Lauryn Hill Wiki Information
Lauryn Noel Hill
(born May 25, 1975) [1] is an American recording artist, musician, producer and actress. Early in her career, she established her reputation in the hip-hop world as the lone female member of Fugees. In 1998 she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
. The recording earned Hill five Grammy Awards.
Following the success of her debut album, Hill largely dropped out of public view, in part due to her displeasure with fame and the music industry. After a four-year hiatus, she released MTV Unplugged No. 2.0,
a live recording of "deeply personal songs." The live recording was performed with an acoustic guitar played by Hill. [2] Hill also participated in a short-lived Fugees reunion during the mid-2000s. Hill is the mother of five children with Rohan Marley, the fourth son of reggae musician Bob Marley. [3]
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Biography
Early life
Lauryn Hill was born in
South Orange, New Jersey, the second of two children born to high school English teacher Valerie Hill and computer programmer Mal Hill. As a child, Hill listened to her parents'
Motown 1960s soul records. Music was a central part of the Hill home. Mal Hill sang at weddings, Valerie played the piano, and Lauryn's older brother Melaney played the saxophone, guitar, drums, harmonica, violin, and piano. In 1988 13-year old Hill appeared as an Amateur Night contestant on
It's Showtime at the Apollo
. Hill sang her own version of
Smokey Robinson's song "
Who's Lovin' You?".
Hill was childhood friends with actor
Zach Braff and both graduated from
Columbia High School (New Jersey) in 1993, where Hill was an active student,
cheerleader, and performer. Braff has spoken of Hill attending his
bar Mitzvah in 1988.
[4] Hill enrolled at
Columbia University in 1993 and attended for about a year before dropping out to pursue her entertainment career.
[5]
Personal life
Hill and
Wyclef Jean dated through the majority of the Fugees time together, a relationship that friends have called "complicated."
In the summer of 1996, she met
Rohan Marley, son of the late reggae music icon
Bob Marley, and openly had a relationship with him. Wyclef knew about this relationship. Lauryn soon became pregnant by Marley, who himself was already married. She kept the information about who the baby's father was a secret to almost everyone; Jean assumed the baby was his when he first visited her in the hospital.
Though she refers to Marley as her husband, the two appear to have never been legally married.
Marley never divorced his first wife Geraldine Khawly, whom he married in 1993 while a sophomore at
University of Miami,
Florida. With Khawly he has two children: daughter Eden Marley and son Nicolas Marley
[6] [7]. Marley's personal
MySpace account lists his relationship status as "single",
[8] but says he and Hill are "spiritually together".
Hill and Rohan have had five children together: son Zion David Hill-Marley, daughter Selah Louise Marley, son Joshua Marley, and son John Marley. The couple's fifth child is a girl who was born in early 2008;
[9] [10] [11] and Marley told
People
magazine that although the baby is 7 months old, she is still without a name.
Since 1998, Hill has lived in both the
Caribbean and an upscale hotel in Miami,
[12] but in August 2008, it was reported that Hill was living with her mother and children in her hometown of South Orange, New Jersey.
[13]
Acting career
Hill began her acting career at a young age, appearing on the soap opera,
As The World Turns
playing the character Kira Johnson. In 1993, she co-starred in
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
as Rita Louise Watson, in which she performed the songs "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" (a duet with
Tanya Blount) and "Joyful, Joyful". It was in this role that she first came to national prominence, with
Roger Ebert calling her "the girl with the big joyful voice". Her other acting work includes the play
Club XII
with
MC Lyte, and the motion pictures
King of the Hill
,
Hav Plenty
, and
Restaurant
. After her rise to musical stardom, she reportedly turned down roles in
Charlie's Angels
,
The Bourne Identity
,
The Mexican
,
The Matrix Reloaded
and
The Matrix Revolutions
.
She appeared on the soundtrack to
Conspiracy Theory
in 1996 with "
Can't Take My Eyes Off You", and on
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
in 2002 with the track "Selah".
