Years after its release, I gave this album a listen and wow. Lauryn Hill provides a top notch R&B/hip-hop fusion that sounds like a soundtrack to growing up in the rough neighborhood. The songs are mostly love songs, but the running theme is the classroom. The question of whether or not this makes sense didn’t need answering after a few tracks in, when the songs take on a life of their own. What makes Miseducation so timeless is the retro vibe she invokes the whole time. Lauryn Hill has one of those voices that can really make you feel joy or sadness depending on the inflection of each note. And then she’ll start rapping, which she does sparsely across the record, and you’ll feel like the hot, tough chick on the street is just having a conversation with you about the way things really are. Miseducation is one of those albums that makes you want to really know the artist. It’s a star-driven hip-hop disc in the vein of Tupac, only Lauryn Hill doesn’t bother with the posturing. She’s simply telling a series of stories and sharing ideas.

It’s hard to list individual tracks, but the entire mid-section of the album, tracks four through eleven, really hit me hard.

It wasn’t the worst thing I ever heard, but the snippets of conversation from the classroom were rather annoying (even though I do get the point, it seemed like it could have been done better). And the artist seemed really self-indulgent. Everyone struggles, but do you have anything really to say? Still, the overall message is positive.

“i bought lauryn hill’s tape so her kids would starve”
-eminem