There's so much I want to say about this episode. It was top notch as usual. And there's a part two? Can't wait for that.

The Lauryn Hill discussion was on point. Many folks in the podcast brought up the same things I do when I discuss Lauryn Hill. Particularly what Scoop and Phonte said. She does NOT have the body of work behind her to pull these antics. Completely rearranging her songs rendering them unrecognizable. Showing up 2, 3 hours late. Stuff like that is unacceptable. She's been doing this for over ten years!

She was involved in basically two hit albums. The Score and Miseducation. Blunted on Reality was meh. And the Unplugged album was a mess. So where does she get off acting like she does?

Also, she refused to put out new music. I think Phonte said, there was no excuse not to put out music in 2015 when you're an artist of her magnitude. You have so many resources to get your music out there. There's nothing holding her back. I have thought for years, and I'm happy to hear that others might feel the same, that she just doesn't have "it". Miseducation was likely a product of all the ghost writers, musicians and producers rather than her singular genius and she knows it. She's not going to be able to replicate that success or even come close to it on her own so she'd rather skate on the legacy and myth of Miseducation. For whatever reason, fans today still go see her despite her blatant disrespect of her fanbase. As pointed out on the podcast, there are no half measures. She should either go all in and be an evolving artist and workout and debut new stuff or she should perform her old hits at least in a recognizable form to satisfy the fans. In any event, she needs to respect her fans and not show up 3 hours late for concerts.

With respect to the "What if Jam & Lewis had not been fired by Prince in '83?". Thinking about this hypothetical actually made me angry. Angry at "what could have been". I agree that they eventually would have parted ways with #thatguy, but if Prince's ego wasn't out of control, he could have ruled pop music with Paisley Park at least for a while. Jam and Lewis could have been in house producers making R&B hits. Wendy & Lisa could have done the same. So many top notch artists could have signed with Paisley Park. Tony, Toni, Tone, Jodeci, Me'shell Ndegeocello. Prince would have been free to do his "Prince" thing while reaping the financial benefits of hits coming out of his house and artistic cred around the industry by putting these other groups on.

But as Isaac pointed out, dude is "Control Godzilla" and wouldn't (couldn't) let that happen. He just has to be the center of attention and be the reason for success. But if he had put his ego aside for a second, and treated Paisley Park more than just a vanity label, we could have had a modern day "Motown". And thinking about how that didn't come close to happening makes me angry.