lauryn hill's album was great. though i was not overly impressed with any of the tracks, i definitely felt all of her LYRICS. . .the point is to make music that touches the listener's soul. . .they don't have to make mental sense as long as they make sense to your heart - this is why "ex-factor" can make me drop everything i am doing and feel even though her lyrics are slightly vague. . .

my one beef with miseducation was that some of her lines were recycled. . .check "when it hurts so bad" and compare that line "i loved real real hard once/but the love wasn't returned/found out the man i'd die for/he wasn't even concerned" to the song on the fugees album i think it's called paradise - she uses the same line, but raps it and not sings it. no one ever said anything about it but i caught it and wasn't really feeling it. . .

as far as lauryn being pop, i don't know about that. . .i mean, what makes you pop? winning a grammy? roots did it. having your album praised everywhere and video played all over the place before the album comes out? that's erykah right there. are you pop if white people like you? 'cause the only friends that i have that go to see the roots ARE white (with maybe two exceptions)!!! i think maybe we should be more careful with the definition.

all that griping being done, i would have to agree that lauryn doesn't fit in THEM. part of the beauty of all of THEM artists (yay ebonics!) is that they seem to touch an extremely. . .mentally liberated audience. . .i mean, you can't win over the "cristal and ice and the benz that actually belongs to the record label" crowd if you are using words that they can't understand/pronounce (qoolquest, that's the snob in ME). and lauryn is appealing to that audience. that's not a pop audience, it's just one that's not really on the level yet. and she can't really make that audience happy if she's working with THEM.

not to mention the fact that no one likes to work with anyone that stiffs them out of their money and credit. . .


~~~~~always reppin the good DC~~~~~

"hey! have you seen two white guys and a white girl, and the white guys look like hicks!!??" - random shirtless white dude in georgetown at 5 am