Musical career
The Fugees
The Refugee Camp ("
Fugees") formed after
Prakazrel "Pras" Michel approached Hill in high school about joining a music group he was creating. Soon after, she met Pras' cousin and fellow
Haïtian immigrant,
Wyclef Jean. At some point, Hill was given the nickname "
L Boogie
," as she began to convert her poetic writing into rap verses. Hill's singing gained worldwide acclaim with the Fugees' remake of "
Killing Me Softly with His Song", accompanied by a sample from
Rotary Connection's "Memory Band" (also sampled in
A Tribe Called Quest's "Bonita Applebum").
The Fugees' first album
Blunted on Reality
peaked at #49 on the U.S. Hot 100. The album sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
Blunted on Reality
was followed by
The Score
, a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album that established two of the three Fugees as international rap stars. Singles from
The Score
include "
Ready or Not", "
Fu-Gee-La", "
No Woman, No Cry", and "
Killing Me Softly" (written by
Lori Lieberman and made famous by
Roberta Flack).
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
(1998)
In 1996, Hill began production on an album that would eventually become
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
. The title was partially inspired by
The Education of Sonny Carson
, a film and autobiographical novel about a troubled
African American youth.
[14] The album featured contributions from
D'Angelo,
Carlos Santana,
Mary J. Blige and a then-unknown
John Legend. Songs for the album were largely written in an
attic studio in
South Orange,
New Jersey and recorded at
Chung King Studios in
Jamaica.
[15] Wyclef Jean initially didn't support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered his production help; Hill turned him down.
Lauryn Hill was once an artist on
Ruffhouse Records.
Several songs on the album concerned her frustrations with The Fugees;
[16] "I Used to Love Him" dealt with the break-down of the relationship between Hill and Wyclef Jean.
"To Zion" spoke about her decision to have her first baby, even though many at the time encouraged her to
abort the pregnancy as to not interfere with her blossoming career.
[17]
The Miseducation
contained several interludes of a teacher speaking to what is implied to be a classroom of children; in fact, the "teacher" was played by Ras Baraka (a poet, educator and
politician) speaking to a group of kids in the living room of Hill's New Jersey home.
The singer requested that Baraka speak to the children about the concept of love, and he improvised the lecture.
The CD cover was seen as many as a tribute to Bob Marley as it much resembles that of Wailer's
Burnin'!
Though
The Miseducation
was largely a collaborative work between Hill and a group of musicians known as New Ark (Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Tejumold and Johari Newton), there was "label pressure to do the
Prince thing," wherein all tracks would be credited as "written and produced by" the artist with little outside help.
[18] While recording the album, when Hill was asked about providing contracts or documentation to the musicians, she replied, "We all love each other. This ain't about documents. This is blessed."
Hill, her management, and her record label were sued in 1998 by New Ark, claiming that they either co-wrote or co-produced 13 of 14 tracks on the album.
[19] The suit was settled out of court in February 2001 for a reported $5 million.
[20]
1998 saw the release of
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
, which was both critically and commercially successful. It sold over 423,000 copies in its first week and topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for four weeks and the
Billboard
R&B Album chart for six weeks; it would go on to sell more than 18 million copies over the next decade.
The first single off the album was "Lost Ones" (US #27), released in Spring 1998. The second was "
Doo Wop (That Thing)", which reached #1 in the billboard charts. Other singles released in support of the album were "Ex-Factor" (US #21), "Everything Is Everything" (US #35), and "To Zion".
At the 1999
Grammy Awards, Hill was nominated ten times , becoming the first female ever to be nominated ten times in one year: Hill won five Grammys including
Album of the Year (beating
Madonna's critically acclaimed
Ray of Light
),
Best R&B Album,
Best R&B Song,
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and
Best New Artist. Lauryn Hill set a new record in the industry, as she became the first woman to win five Grammys in one night. Between 1998 and 1999, Hill earned $25 million from record sales and touring.
Hill became a national media icon, as magazines ranging from Time to Esquire to Teen People vied to put her on the cover. By the end of the year, as the album topped virtually every major music critic's best-of list, she was being credited for helping fully assimilate hip-hop into mainstream music.
In the late 1990s, Hill was noted by some as a
humanitarian. In 1996 she received an
Essence
Award for work which has included the 1996 founding of the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that supports a two-week overnight camp for at-risk youth, and for supporting well-building projects in
Kenya and
Uganda, as well as for staging a rap concert in
Harlem to promote
voter registration. In 1999 Hill received three awards at the 30th Annual
NAACP Image Awards. In 1999
Ebony
named her one of "100+ Most Influential Black Americans". She was named with Congressman
Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others among the "10 For Tomorrow," in the
EBONY 2000: Special Millennium Issue
.
