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  • The Daily Awesome: City High “What Would You Do?” (2001)

    Lauryn Hill is ready to record again! But hey, what about her Sister Act 2 co-star and fellow former Wyclef Jean associate Ryan Toby, who, along with (future Intervention-subject) Robby Pardlo and (Pardlo’s girlfriend and future ex-Mrs. Toby) Claudette Ortiz, recording as City High, scored a terrific surprise hit in 2001 with the song “What Would You Do?”.

    The song, a conversation between a guy at a party and a woman he knew from when they were kids who’s now working as a stripper and turning tricks on the side, treads a tricky line between passing judgment and urging empathy. It was an unusually earnest, message-y song more fitting the social consciousness of the late 80s than the blingy-clubby early Aughts (Toby actually scored his biggest hit as a songwriter with Will Smith’s “Miami”), but somehow it overcame, and damned if it doesn’t still sound great and feel resonant.

    Still, City High had trouble following it up – a second single “Caramel” did just all right. Meanwhile, tense group dynamics (putting it lightly) led to their break-up, and their self-titled album was their last. Toby did release a solo album called The Soul of the Songwriter in 2006 which came and went without much notice, but hasn’t put anything out since. Where is he now? YouTube, of course.

    City High “What Would You Do?”

  • Video – Lauryn Hill With Toure

    Yesterday, I recapped Toure’s interview with Lauryn Hill on Fuse’s The Hip Hop Shop. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you can do so on our blog.

    Or, you can just watch the video below. You’ll need to go to 6:30 on the player to see the exact start of the interview. If not, you can watch Toure talk to Busta Rhymes and the RZA first. Or, I’ve added the link to Daily Motion which will pop you right to the start of the Lauryn interview.


    RTBfuse2
    Uploaded by WATERBLOCKNYC. – Explore international webcam videos.

    Click to watch on Daily Motion.

  • Lauryn Hill Is Ready To Record Again

    To many people, Lauryn Hill is one of music’s biggest mysteries. She was on top of the world and just walked away. There were stories of her private life that may have changed your viewpoint about who she was. But really, the question was why. Why did she walk away from music when she was at the top of her game?

    In 2003, journalist Toure filled in some of the story for us with his memorable Rolling Stone article. If you haven’t read it yet, please do. It’s a must-read.

    On Wednesday’s Fuse show The Hip Hop Shop, Toure had his chance to interview L-Boogie. She was performing over the weekend at Rock The Bells alongside The Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, and Snoop Dog. She finally had some answers for us.

    Some of the reason she left had to do with her children. She wanted them to have normalcy and privacy and real childhoods. But she herself wanted out of public scrutiny and wanted freedom and needed to be able to reclaim her individuality. She also said that she’s ready to express herself again.

    But this quote might have summed it all up best:

    You have to live life so you have something substantial to share, or it’s kind of pointless.

    She seemed at peace and no, she didn’t seem crazy. I jokingly tweeted Toure to ask him if he was able to look her in her eyes and call her by her first name. That was a recent story about her behavior. He didn’t answer me, but he answered someone else that there was none of that going on.

    He did ask her what everyone wanted to know. Would we be able to hear a new album? She was a little indecisive at first. She promised new recordings, but wasn’t sure about a new album. But she also implied that maybe there was also a new album on the way as well.

    Here’s a short clip of her performing at Rock The Bells:

    Photo of Lauryn Hill shared via Wikipedia through the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.