Nas Reviews “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”
Having already left his mark in Hip-Hop history, it seems Mr. Nasir Jones is focusing his efforts on a new profession: journalism. Ok not really, but his first album review, which covered Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, definitely would have been a great start. In the review Nas gives his highest praises to Lauryn, saying “To me it was like the soul of Roberta Flack, the passion of Bob Marley, the essence of Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson and the essence of hip-hop wrapped up in one thing. All that was inside that album”. The review was for XXL Magazine and will appear in the September issue.
Editor’s Note: This full story appears in the September 2013 issue of XXL magazine.
“I kept hearing about the album; there was a hype there, and when “Doo Wop” dropped, it was more than I expected.
There’s always a void when it comes to the female MC world, and she went beyond that. It checked me as an MC because she was pure. There was no chains, no fancy cars, she checked us on all of that. On songs like “Superstar” and “Lost Ones” and “Doo Wop,” she talked to us, she went into who we were as men and women. And that was needed at the time and to this day. To me it was like the soul of Roberta Flack, the passion of Bob Marley, the essence of Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson and the essence of hip-hop wrapped up in one thing. All that was inside that album.
When it starts and you hear the classroom and then they go on to talk about love, she’s teaching people what love is. It made me wonder, “How the hell does this person know about love the way she’s singing about it?” She sang about love and betrayal and hurt and rejoicing and happiness and joy like someone who’s been here longer than she had.
It’s a timeless record, pure music. And that’s what we don’t hear anymore. She birthed her sound, and that’s timeless. She didn’t try to be cool, she was already cool. She didn’t have to fit in with any style, she was the new style, and it’s a positive style…”
Read the rest of Nas’ as-told-to-review with XXL.