As reported by Stereogum, Robert Glasper has called out Lauryn Hill for mistreating her backing band and for stealing much of the music on her groundbreaking debut album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Glasper specifically referenced an incident in 2008 where Hill threatened to cut her band’s payment in half.
Additionally, Glasper called out Hill for not properly crediting the musicians who wrote the songs on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, stating that “Miseducation was made by great musicians and producers that I know, personally. You [Hill] got a big hand off of music that you didn’t even write.” Glasper is referring to a group of musicians known as New Ark, who contributed to the Miseducation album and were none too pleased when Hill took songwriting credits for the majority of the songs on the record. New Ark famously sued Hill, and the case was settled out of court for a reported $5 million in 2001. Since its release in 1998, Miseducation has sold over 8 million copies in the US and 19 million copies worldwide, making it one of the highest-selling records of all time.
Lauryn Hill is currently on a 20th-anniversary tour for Miseducation, though the treck has had many dates postponed or canceled due to production issues. Despite this, the tour is one of the most anticipated of the year as Hill has said that plenty of special guests such as Nas, M.I.A., Dave Chappelle, A$AP Rocky, Busta Rhymes, Santigold, Big Boi, De La Soul, Kelala, Nas, Dave Chapelle, SZA, and Shabazz Palaces will be appearing.
Glasper has been busy recording, writing, and producing music and he recently teamed up with Common and Karriem Riggins in the supergroup August Green, which just released their self-titled debut album this summer.
You can watch the complete interview with Robert Glasper in the player below.
Photo credit Marv Watson