Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill Awarded at the 41st Annual GRAMMY Awards

Quote
"Them devils wishing they could send me back to Mogadishu. . . . pray tell me when the revolution will begin; I turn on my TV; I check out Farrakhan on CNN. . . . I'm forming the cipher; fly 'peace' to the 5 Percenter. . . . I love PE [Public Enemy]; they kept me conscious of what I was saying; Afrika Bambaataa, Poor Righteous Teacher[s], got within myself so it made me a 5 Percenter";
"Vocab--Hip-Hop Remix"; Fugees (Refugee Camp), Bootleg Versions, 1996, Sony Music Entertainment, Columbia Records, Sony.

Article
      Lauryn was a awarded five GRAMMY's in February 1999 for her solo work called The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. She is a member of the Fugees, a group which won a GRAMMY in 1997 for their 1996 album called The Score.

      An album, called Bootleg Versions, came out a few months after the release of the The Score, and on it were songs from their previous two albums. However, the songs were repeated in name and in melody only because lyrics were changed, now being less cryptic and more revealing. With the album, the Fugees brought the extremist nature of their lyrics further into public view. In their new version of "Nappy Heads," anger is expressed over police officers for stopping blacks who wear their "clothes baggy" and for confiscating concealed handguns from them, and the Fugees label such actions by the police as "terroriz[ing]" such blacks. Listeners are advised to "never leave home without the weapon," for guns are their "one and only one protection living in an unprotected nation." America is referred to as Babylon by the rappers, as is commonly done in hip-hop culture, and the rappers say that "Babylon rebel--the land is going to hell." Concerning blacks being arrested, the Fugees communicate to their listeners the following: "you and I know the ghetto is running red hot." ("Nappy Heads--Mad Spider Remix.")

      They come with the "Jericho sound system," they say, and because "housing projects is purgatory," the Refugee Camp "teach the youth they got more rights than Miranda [and] tell them this whole shit is propaganda." While people used to fist fight, now they have gunfights, and "even Grandmas are stacking up on old wooden pistols." The following is said about how violent youth are today: "kids ain't playing that no more; they is packing pistols; once you hear the whistle, we about to set it." The following quotes shows how Lauryn Hill sees Biblical scripture as history in the making with herself at the helm challenging rappers who deviate from the cause: "L[auryn] won't take the mark though I swim with sharks; I make the dark see the light; board the Ark for forty nights. . . . you for fake; I'm for real like Jesus Christ's last meal; you make deals with devils. . . . pray to God I see the next scripture and holy text. . . . we learned that only Jah and God can protect." The track came out in 1996, and on it the rappers give limited time intervals for their future rap careers as follows: "we coming back: '97 'till 2000"; and "we about to set it: 1997 to the year 2001." ("Don't Cry Your Eyes.")

      The Fugees say that "fake M.C.'s [rappers]" should be grabbed, bagged, and thrown into the swamp. Rappers commonly refer to the coding of their lyrics as making a cipher, and the Fugees say so as follows: "I'm forming the cipher; fly 'peace' to the 5 Percenter." The term "5 Percenter" stands for members of the black extremist group called 5 Percent Nation, which is an offshoot from Nation of Islam. Even though Lauryn Hill often places the Bible's context into the present, she also puts out Nation of Islam's view that the Bible dually refers to blacks in ancient times, and the following quotes shows how she does it: "I've been rocking the mic' since the days of Babylon; my pen was eucalyptus, and my rapping was the scroll; I walked many moons, and let the sandals adjust to my control; you're swol[len] because you couldn't cross the burning sands; you never had no mercy when my people was in Egypt's land; say: yes, I can with the force of Elijah [Muhammad]; stepping to you, then get irrigated like the river Niger, so hide the cattle; Fugees come to battle; we'll take all your bounty. . . . I ain't freaking with white lies." We are told that in the "year of the dragon, nobody protected." (In the Chinese calendar the year 2000 will be the year of the dragon.) Also on the track there are business discussions about Wyclef Jean's next album, his 1997 release. ("Vocab--Salaam''s Remix.")

