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  • “Lost One” Lauryn Hill: 10 Years Since “Miseducation”…Where’s The Follow-Up?

    A decade ago (has it really been that long?), Lauryn Hill was on top of the world. Blessed with the rare double talent of being able to sing beautifully and rap skillfully-I dare you to name a better female MC EVER-she had superstar juice all over her. After initially gaining notoriety as an actress (“Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit” and “As the World Turns”), Lauryn broke through for real as the most talented third of the Fugees, a group that smashed together hip-hop, R&B and Caribbean flavors and scored the most left-field hit of 1996 with “The Score”. This album turned out to be the biggest hip-hop seller of the year, not a small feat during the year in which we lost Tupac.

    Lauryn Hill performing live. Photo by Lisa Liang.
    Lauryn Hill performing live. Photo by Lisa Liang.

    There had been some internal drama within the group for some time. The rumor mill had Lauryn and bandmate Wyclef Jean dating (something that’s been confirmed by Wyclef’s wife, although both Wyclef himself and Lauryn have more or less stayed mum on the topic), while Lauryn was immediately singled out for her beauty and talent, which led to some discontent on the behalf of Wyclef and third member Pras, the Andrew Ridgeley of the group. ‘Clef struck first, reaching Platinum status with his album “The Carnival”, but Lauryn struck best, releasing her stunning record “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” on 8/25/98. Despite A-list support from the likes of D’Angelo and Mary J. Blige, “Miseducation” was all about Lauryn. The album sold 7 million copies, registered the highest first week totals for a female artist at the time, became the first hip-hop record to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, and was arguably the best R&B record of the entire decade. Lauryn was the entire music world’s “it” girl. Gorgeous, brainy, talented, and seemingly grounded. (more…)

  • The Infatueighties Countdown: #100: “Brass Monkey”

    So…nearly 21 years since “Licensed To Ill” was released and me and my 6th grade classmates were reciting the words to this song on the school bus, I figured I’d head over to my good friend Wikipedia and find out what a “brass monkey” actually is.

    Well, it appears that the old monkey can refer to either of two concoctions. One is a mixture of rum, vodka and orange juice (which sounds tasty, yet toxic) and the other is a 40 of malt liquor mixed with OJ (which I would imagine the Beasties were referring to), which is just gross. Those of you-and I know there are many-who are connosieurs of cheap beer know what malt liquor tastes like, and I think we can all agree that we’d much rather drink…well, anything. Add orange juice to the mix and…well, let’s just say I’m making the stank face just thinking about it.

    Anyway, that was one hell of a digression, wasn’t it? It took me a LONG time to appreciate the genius of “Licensed To Ill”. While The Beasties have gone on to create significantly more mature work and at least one genius album since (hello, “Paul’s Boutique”), the quaintness and (despite plenty of violence) almost cartoonish nature of “Ill” has stood up well over two decades plus. “Brass Monkey” was the only track that I liked initially, it’s my favorite track on the album to this day (although “Paul Revere” is a close second), and it still gets played whenever I feel like being mindless and silly. It’s a fantastic song to get fucked up to, which I suppose is it’s intended purpose. And if this isn’t already a karaoke favorite (I’ve never seen it performed), damn it, it should be.

    Here’s a live performance of the song from about four or five years ago. If this was shot at Madison Square Garden (which I think it was), then I was AT this show! After all this time The Beasties still put on a hell of a show, and MCA still sounds like he needs to gargle. Enjoy.

    Now come on everybody, let’s get…

  • New Video: Vampire Weekend’s “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”

    OK, no joke. If the year was to end right now, “Vampire Weekend” would be my favorite album released in 2008. The music’s so infectious, so loose, so danceable, every song I hear from it immediately puts a smile on their face. Their new video (the fourth for this album, I think) is for the song “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”, and it finds the guys taking their name a bit literally, this time. Anytime I see a video based in a graveyard, I keep expecting to see a bunch of ghosts doing choreographed dance moves. No such luck here, but we do get a vampiress (is that a word?) who looks very much like Avril Lavigne. Weird. Anyhow, enjoy the video, and if you don’t have VW’s CD, I suggest you get it pronto!