Self-imposed exile and MTV Unplugged No. 2.0
(2000–2003)
After the release of her debut album, she explored other methods of expressing herself, including creating an extensive amount of music,
poetry, and clothing designs. She started writing a screenplay about the life of
Bob Marley, in which she planned to act as his wife
Rita.
She also began producing a
romantic comedy about
soul food with a working title of
Sauce
, and accepted a starring role in the
film adaptation of
Toni Morrison's novel
Beloved
;
she later dropped out of both projects due to pregnancy.
Hill became dissatisfied with the music industry; she felt she was being unfairly controlled by her record label, and disliked being unable "to go to the grocery store without
makeup."
She fired her management team and began attending
Bible study classes five days a week; she also stopped doing interviews, watching
television and listening to music.
She started associating with a "spiritual adviser" named Brother Anthony.
[21] Some familiar with Hill believe Anthony more resembled a
cult leader than a spiritual advisor,
[22] and thought his guidance probably inspired much of Hill's newfound erratic behavior and fanaticism.
[23]
In 2000, she dropped out of the public eye. She described this period of her life to
Essence
magazine: "People need to understand that the Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was allowed in that arena at that time… I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too compromised. I felt uncomfortable about having to smile in someone’s face when I really didn’t like them or even know them well enough to like them."
She also spoke about her emotional crisis, saying, "For two or three years I was away from all social interaction. It was a very introspective time because I had to confront my fears and master every
demonic thought about inferiority, about insecurity or the fear of being black, young and gifted in this
western culture."
She went on to say that she had to fight to retain her
identity, and was forced "to deal with folks who weren't happy about that."
On July 21, 2001, Lauryn unveiled her new material to a small crowd, for a taping of an
MTV Unplugged
special. An album of concert, titled
MTV Unplugged No. 2.0
, exhibited a new Hill, as she focused on the lyrics and the message she was spreading rather than the musical arrangements. "Fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need", she said during the concert. "I’ve just retired from the fantasy part." Most of the songs featured only an acoustic guitar and her voice, somewhat raspy from rehearsal on the day before the recording. Hill used the set as an opportunity to give information on why she had been absent from the public for a period of time and what she had found while away.
Unlike the near-unanimous praise of
The Miseducation,
2.0
sharply divided critics.
AllMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the recording "is the unfinished, unflinching presentation of ideas and of a person. It may not be a proper follow-up to her first album, but it is fascinating."
[24] Rolling Stone
called the album "a public breakdown".
[25] ''
Slant Magazines Sal Cinquemani wrote, "Hill's guitarwork is multi-textured and fine-tuned but her vocals lack confidence and seem to toe the edge of her range throughout the album. And though the stripped-down nature of the show is fitting, many of the songs sound as if they are still in their infancy." [26] Despite the mixed reviews,
2.0'' debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum four weeks after its release.
Despite Hill's departure from the media and celebrity, she continued to have some success in the music world. Her song "Mystery of Iniquity" was nominated for a Grammy without promotion or radio airplay and used as an
interpolation by hip-hop mega-producer
Kanye West for his single "
All Falls Down" (eventually recorded by
Syleena Johnson).
Vatican controversy
On December 13, 2003, Hill made headlines by denouncing "corruption, exploitation, and abuses" in reference to the
molestation of boys by
Catholic priests in the United States and the cover-up of offenses by
Catholic Church officials.
[27] The statements were made during a performance at a
Christmas benefit concert at the
Vatican. Reading from a prepared statement,
Hill told the crowd of 7,500:
"I am sorry if I am about to offend some of you. I did not accept my invitation to celebrate with you the birth of Christ. Instead I ask you why you are not in mourning for him in this place? I want to ask you, what have you got to say about the lives you have broken? What about the families who were expecting God and instead were cheated by the Devil? Who feels sorry for them, the men, women and children damaged psychologically, emotionally and mentally by the sexual perversions and abuse carried out by the people they believed in? Holy God is a witness to the corruption of your leadership, of the exploitation and abuses which are the minimum that can be said for the clergy. There is no acceptable excuse to defend the church." [28]
Hill called on the church leaders to "repent" and encouraged the crowd to "not seek blessings from man but from God."
