Why Lauryn Hill’s “Miseducation” Album Matters Now More Than Ever

Where are the dark-skinned women artists?

I was twenty-five when the album of my life “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” dropped in late summer of 1998. A friend, who is no longer a friend because I wrote something about her recently — excitedly alerted me to Lauryn Hill’s long-awaited gem, and as young women with a healthy love for the only girl in the Fugees — we soaked it in together.

And then later that evening, I took advantage of the rare privacy that greeted me when I returned to the two-bedroom apartment in Astoria, and settled on the couch with a glass of iced-cold water — and the voice of a goddess sifting through the comfortably warm air.

It was one of those late summer evenings that winds down in ways that demands your presence outside because you know it won’t last forever. Thankfully my roommate had opted to stay out, which meant that staying in was my blessing.

I remember how “Zion” made my feel the third time I heard it and paid close attention to the words, which was hard to do because that dope ass beat wrapped around me — tight!