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liz_a_k's review against another edition
4.0
I got the audiobook from the library, so didn't realize how short this is.
It's very short.
It's under 4 hours.
There isn't anything in this book that doesn't belong, but I would have liked more depth and breadth in all areas.
That said, I really liked it.
It's very short.
It's under 4 hours.
There isn't anything in this book that doesn't belong, but I would have liked more depth and breadth in all areas.
That said, I really liked it.
mickified's review against another edition
4.0
A little hard to digest but a really wonderful look at Lauryn Hill as a woman, musician, cultural touchstone and legacy-leaver.
damien_reads's review against another edition
2.0
Lauryn Hill is an icon, and the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is one of the greatest albums of all time. So I of course was interested in reading what is essentially a biography of that album, and it was...okay. The fact of the matter has more to do with expectation, the book explores Hill's success and of course the album, but I was going into under the guise that the book would break down the album, which it didn't. The other problem was that for a book that is only around 150 pages it goes back to how Hill revolutionized what being black was before and after Miseducation. I am obviously okay with this; but it isn't done particularly well or with a diverse enough skillset that it doesn't start feeling repetitive.
If you want my advice, which you probably don't (nor need), throw the album on and go back to that.
If you want my advice, which you probably don't (nor need), throw the album on and go back to that.
jozefsyndicate's review against another edition
4.0
She begat this. Oh, really?
Do we really need to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the 1990 debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill? Apparently, we do. Not because of the album is acclaimed, having hit number one on the Billboard 200 immediately upon release and having week one sales topping 420,000 and breaking the record for female artists of all genres. not because within one year, Hill’s Miseducation had gone platinum eight times, securing ten Grammy nomination and five wins. Not because Hill’s style was and is elusive to some and creative genius to others.
But celebration, for many in the entertainment ecosystem—producers, entertainers, critics, emcees, journalists, etc.—is arguably due to Hill and Miseducation twenty years later because it was and remains “influential.”
For people outside of this spectrum, the fact of Hill’s domination may be far-reaching until they read “She Begat This: 20 Years of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” by Joan Morgan.
With the trusted research and style of a great journalist, Morgan's presentation of in "She Begat This” is crisp and poignant.
In short, Morgan details the legacy of the then 22-year-old artist who “ushered in a new school of goddesses,” was intellectual and hard to replicate.
She uses terms like "fascinating Blackness,” “intersecting identities,” and “wizardry” to describe Hill—even calling her a muse of Black thought and versatility. “Aesthetically (she) was absolutely critical to us,” Morgan writes. She explains how the conscious, sexy, deeply heretical rapper-artist shifted culture using her dexterity as a wordsmith.(Hill studied English at Columbia University.)
Readers with a nebulous recollection of the debut will find it striking that Morgan not only presents Hill’s influence but also validates her as the intersectional genesis —begator, if you will—of the very best form of Hip-Hop. Nevertheless, Morgan details Hill’s contributions beyond music and all the perils.
The Mis-education of Lauryn Hill was political, intersectional revolution, autonomous. “She gave this generation permission to be a warrior one day and mystical the next,” Morgan writes. Her shape-shifting of Black hair, gave “us” the permission to be intellect, fashionista, and love rap, Morgan posits. “She was our Pinterest.”
In this 4-star book, Morgan proves Hill and/or The Miseducation album:
-was unboxed and affirmed on a large scale
-represents all our contradictions
-was never fully centric
-rocked the party and gave you something to think about
- later made a defiant choice on how she would do motherhood
-was an early prototype of BlackGirlMagic and we owe her
What Hill may have begotten most effectively, however, was the feminist boldness that’s very much energized today that will “grant yourself permission to be what you’re to be even when you don’t see it.” And, Hill has done so in and out of hip-hop.
“Think about it for a minute,” Morgan writes. “Lauryn Hill was a twenty-three-year-old girl who bared her soul and made a stellar, grown ass woman album.”
“I think people also forget what the climate was like when Miseducation came out. While writing this book, I had to go back and look at how we were being represented in the late ‘90s,” Morgan writes from a dialogue with Beverly Bond, founder of Black Girls Rock who Morgan calls a keeper of Black girl legacies. “It was really a hard time to be a woman in hip-hop or one who loved hip hop. We needed Lauryn so badly. We needed the win.”