[29] She then performed the songs "Damnable Heresies" and "Social Drugs".
High-ranking church officials in attendance included Cardinal
Camillo Ruini, Monsignor Rino Fisichella and
Edmund Cardinal Szoka.
[30] Pope John Paul II was not present.
The segment was cut from the television broadcast. Both the Vatican and Columbia Records refused to issue official statements regarding Hill's actions.
[31] [32] Monsignor Fisichella told reporters that Hill had acted "in poor taste and very bad mannered. It showed a complete lack of respect for her invitation and for the place where she had been invited to perform".
[33] The
Catholic League called Hill "pathologically miserable" and claimed her career is "in decline".
[34]
Hill responded to the controversy on December 16: "What I said was the truth. Is telling the truth bad manners? What I asked was the church to repent for what has happened."
[35] The following day, several reporters suggested that Hill's comments at the Vatican may have been influenced by her "advisor" Brother Anthony.
[36]
Short-lived return of the Fugees (2004–2006)
The Fugees performed on September 18, 2004 at
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
in the
Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of
Brooklyn, New York City. They headlined a bill that included a star-studded cast of hip hop celebrities. The concert featured Hill's nearly
a cappella rendition of "Killing Me Softly". The event was recorded by director
Michel Gondry and was released on March 3, 2006 to mostly positive reviews.
[37] [38]
In 2005, she told an interviewer that "The Fugees was a conspiracy to control, to manipulate and to encourage
dependence. I took a lot of abuse that many people would not have taken in these circumstances."
The Fugees also appeared at
BET's 2005 Music Awards on June 28, 2005, where they opened the show with a 12-minute set.
One track, "Take It Easy", was leaked online and therefore was released as an internet single on September 27, 2005. It peaked at #40 on the
Billboard
R&B Chart. The song was mostly panned by critics, as
The Village Voice
wrote, "Turns out that a Fugees reunion wasn't really what anyone was waiting for; we just wanted Lauryn to start rapping again."
[39]
The Fugees embarked on a European tour from November 30, 2005 through December 20, 2005. The group played in Austria,
Slovakia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, England, Ireland and Switzerland.
On February 6, 2006, the Fugees did a special "Reunion Concert" in
Hollywood, that was offered as a live webcast on the
Verizon Wireless website. The Fugees were featured in numerous Verizon Wireless VCast advertisements in magazines and on TV around that same time. A new song titled "Foxy" was made available on VCast and a third new song was leaked, unofficially titled "Wannabe", which uses the same hook as the
Michael Jackson song "
I Wanna Be Where You Are".
Old tensions between Hill and the other members of the group soon resurfaced, and the reunion fizzled before an album could be recorded. Wyclef Jean and Pras both blamed Hill's erratic behavior as the cause of the split. Hill reportedly demanded to be addressed by everyone, including her bandmates, as "Ms. Hill"; she also considered changing her moniker to "Empress".
Her chronic tardiness — sometimes stalling up to 45 minutes after the two had taken the stage to join them — has been cited as another contributing factor to the break up.
Pras told the press in August 2007, "Before I work with Lauryn Hill again, you will have a better chance of seeing
Osama Bin Laden and
George W. Bush in
Starbucks having a
latte, discussing foreign policies… At this point I really think it will take an act of God to change her, because she is that far out there."
[40]
2004–present
Hill has been slowly working on a new album
and in November 2004 shot a music video. The album had a slated street date of November 2005, and neither it nor the music video have been released.
[41] It was also reported that as of 2003,
Columbia Records had spent more than $2.5 million funding Hill's new album, mostly spent on installing a recording studio in the singer's
Miami apartment and flying different musicians around the country.
In 2004, Hill began selling a
pay-per-view music video of the song "Social Drugs" through her website.
[42] Those who purchase the $15 video would only be able to view it three times before it expired. In addition to the video, Hill began selling autographed posters and
Polaroids through her website, with some items listed at upwards of $500.
thumbIn 2005, she told
USA Today
, "If I make music now, it will only be to provide information to my own children. If other people benefit from it, then so be it."
