When Lauryn Hill leaves...

---“I pray for the people who don't understand me. And I tell you, be honest with you, I pray more now to be understood. No, excuse me, to understand then to be understood. I pray now to learn how to love and to be loved, because God has given me abundance …. these people don't understand me, they think I'm crazy …I pray I understand them so I can talk to them"--- Lauryn Hill

I love Miss Hill. Hasn't always been that way though, I will admit that at some point I thought this woman had reached the deepest ends of crazy, the kind that could not be saved, not by Jesus, Allah, the Bhudda, nobody. But then I crossed over to that side and I finally understood Lauryn for whom and all she really is and what she represents. I took time out to study this lyrical buff and I came back with nothing but respect and the highest level of appreciation for her. Say what you may, call her what you will, fact is...Lauryn Hill is god and try you can, but not anybody is getting her down from the pinnacle grounds she soars at.

Alright, let me take it back a bit and bring in some perspective. I'm thumping down the street, minding my own when out of my phone (which is a reliable source of music in the outdoors) and into my ear canal pops Talib Kweli talking about...

"Ms. Hill got skills, that's a gift, it's real
get ill, What you spit got the power to uplift a hill

I wish I could talk to Lauryn
I mean excuse me, Ms. Hill
and let her know how much we love her its real
the industry was beating her up
then those demons started eating her up
...

her songs still better than anything out
that "Hot" or "Power" play
remember how they accused her of saying
she did her album without help
then she went to Rome to sing
and tell the Pope about himself"



And just like that Kweli's summed it up. His gone and extracted a piece of my brain and out of it captured my emotion and articulated it into one neat verse. This is what Lauryn does for me through her music; uplifts, inspires, encourages, teaches and strengthens all facets of my being. And what is the thanks that this overflowing fountain of talent has gotten from an industry that should only be so flattered that she has once blessed it with her presence? While you figure that out, I'll go on.

Kweli now on the second verse of the glorification of Lauryn Hill has got me thinking....what happens when Lauryn leaves? Not the acknowledged kind that she has already decided on but what is going to happen when we lose Lauryn? Not the industry but the world. This is my thinking, it is the way of my uninhibited thoughts and I ask that you excuse them; they can't help but think of reality and the consequences of its occurrences.

I'm reminded of Kanye West's wish of Lauryn’s heart still being in rhyming because "who are the kids going to listen to if it isn't her"...truth is Kanye, the kids still aren’t going to listen to Lauryn regardless. What, with an industry single handedly saturated by Nicki Minaj and the occasional support of a self destructed Rihanna, I don't see where Miss Hill could fit in, in this setup.

But on the real though? My own question hit me hard, I took myself back to the year Aaliyah died, the tears that flowed, naturally we weep for our icons soon as the become fallen soldiers. Still I can't begin to fathom the state of my mind on the day Lauryn gets back home. Its not a day I look forward to, its one that I am almost certain is no where near our grapples because this earth goddess still has so much knowledge she needs to unwrap and disseminate to young minds across the world.

I suggest we listen now while she still has her chance to speak. Give back your roses by appreciating this teacher of inter-nations when she is still here.

 

 

Until next post,

 

Africa Rising, Peace & Revolution....