on Her Post-Miseducation Absence from Music

Lauryn Hill is setting the record straight when it comes to why she never dropped another solo album following The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998.

Fraim World made a post to Instagram on Thursday (May 14) laying out possible reasons why Hill chose not to release another LP, pointing to label issues, pressures that came with fame and her being a perfectionist.

The Grammy-winning artist hopped into the comments section Friday, which saw Hill share that she disagreed with the post’s assessment and went on to deliver a detailed explanation of the decades-long gap between Miseducation to now.

“When you’re inspired and desire to be principled, what doesn’t get talked about enough is the drain… nor the challenge to find safety so that you can create with integrity,” she began. “Most see opportunity as dollars only and often exclude the ‘sense’.”

Lauryn Hill continued: “ The Score nor the Miseducation were made because we were ‘allowed’ to represent what we did, we fought for every inch. Wild success can cause greed that begins to denegrate the art for the money. We’re people living through all this. These conversations should allow for more nuance. Artists go through phases, creativity requires expression, exploration and experimentation. There were people who hated the Unplugged album and yet some today swear by its significance.”

The 50-year-old compared herself to abolitionist Harriet Tubman when it came to not being empowered to express her truths to the fullest extent and having her creative freedom limited.

“I was like a Harriet Tubman figure in some respects running to speak difficult truths to power before certain forces tried to close those doors,” she added. “If it was so easy to do, where is that expression now on the world stage? Systems fear what they can’t control. Creativity is most potent when it’s free. If I did nothing else, I introduced standards and possibilities to a generation that didn’t know they could operate on that level before then.”

Hill concluded: “I am often doing things outside the support of the system before people can even realize what I’ve done. Another artist who values inspiration then recognizes IT’S value and re-presents it to an audience then ready to receive it.”

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill arrived in August 1998 and debuted atop the Billboard 200 with over 422,000 albums sold in its first week, according to Nielsen, now known as Luminate. The LP won album of the year at the Grammy Awards in 1999 — making her the first rapper to achieve the feat — and was powered by hits such as her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Doo Wop (That Thing).”

Lauryn Hill is set to reunite with Fugees cofounder Wyclef Jean on June 6 for an exclusive concert at Global Citizen Live: Rio De Janeiro in Brazil to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the group’s The Score album.

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/lauryn-hill-why-she-didnt-release-another-solo-album-1236250948/)._