It’s hard to believe the majority of Lauryn Hill’s music was recorded in the ’90s. Fugees’ The Score is 19 years old and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is 17, but their lessons in love and life stand time’s test, resonating as much now as they did then.
A Renaissance woman, Hill raps, writes, sings, acts and plays guitar. Clear as her pointed lyrics is her undeniable staying power, which she showcased September 18 at Brooklyn Bowl, storming the stage with a full band and a setlist organized primarily by album. Hill began seated, wielding her guitar to deliver big, stylized versions of “I Gotta Find Peace of Mind,” “Mr. Intentional” and “The Mystery of Iniquity”—normally acoustic solos from 2002’s MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 album, a vulnerable-yet-empowered live performance in which she preaches Christianity and denounces America’s criminal justice system.
Later, Hill summoned Fugees favorites “Ready or Not” and “Killing Me Softly,” followed by hits from 1998’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which earned 10 nominations and five Grammys—an unprecedented feat for a woman at that time. The music is of course nostalgic, pinned to book-ended eras of fans’ lives, but the lyrics are still relevant, and the sound isn’t quaint. The show was a reminder of Hill’s versatility, and the artistic resilience that’s kept her fans listening for two decades, and likely more to come.