[43] When asked how she now felt about the songs on
2.0
, she stated "a lot of the songs were transitional. The music was about how I was feeling at the time, even though I was documenting my distress as well as my bursts of joy."
She has toured several times in recent years, though most of her concerts have received mixed reviews.
[44] [45] [46] Hill is often late to concerts (sometimes by over two hours) and reconfigures her well-known hits in to "unrecognizable scat chants" while "sporting frizzy orange hair and exaggerated makeup".
[47] [48] On some occasions, fans have booed her and left early;
[49] some fans have also demanded their money back after concerts.
[50]
On October 6, 2005, Lauryn Hill emceed and performed two songs at the
Take Back TV
concert launching
Al Gore's
CurrentTV.
[51] [52] [53]
In June 2007,
Sony records said though Hill has "consistently recorded over the past decade" and has what amounts to "a library of unreleased material in the vault", she had recently re-entered the studio "with the goal of making a new LP."
[54] Later that same year, Think Differently music quietly released a 22 track compilation titled
Ms. Hill
which featured cuts from
The Miseducation
, various soundtracks contributions and other "unreleased" songs.
[55] It features guest appearances from D'Angelo,
Rah Digga and
John Forté.
[56] It is unclear if the album is sanctioned by the artist — many of the songs are obviously in unfinished format and clock in at under one minute — but it is currently listed on
AllMusic and
Amazon.
Reports in mid-2008 claimed that Columbia Records currently believe Lauryn Hill to be "on hiatus."
Rohan Marley disputed these claims, telling an interviewer that Hill has enough material for several albums: "She writes music in the bathroom, on
toilet paper, on the wall. She writes it in the mirror if the mirror smokes up. She writes constantly. This woman does not sleep". One of the few public appearances Hill made in 2008 was at a
Martha Stewart book-signing in New Jersey, perplexing some in the press.
[57]
On November 4, 2008, Hill was scheduled to perform at the
Avo Session Basel music festival in
Basel, Switzerland. Her concert was cancelled "for personal reasons"
[58].
In April 2009, it was reported that Hill would engage in a 10 day tour of European summer festivals during mid-July of that year. On June 10, Hill's management informed the promoters of the
Stockholm Jazz Festival, which she was scheduled to headline, that she would not be performing due to unspecified "health reasons."
[59] Shortly afterwards, the rest of the tour was cancelled as well.
[59]
Legacy and influences
Lauryn Hill has been cited as an influence by many, especially those in the
neo-soul movement of the 2000s. Musicians who have acknowledged Hill's importance include
Prince,
John Legend,
[61] Alicia Keys,
[62] D'Angelo,
Mary J. Blige,
and
Jazmine Sullivan.
In
2005,
Talib Kweli released a song about the singer, titled "Ms. Hill", on
Right About Now
.
[63] [64]
Michelle Obama, wife of (US) President
Barack Obama, told the
BBC that she frequently listens to Hill's music on her
iPod.
[65] 2008
Republican presidential candidate Senator
John McCain's daughter
Meghan has claimed that her father listens to Hill: "I borrowed his car once in D.C., and I was like, looking through [his] CDs, and I was like, 'Oh, Lauryn Hill.'"
[66] Actors
Russell Crowe and
Denzel Washington are also reportedly fans of the singer.
"D'Angelo", who appeared on "Nothing Even Matters," referred in an interview to at least one church reportedly having used the song in a service.
Discography
- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
(1998)
- MTV Unplugged No. 2.0
(2002)
See also
- List of awards and nominations received by Lauryn Hill
References
- Lauryn Hill - Biography
- ''AllMusic entry for Lauryn Hill.
- They Call Me Ms. Hill : Essence.com
- BRAFF: 'LAURYN HILL WAS MY COKE AND PEPSI PARTNER'
- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990180,00.html
- Géraldine Khawly family tree
- Rolling Stone: The Mystery of Lauryn Hill
- MySpace: Rohan Marley's official personal page.
- http://allhiphop.com/stories/rumors/archive/2008/02/04/19232808.aspx Lauryn Hill had a baby girl ''i
- YBF Exclusive: Lauryn Hill Is Preggers!