To that Bond says, “Lauryn Hill is our generation’s Nina Simone. She’s our Nina."
Commendable writing, Ms. Morgan.
Jozef Syndicate
#JozefBookandBrew
@NetGalleyReview
Do we really need to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the 1990 debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill? Apparently, we do. Not because of the album is acclaimed, having hit number one on the Billboard 200 immediately upon release and having week one sales topping 420,000 and breaking the record for female artists of all genres. not because within one year, Hill’s Miseducation had gone platinum eight times, securing ten Grammy nomination and five wins. Not because Hill’s style was and is elusive to some and creative genius to others.
But celebration, for many in the entertainment ecosystem—producers, entertainers, critics, emcees, journalists, etc.—is arguably due to Hill and Miseducation twenty years later because it was and remains “influential.”
For people outside of this spectrum, the fact of Hill’s domination may be far-reaching until they read “She Begat This: 20 Years of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” by Joan Morgan.
With the trusted research and style of a great journalist, Morgan's presentation of in "She Begat This” is crisp and poignant.
In short, Morgan details the legacy of the then 22-year-old artist who “ushered in a new school of goddesses,” was intellectual and hard to replicate.
She uses terms like "fascinating Blackness,” “intersecting identities,” and “wizardry” to describe Hill—even calling her a muse of Black thought and versatility. “Aesthetically (she) was absolutely critical to us,” Morgan writes. She explains how the conscious, sexy, deeply heretical rapper-artist shifted culture using her dexterity as a wordsmith.(Hill studied English at Columbia University.)
Readers with a nebulous recollection of the debut will find it striking that Morgan not only presents Hill’s influence but also validates her as the intersectional genesis —begator, if you will—of the very best form of Hip-Hop. Nevertheless, Morgan details Hill’s contributions beyond music and all the perils.
The Mis-education of Lauryn Hill was political, intersectional revolution, autonomous. “She gave this generation permission to be a warrior one day and mystical the next,” Morgan writes. Her shape-shifting of Black hair, gave “us” the permission to be intellect, fashionista, and love rap, Morgan posits. “She was our Pinterest.”
In this 4-star book, Morgan proves Hill and/or The Miseducation album:
-was unboxed and affirmed on a large scale
-represents all our contradictions
-was never fully centric
-rocked the party and gave you something to think about
- later made a defiant choice on how she would do motherhood
-was an early prototype of BlackGirlMagic and we owe her
What Hill may have begotten most effectively, however, was the feminist boldness that’s very much energized today that will “grant yourself permission to be what you’re to be even when you don’t see it.” And, Hill has done so in and out of hip-hop.
“Think about it for a minute,” Morgan writes. “Lauryn Hill was a twenty-three-year-old girl who bared her soul and made a stellar, grown ass woman album.”
“I think people also forget what the climate was like when Miseducation came out. While writing this book, I had to go back and look at how we were being represented in the late ‘90s,” Morgan writes from a dialogue with Beverly Bond, founder of Black Girls Rock who Morgan calls a keeper of Black girl legacies. “It was really a hard time to be a woman in hip-hop or one who loved hip hop. We needed Lauryn so badly. We needed the win.”
To that Bond says, “Lauryn Hill is our generation’s Nina Simone. She’s our Nina."
Commendable writing, Ms. Morgan.
Jozef Syndicate
#JozefBookandBrew
@NetGalleyReview
bookishlybrief's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
nikiverse's review against another edition
4.0
I graduated high school in 1999 and Lauryn Hill was hella 'mazing back in the day. Joan Morgan really gets into the WHYs of Lauryn Hill being such an important figure in the hip-hop world. Some of this went over my head (Hi, I'm caucasian) but as a casual follower of 90s R&B, I can't begin to describe how well written and intellectual this book describes that window in time. She put a microscope on black american feminist subculture during the late 90s. Like I honestly wasnt ready for some of the truth bombs. I ended up listening to Miseducation of Lauryn Hill on repeat for a few weeks - you might win some but you just lost one.