MTV Unplugged 2.0

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When Lauryn Hill performed on MTV’s <i>Unplugged</i> in 2001, some critics were dismayed that she didn’t reprise the songs from her blockbuster 1998 debut album, <i>The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill</i>. Opting for pared-down acoustic guitar over hip-hop boom-bap, though, was a natural evolution for a musician who had once, notoriously, covered Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly” with Fugee. In the nearly two-hour performance of previously unheard original music—and one gorgeous cover of Bob Marley’s “So Much Things To Say”—Hill debuted a suite of crackling, pensive songs that further proved her stylistic breadth, injecting hip-hop soul into griot folk, and underpinning rap interludes with spirituality and demands for liberation. The initial disdain for <i>Unplugged</i> upon its 2022 release reflected a prevailing feeling at the time about the way popular musicians were expected to stay in their respective, often constricting lanes—especially if they were Black women. Critics perceived Hill’s lengthy, sometimes opaque between-song banter as an indication of an emotional breakdown in real time. And yet her virtuosity was undeniable, showcasing not just her vocal agility but her proficiency on classical guitar, which she strummed as well as fingerpicked—displaying talents many fans weren’t previously aware she possessed. .

via Apple Music

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