- http://www.bossip.com/11573/lauryn-gives-birth Lauryn Hill just had her 5th kid
- ''FoxNews'' article: "White House Says 'No' to Denzel Washington's 'Great Debaters'".
- ''People'' magazine article: "Whatever Happened to ... Lauryn Hill?" by Tiffany McGee and Alex Tresniowski.
- ''Rolling Stone'' article: "Inside "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: page 7."
- ''Rolling Stone'' article: "Inside "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: page 5."
- ''Rolling Stone'' article: "Inside "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: page 3."
- ''Rolling Stone'' article: "Inside "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: page 4."
- ''Rolling Stone'' article: "Inside "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: page 8."
- The Legal Tangle of ‘Miseducation’
- ''Rolling Stone'' article: "Inside "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: page 1."
- ''Urb Magazine'' article: "Lauryn Hill :: The Mystification of Ms. Hill".
- ''MSNBC'' article: "Was Hill influenced to attack Catholic Church?".
- ''Contact Music'' article: "DID CULT MAN INFLUENCE LAURYN HILL'S VATICAN RANT?".
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wnfyxqu0ldke
- The Mystery of Lauryn Hill
- Slant Magazine Music Review: Lauryn Hill: Unplugged No. 2.0
- ''Mtv News'' article: "Lauryn Hill Attacks Catholic Church At Vatican Concert"
- What Lauryn Hill told the Vatican
- ''Entertainment Weekly'' article: "Forgive Them Father"
- ''CTV News'' article: "Lauryn Hill speaks out against abuse at Vatican."
- ''New York Times'' article: "ARTS BRIEFING 12/16/2003".
- ''Rolling Stone'' article: "Hill Blasts Catholic Church".
- ''The Age'' article: "Catholic leaders get an angry sermon".
- Poynter Online - Abuse Tracker
- IMDB news article: "Movie/TV News WENN 16 Dec 2003".
- ''MSNBC'' article: Was Hill influenced to attack Catholic Church?".
- Metacritic entry for ''Dave Chappelle's Block Party'': film maintains an 84% positive rating ("Universal Acclaim").
- RottenTomatoes.com entry for ''Dave Chappelle's Block Party'': film maintains a 92% positive rating and is "Certified Fresh."
- The Fugees: Reunited and Not Very Good Tom Breihan, Villagevoice.com, September 26,2005
- AllHipHop.com Daily News - : Pras: "It Will Take An Act of God To Change Lauryn."
- http://rellavent.blogspot.com/2005/07/lauryn-hill-trace-magazine-interview.html
- http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1484249/20040109/hill_lauryn.jhtml?headlines=true
- ''USA Today'' article: "Lauryn Hill returns to the limelight."
- http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/music/archives/003463.html
- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/29/DDGD8QN31O1.DTL
- http://www.rte.ie/arts/2005/0714/hilll.html
- http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1566531/20070807/hill_lauryn.jhtml?rsspartner=unknown
- http://www.bossip.com/22351/coming-out-of-the-dark/
- ''XXL'' article: "Label Source Says Lauryn Hill 'On Hiatus,' Rohan Marley Says 'She’s Always Working' have demanded their money back after her shows".
- http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07185/799220-351.stm
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPqJocrLjzM
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTYgA1VBW2c
- Lauryn Hill hosts Current TV launch
- http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1563151/20070621/hill_lauryn.jhtml?rsspartner=rssFeedBurner
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0jfpxz9hld6e
- http://www.amazon.com/Ms-Hill-Lauryn/dp/B0014FC29C
- http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/10/24/random-notes-lauryn-hill-martha-stewart-b
- http://www.avo.ch/en/artists/arti08-akt.php?a=4
- http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/06/10/lauryn-hill-cancels-european-tour-cites-h
- http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/06/10/lauryn-hill-cancels-european-tour-cites-h
- http://www.musicomh.com/interviews/john-legend_0707.htm
- http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/aliciakeys
- http://www.avclub.com/content/node/22804
- http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/talib-kweli/right-about-now/14817/
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ifs_news/hi/newsid_7442000/7442317.stm
- http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1579270/20080108/index.jhtml