Lauryn Hill a Modern Day Billie Holiday

I’ve been a fan of Lauryn Hill’s since the singer/rapper hit the stage with the Fugees in the mid 1990s. 

Of course the Score got (and still gets) mad play in my household but I also was a fan of the less commercially successful Blunted.

But it wasn’t until Ms. Hill dropped her solo debut in 1998 (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill) that who she was for me as a singer, personally, began to change.

Now anyone who knows me (I mean for real, not just at work or on twitter or facebook), knows that I love Billie Holiday.

Lady Day (as Billie was affectionately nicknamed) was a singer who rose to fame in the 1950s and though her voice is not the most perfect or possessing the greatest range, for me she is the greatest.

The way in which Billie Holiday sang is as if she were in direct conversation with your soul.  As if God Himself gave her access to the intricacies of the human spirit via her voice.

And the first time I heard her sing Strange Fruit I broke down in tears.

Which brings us back to Lauryn Hill and the first time I heard her sing Ex-Factor.  It was this song which moved her from a good singer to a modern day Billie Holiday.

Lauryn doesn’t have the best voice or range ala Billie, but it is what she does with her instrument and the depth of feeling behind her lyrics which pushes her into the realm of great.

Now after a hiatus of 12 years, a new track by Lauryn Hill has surfaced and has music lovers buzzing with delight. The song entitled Repercussion is a smooth, soulful ballad.

And though I expect that a finished album will be more polished,

I personally am just happy that she is back.

Listen for yourself and let me know if Lauryn Hill is your modern day Billie Holiday. 

Lauryn Hill – Repercussions by Hypetrak

For more information on these artists, you can visit their official websites:

Lauryn Hill:  http://www.lauryn-hill.com/

Billie Holiday:  http://www.cmgww.com/music/holiday/

5 thoughts on “Lauryn Hill a Modern Day Billie Holiday”

  1. My spirit has ached for a new Lauryn Hill song. Thank you for sharing this. Ex-Factor still makes me catch my breath. When I’m feeling not so super, I play her (shared) version of Eye On the Sparrow until I believe it again.

    I wonder how life has changed her and her music through the years and if I will still connect in the same way with her new work. Either way, I’m grateful she didn’t go the Harper Lee route.

    On your son/King… he sounds adorable. 🙂

    • I’ve never heard her Eye On the Sparrow version…ok gotta google that ASAP.

      I definitely feel that I will continue to have a connection with her and her struggle to be a mother, have a career and maintain a love life. And again its the voice for me…if its there then I’m there.

      Oh and thanks for thinking my little one is adorable…I think so too most of the time LOL

  2. Love Billie Holiday…Lauryn Hill…definitely hope she is back!! Loved her since day 1…before she was with the Fugees!!! Love this new track…can’t wait for album.

  3. Ooh Wee, miseducation is in my top ten of all-time albums, I’m mostly a hip hop head. This song here though, it does some things physically to my heart that I can’t even explain. I even had to hold back a tear as I listened just now.

What are you thinking?