Know Your History

"Lauryn Hill said her heart was in Zion
I wish her heart still was in rhymin'
Cause who the kids gonna listen to?
I guess me if it isn't you."
-Kanye West, "Champion"

There's a good piece in The Root about the 10th anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. This album hardly needs my praise, but let me just say that I never cease to be impressed by this record. I agree with Teresa Wiltz that it's sad for all of us listeners that Lauryn Hill hasn't done very much since, but maybe she's happier not being involved in everything in the music industry and just raising her kids. Maybe not. I don't claim to have any insight into her personal life. I just admire her as an artist, and I hope that she makes some more music for our sake. But in the meantime, "Ex-Factor," "To Zion," "Every Ghetto, Every City," "Doo Wop (That Thing)"--not to mention the remix of "Turn Your Lights Down Low" on the Chant Down Babylon Bob Marley tribute--give us more than enough to groove on. Gotta love those late 1990s neo-soul head-nodding beats.

I'm also interested in the slate of 10th anniversaries happening in hip-hop and the sense of historical consciousness (!) that seems to be percolating here. Just a few years ago in 2006, Jay-Z celebrated the 10th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt by playing a concert at Radio City Music Hall in which he performed the entire album. And before that, 2004 saw the 10th anniversary of Nas's seminal Illmatic (one of the first hip-hop albums I ever really listened to). which was marked by a special 10th anniversary re-issue. The sense that the events of popular music are in fact properly historical events, worthy of being remembered, marked, and commemorated is a major topic of my dissertation. So it's sometimes nice to see examples in the real world when I'm not looking for them, as confirmation that I'm not completely making this up.