Between this spring’s Roots Picnic in Philadelphia and September’s Global Citizen event in Manhattan, Lauryn Hill has been in a celebratory mood. In addition to performing the finest moments from her genre-bending, 20-million-selling The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (still her only solo studio album), the singer has wowed audiences with a rare joviality, powerful displays of her throaty vocals and surprising mini-reunions of the Fugees, her legendary R&B/hip-hop trio with Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel.
Hill is keeping those spirited vibes and good fu-gee-la feelings going by celebrating the 25th anniversary of her groundbreaking 1998 album with a tour that runs through November. And she’s bringing the Fugees along for their own full set, kicking off the party in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey at the Prudential Center on Tuesday night.
Hill shouted out her hometown often and cheerfully, name-checking Newark totems such as Essex County and her alma mater, Columbia High School, with a wellspring of homespun nostalgia that prompted her to welcome several local high school students to play as part of her band.
Still a rare gem after 25 years, “Miseducation” ran intelligently and emotionally through personal and socio-cultural statements in a raw and fluid way. Hill, of Haitian descent, pushed her rough Caribbean patois and full-throated vocals to their sultry, soulful best. It was a mission statement that hip-hop could be sensual and R&B could play rough. Though it could be playful at times, Miseducation was no game.
“It’s an album of love songs and protest music like my parents listened to,” Hill said of Miseducation towards the end of her solo set on Tuesday.
