The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Release type:What's this?
studio album
First released:
Aug 25 1998

Overview Edit

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American musician Lauryn Hill, released August 25, 1998, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from late 1997, to June 1998, and were held mostly at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica. The album's lyrics deal with Hill's pregnancy at the time, the turmoil in her former group the Fugees, and also love and God, while it incorporates musical elements of R&B, hip hop, soul, reggae, and gospel. The album's title was inspired by the film and autobiographical novel The Education of Sonny Carson, and Carter G. Woodson's The Mis-Education of the Negro.

Upon its release, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 422,624 copies in its first week, which broke a record for first week sales by a female artist at the time of its release. The album spawned several hit singles, which helped it achieve worldwide commercial success. In 1999, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill garnered ten Grammy nominations at the 41st Grammy Awards, winning five, making Hill the first female recording artist to receive that amount of nominations, as well as awards in one night. On September 29, 1998, the album was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and on December 17, 2001, it was certified 8X's platinum in the United States.

Following its initial reception, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill has perpetuated its acclaim from most music critics and publications, and has been widely recognized as a crucial and influential component of the neo soul sub-genre. The album has appeared on numerous accolades, with many regarding it as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2003, it was ranked number 312 on Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miseducation_of_Lauryn_Hill. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

This particular version Edit

Record label:
Catalog number:
69035
Release dates:
  • Aug 25 1998 in United States

Genres

Hip-Hop, Contemporary R&B, Neo-Soul, Rap, Soul, Pop, Rhythm & Blues. Vote on Genres

What do Amazon.com customers think?

5 stars Hype and Substance
I don't like hype, and as a rule I'm suspicious of any album that's too widely praised. Nonetheless, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill proved to be an exception to the unfortunate trend of hyping mediocrity. Her sentiments are refreshing, she's emotional without being sentimental, she's devout without being proselytizing, and perhaps most importantly she writes interesting, ecclectic music with roots in Jazz, Rock, Soul, Gospel, R&B, ad. inf. Quite frankly, I'm completely bemused by the reviews cl…
Written by Jacob Bacharach
3 stars A great start to a promising solo career
With all the hype surrounding this disc I have to admit to being a little disappointed to find only a few songs that really spoke to me. Some of the lyrics were a bit strident and heavy-handed as well. As Lauryn Hill matures I'm sure she will learn to show instead of tell. Overall I thought this was a good debut outing for Lauryn though! She shows a broad knowledge of musical styles and genres and I hope this disc is only the start of a wonderful future!
Written by an unknown author

Track listing Edit

Credits Edit

Other versions Edit

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 16 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Sony
catalog number: 69035
release dates: Aug 25 1998
view details
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 16 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Ruffhouse Records
catalog number: 69035
release dates: Aug 25 1998
view details
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 16 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Sony
catalog number: 69035
release dates: Aug 25 1998
view details
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 15 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Sony
catalog number: 69035
release dates: Aug 25 1998
view details
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 16 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Sony
catalog number: 69035
release dates: Aug 25 1998
view details
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 17 tracks format: 1 x CD
release dates: Dec 1 1998
view details
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