The Pop Corporation

It has been nearly three decades since Lauryn Hill released her ‘Miseducation Of…’ album. That’s an eternity in music, but there’s no doubt that she made an all-time classic which would be hard for anyone to top.

She hasn’t released a follow-up to it, and honestly, most of us have given up on the idea of hearing new music from her – and that’s okay. However, she recently posted a missive and wants us to know some things.

So we’re going to break it down and probably screw our faces up while we do it, looking at the whole thing from the outside looking in.

She says: “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.”

Okay, first thing is first – she wants to do it her own way. There’s scores of artists who do exactly that, and do it in the face of financial pressures from their record labels. This is not a new problem. She’s not wrong to say it, but this isn’t news to anyone who follows music with any sort of interest.

“Most see opportunity as dollars only and often exclude the ‘sense’. ‘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 denigrate the art for the money.”

Okay, nothing new here either. The tussle between notions of artistic merit and people’s greed. Tale as old as time. The churches and painters used to go toe-to-toe about this kind of thing in the draughty days before we had electricity.

She seems to be saying though, as is her right, that she’s not going to make any more music unless she can be guaranteed total creative freedom. Fair enough.

She adds that “artists go through phases, creativity requires expression, exploration and experimentation,” which they do, but you could argue that’s she’s not really done anything that we can see for nearly three decades. 28 years is plenty of time to argue your case, get called ‘difficult’ by your label, get your own way under their protestations, and prove them wrong (or right), and probably make enough money back on the comeback of the century, and it all doesn’t matter, right?

Not so fast. We need to compare ourselves to Harriet Tubman first.

“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 continued. “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.”

There’s quite a lot to unpack here, and there’s absolutely zero chances we’re even going to attempt to try and chip in about the impact of Harriet Tubman to Lauryn Hill. What do we know? Nothing, that’s what. However, outspoken expression absolutely exists on the world stage now. Look at how Bob Vylan and Kneecap getting the authorities pants in a bunch, right? Like, even Bruce Springsteen has been giving Donald Trump hell and performing protest songs on prime time television.

Maybe that’s not what she means.

She wraps it up with: “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. I am often doing things outside the support of the system before people can even realise what I’ve done. Another artist who values inspiration then recognises its value and re-presents it to an audience then ready to receive it.”

We wish we knew what that means. Is she nurturing other artists? Has she been super vocal about it and we didn’t catch it? She may have, we genuinely don’t know. Is this not about music? Is it something bigger. If so, say it with your whole chest – fuck it – you’re not beholden to anyone anymore, right? It’s not like there’s a new record release to jeopardise.

Sigh. Who knows? This is not the first time a megastar has said something cryptic about The Powers That Be, and so often we either watch the documentary proving them right, or nothing happens at all.

This is from the same artist, when asked by Rolling Stone magazine, about anyone chasing her for a new record: “The wild thing is no one from my label has ever called me and asked how can we help you make another album, EVER…EVER.”

“Did I say ever? Ever! … With the ‘Miseducation’, there was no precedent. I was, for the most part, free to explore, experiment and express,” adding that after the album came out, she had to face things like “scores of tentacled obstructionists, politics, repressing agendas, unrealistic expectations and saboteurs EVERYWHERE”.

Thank god we love people like this, when all said and done.