With the voice of an angelic siren to spitting the illest lyrics, Lauryn Hill’s music traps you with its pure sound and raspy texture into what should be coined as the “L-Boogie trance,” summoning a head bob with every verse. But the pondering question is: Where is L-Boogie now?
The quadruple-threat—singer, songwriter, producer, and MC—is the epitome of pure, undeniable talent. Yet despite her tracks being on every one’s top-10 playlist, Ms. Hill is so far gone that she is now simply past our reach.
In April she announced a solo European tour including a performance at the Stockhold Jazz Festival on July 15th, but as of Wednesday her reps confirmed she would not be performing due to an “illness.” With on-again/off-again talk of a Fugees reunion and tour schedules, Lauryn has captured our hearts and played yo-yo with it in the meantime, taking us on a roller coaster of yes, no’s and maybes for the past 10 years.
In stalled anticipation for another “planned tour” some fear it will include “unrecognizable scat chants” or see her ‘sporting frizzy orange hair and exaggerated makeup,’ the performance fans received at a two-hour set in Brooklyn in 2007 when she performed remixed versions of her greatest hits, some recognizable and others—not so much.
It has been rumored that Lauryn has been hard at work on her newest LP and from Lauryn’s “spiritual partner,” Rohan Marley’s perspective; she’s on her grind. “She writes music in the bathroom, on toilet paper, on the wall. She writes it in the mirror if the mirror smokes up. She writes constantly. This woman does not sleep.”
Though Fu-Gee-Lala has had their stunt with comebacks, first opening at the 2005 BET award with a hits-filled performance and their play on Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, our favorite make-up to break-up group has fiddled with the idea of a reunion, but as of late, 1/3 of the trio, Pras, has expressed there is “no way” a reunion will take place, stating:
“Before I work with Lauryn Hill again, you will have a better chance of seeing Osama Bin Laden and Bush in Starbucks having a latte, discussing foreign policies, before there will be a Fugees reunion. At this point I really think it will take an act of God to change her, because she is that far out there.”
Throughout her career Lauryn has had her share of heartache. With the rumored relationship with former bandmate Wyclef and Rohan, who is now the father of Lauryn’s five children, Lauryn’s love life has been a romantic drama, one that has been speculated to impact her “health issues.” In addition to her love problems, eclipsing into an international phenomenon has had an adverse impact on her as well. She hated the spotlight and missed the simple things like not being able “to go to the grocery store without makeup”—an official sign when stardom had taken its toll.
The fate of Lauryn Hill’s music and career is something that is never guaranteed. But like Kanye said on Champion, “I wish her [Lauryn’s] heart was still in rhyming.” Until then fans can keep Miseducation and The Score on heavy rotation or catch a glimpse of her while watching Sister Act 2, just to keep the old Lauryn resonating within.
“Fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need. I’ve just retired from the fantasy part,” she’s said of her disappearance in the past. Whether retirement or a long vacation, we’ll be awaiting the reappearance of our girl.
-Felicia Kelley
