Missing shows, reported lack-luster performances, behind the scenes drama, it seems like the last few years have been rough for Lauryn Hill. Now, add on an accusation of stealing music.
Jazz musician, Robert Glasper, claims that Lauryn “stole music” for her classic 1998 album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” The team of musicians who worked together on Miseducation eventually sued Hill over writing credit and settled the lawsuit in 2001.
In an interview with #Medium, Hill defends herself against the accusations. “The Miseducation was the first time I worked with musicians outside of the Fugees [whose] report and working relationship was clear. In an effort to create the same level of comfort, I may not have established the necessary boundaries and may have been more inviting than I should have been…I may have been inclusive, but these are my songs.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Glasper, who was also a member of Hill’s band, also accused the star of being difficult to work with and cited #HerbieHancock, #StevieWonder and #QuincyJones as examples. “The last rehearsal, she doesn’t show up. Her manager comes in and says, ‘Lauryn’s not really feeling the way you guys have been learning the music, so we’re gonna cut your pay in half.’” He continued, “if those three people [Herbie, Stevie and Quincy] can be cool, #LaurynHill should be able to be cool. You haven’t done enough to be the way you are. You just have not. The one thing you did that was great [Miseducation], you didn’t do.”
According to RollingStone, Hill’s response to that accusation was, ”Don’t have the details or recollection of cutting the band’s pay in half. If fees had been negotiated and confirmed without my knowledge, I may have asked for them to be adjusted. But I would never just cut a musician’s pay arbitrarily unless I had a legitimate reason. There are artists who do cut pay though, #JamesBrown was notorious for docking musicians if they did something he didn’t like, I’m sure there are others.”
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She continued, “I adore Stevie, and honor Herbie and Quincy, who are our forebears, but they’re not women. Men often can say ‘I want it done like this’ and not be challenged. The same rules don’t always apply for women who may be met with resistance. When this happens you replace that player with someone who respects you and the office you hold.”
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“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Lauryn says about the album, “The album inspired many people, from all walks of life, because of its radical (intense) will to live and to express Love. I appreciate everyone who was a part of it, in any and every capacity. It wouldn’t have existed the way that it did without the involvement, skill, hard work, and talents of the artists/musicians and technicians who were a part of it, but it still required my vision, my passion, my faith, my will, my soul, my heart, and my story.”
