Lauryn Hill is again speaking about why she’s never released another album after 1998’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Hill’s answer came as a response to social media platform FRAIM World’s Instagram post, which listed potential reasons she didn’t drop a follow-up project like creative ownership battles and exhaustion that comes with newfound fame.
In the comments section, she first wrote “I disagree” before following up with a lengthy explanation of why she didn’t release another project.
“When you’re inspired and desire to be principled, what doesn’t get talked about enough is the drain… nor the challenge to find safety so that you can create with integrity,” she began.
“Most see opportunity as dollars only and often exclude the ‘sense,’” she added. “The Score nor the Miseducation were made because we were ’allowed’ to represent what we did, we fought for every inch. Wild success can cause greed that begins to degenerate the art for the money. We’re people living through all this.”
Hill also wrote about the need for more nuance when it comes to discussions about artists and the phases they go through. The singer called herself a “Harriet Tubman figure,” saying she was “running to speak the difficult truth to power before certain forces tried to close those doors.”
“If it was so easy to do, where is that expression now on the world stage?” she added. “Systems fear what they can’t control. Creativity is most potent when it’s free. If I did nothing else, I introduced standards and possibilities to a generation that didn’t know they could operate on that level before then.”
This isn’t Hill’s first time opening up about why she never released a new project. In a 2021 interview with Rolling Stone, Hill got candid about her experiences.
"The wild thing is no one from my label has ever called me and asked how can we help you make another album, EVER... EVER. Did I say ever? Ever!" Hill said. "With The Miseducation, there was no precedent. I was, for the most part, free to explore, experiment, and express. After The Miseducation, there were scores of tentacled obstructionists, politics, repressing agendas, unrealistic expectations, and saboteurs EVERYWHERE. People had included me in their own narratives of their successes as it pertained to my album, and if this contradicted my experience, I was considered an enemy.”
