Friday, 17 February 2017 12:48

Ms. Lauryn Hill Did It First

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Love was in the air, along with clouds of smoke, at the Lauryn Hill Concert on Tuesday. Her visit, one of many on her “Diaspora Calling” tour took place at the Tabernacle and just so happened to fall on Valentine’s Day. It provided a perfect opportunity for couples to grab a drink and snuggle up in their seats as they awaited Ms. Hill’s arrival.

There was talk she may not show up seeing as how this concert was the make-up concert for her last visit to Atlanta in May of 2016. For her May concert she showed up over 2 hours late, around 10:20pm and only performed a 40 minute set due to the venue’s 11pm curfew.

In fact, Lauryn Hill has taken a lot of flack for not showing up to her concerts on time, with her most recent tardiness to a concert in Pittsburg in January. In a matter of hours she was trending, as fans took to Twitter to air their grievances. But, she addressed the controversy the very next day on her Twitter page stating that half her band was late flying in from New York because of cancelled and delayed flights due to the snow. In hindsight she realized they should have just cancelled the show, and promised fans they would come back to Pittsburg in the coming weeks.

During the V-Day concert Ms. Hill addressed all the chatter to the crowd, stating she feels people are especially hard on her. In short she told everyone that she is only human and we all make mistakes. Personally, I was nervous she may not show up, but after the show I felt guilty for allowing myself to believe that she didn’t care about her fans. She has always been transparent and thoughtfully explains what she is going through. I think sometimes we forget that our idols are people just like us.

She played every single one of her hits with impeccable clarity during her hour and a half long set. She did renditions of everyone’s favorite songs from her solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill as well as hits from The Score, and the audience sang along the entire time. She even covered artists that she admires like Nina Simone, Sade, and Bob Marley. 

Lauryn Hill is one of the greats. She is the last black woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys in 1999 for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Her body of work both as a solo artist and with the Fugees has inspired a new generation of artists. You know that sing/rap thing that Drake does in his songs? Yeah, Ms. Lauryn Hill did it first. Breakout R&B star Kehlani even has Lauryn Hill’s face tattooed on her arm to prove her admiration.   

Overall, Lauryn Hill’s voice was flawless from song to song. She worked double time as performer and conductor as she instructed her band and background singers “make it sweeter,” or “I wanna hear that piano,” or “just the bass.” She is a true artist and performer, ensuring that the sound quality was just right. Her energy was incredible, the lighting set the tone for each song, but most importantly the sound couldn’t have been better. I’m sure everyone there would agree it was the perfect end to Valentine’s Day.

Read 3218 times Last modified on Friday, 17 February 2017 20:58
Donna Mitchell

LA | ATL

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