Lauryn Hill

For other people with similar names, see Lauren Hill.

Lauryn Hill
Hill performing in 2019
Born
Lauryn Noelle Hill

(1975-05-26) May 26, 1975 (age 49)
East Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Other names
  • Ms. Lauryn Hill
  • L. Boogie
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • record producer
  • actress
Years active1988–present
WorksDiscography
PartnerRohan Marley (1996–2009)
Children6, including Selah and YG
AwardsFull list
Musical career
OriginSouth Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
Labels
Member of
Websitemslaurynhill.com

Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is often credited for breaking barriers for female rappers, popularizing melodic rap, and pioneering neo soul for mainstream audiences. In addition to being named one of the 50 Great Voices by NPR, Hill was listed as one of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone. In 2015, she was named the greatest female rapper by Billboard. Her other accolades include eight Grammy Awards—the most for any female rapper. With over 50 million records sold worldwide, she is one of the best-selling female rappers of all time.[2]

Hill began her career as a teen actress. She landed a role in the soap opera As the World Turns (1991), and starred in the off-Broadway play Club XII alongside MC Lyte. Her performance as Rita in the film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993) was widely praised.[3] Hill gained further prominence as the frontwoman of the hip hop trio Fugees, which she formed in 1990 with fellow musicians Wyclef Jean and Pras. Their second album, The Score (1996), peaked atop the Billboard 200, and led her to become the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The album included the hit singles "Killing Me Softly", "Fu-Gee-La", and "Ready or Not". As a soloist, she made her debut guest appearance on Nas's 1996 single "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)". After the Fugees' disbandment the following year, Hill wrote, produced, and directed the music video for Aretha Franklin's single "A Rose Is Still a Rose", and co-produced for Whitney Houston's album My Love Is Your Love (1998).

Her debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), was met with widespread critical acclaim. Its release made Hill the first female rapper to both debut atop the Billboard 200 and receive a diamond certification by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); it remains one of the best-selling albums of all time worldwide and was ranked number one on Apple Music's 100 Best Albums list.[4] Its lead single, "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, and was listed as a Song of the Century by the RIAA. Its follow-up singles, "Ex-Factor" and "Everything Is Everything" both peaked within the top 40 on the chart. At the 41st Grammy Awards, she set the record for the most nominations in one night for a female, and became the first rapper to win Album of the Year.

In 1999, Hill became the first rapper to be featured on the cover of Time magazine, received a President's Award from the NAACP for her humanitarian work,[5] and released the Bob Marley duet "Turn Your Lights Down Low". Furthermore, she produced and wrote Mary J. Blige's single "All That I Can Say". Her work as a producer on Santana's album Supernatural (1999) earned her a second-consecutive Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Her live album of newly recorded material, MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2002), peaked within the top five on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA. Ultimately, Hill dropped out of the public eye, only periodically releasing songs such as "Black Rage (Sketch)" and "Nobody". In 2023, Hill co-wrote the single "Praise Jah in the Moonlight" for her son YG Marley.

Since the 2000s, her music has been frequently sampled by numerous artists, while Hill herself has been inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.

  1. ^ Luckett, Sharrell (2013). "Lauryn Hill". In Edmondson, Jacqueline (ed.). Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories that Shaped Our Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 550. ISBN 9780313393488. Hill's sound fuses hip-hop, soul, and reggae with socially conscious lyrics and helped to usher in the neo-soul movement.
  2. ^ Brandle, Lars (April 24, 2013). "Lauryn Hill Sets the Record Straight on her Finances, Admits New Music is in the Pipeline". Billboard. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
  3. ^ Lowry, Brian (December 10, 1993). "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit". Variety. Archived from the original on February 15, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  4. ^ "Apple Music reveals top 10 albums of all time on 100 Best list". Apple Newsroom. Archived from the original on 2024-05-22. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  5. ^ Hess, Mickey (2007). Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-33902-8. Archived from the original on May 26, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2023.