      In a second remixing of "Vocab," the Fugees explain that the music of certain rappers influenced them to join 5 Percent Nation, and the following quotes shows how they say it: "I loved PE; they kept me concious of what I was saying; Afrika Bambaataa, Poor Righteous Teachers, got within myself so it made me a 5 Percenter." They say that back in the days before guns were called "gats" in rap slang, they would listen to Kool G Rap and Run DMC. The Fugees say that they listen to and have philosophies in common with Boogie Down Productions, Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, and LL Cool J. The following string of phrases shows how Lauryn Hill puts together black identity, revolution, and Nation of Islam: "the bourgeoise type of mental sucks. . . . them devils wishing they could send me back to Mogadishu [Somalia] because I've been wild since I was a juvenile; Afrocentric profile, back when righteous rap was your style; now kids are 'wylin' [buckwilding, acting out of control], so I ask the bad black: boogie bandit, what's the damage; give me the estimate, then pray tell me when the revolution will begin; I turn on my TV; I check out Farrakhan on CNN; see, I'm like the phantom that is flying like the bird do, and things you never heard; plus I come from the suburb; word to God." Wyclef Jean expresses frustration at what is viewed by him to be a fact, and it is a belief that "back in '83, no one wanted to be nappy." (The word "nappy" is slang for having kinks and twists in the hair.) At the track's end there are shout-outs for some cities, and listeners are told that "black people got the vocab'." ("Vocab--Hip-Hop Remix.")

      On one track there is a excerpt that appears to be taken from a radio station program in which a caller says the following: "with a special request; wanna bring some riots up in this place, you know what I'm saying. . . . we got Wyclef and the Refugee Camp; we got Steve Marley from the Ghetto Youth up in here, Kingston 12; it's revolution time, y'all, revolution time," and the track ends with those words. ("Killing Me Softly with His Song.") In the CD pamphlets, there is a picture of the rappers traveling together on motorcycles with helicopters following them. Some artists thanked by them in the back of the pamphlets are Kid Capri, Dr Dre, and Melle Mel.

      On her 1998 GRAMMY Award winning solo album, Lauryn Hill continues to associate herself with Nation of Islam's belief in racial Armageddon, but she does so less obviously. She indicates that the oppressed peoples described in the Bible are actually the blacks who came to the Americas as slaves: "people feel Lauryn Hill from New-Ark to Israel," and blacks should amend "every law that ever prevented our survival since our arrival, documented in the Bible, like Moses and Aaron." She tells listeners to let God redeem them, and she tells them that they can get "green," money, if they calmly read Psalm 73 the way she does--Psalm 73 describes the wicked who increase their wealth as they oppress the pure in heart, and the wicked are destroyed by God. Listeners should keep their "eyes on the Final Hour." She says that she keeps "making the street's ballads," and there is a mention of Palestine and the year 1999. She gets "diplomatic immunity in every ghetto community." Blacks should run for senate and then "make a slum lord be the tenant [and] give his money to kids to spend it." It is likely that when she uses the number "144," she is referring to the 144,000 people of Revelation 14 who would be redeemed by God to go to heaven, and the quote is as follows: "I'm making sure I'm with the 144; I've been here before; this ain't a battle; this is war." ("Final Hour.")

      She is in accordance with Nation of Islam in believing that blacks are being deceived today: "so many caught or got bought, you can't list them; how you gonna idolize the missing; to survive is to stay alive in the face of opposition; even when they coming, gunning, I stand position; L[auryn] is known the mission since conception; let's free the people from deception. . . . my voice echoes through the ghetto. . . . why black people always be the ones to settle; march through these streets like Soweto." ("Forgive Them Father.") She calls the American ghetto where she grew up the "New Jerusalem." When describing her childhood there, she says that "everybody's name was Muslim," and she gives the Islamic salutation "waikum salaam." ("Every Ghetto Every City.") In the liner notes she gives "love and appreciation" to Miriam Farrakhan, and she says that "God's people have to stick together." Sister Souljah is thanked for helping out. An individual, who did programming on some of the tracks and who co-produced the track called "To Zion," goes by the name Che Guevara.

References
Bootleg Versions, Fugees (Refugee Camp), 1996, Sony Music Entertainment, Columbia Records, Sony.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Lauryn Hill, 1998, Ruffhouse Records, Columbia Records, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony.

Posted at http://home.att.net/~phosphor on June 30, 1999.

Last editing was posted July 25, 1999.

The above article is not a complete summary of Lauryn Hill's connections to violently racist music, and readers may want to research and expose more of it.

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