"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" – Lauryn Hill

You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians

Peter Martin

Best New Jazz, Reaction, Album Analysis, Live Music, Album, 194861, Music, Jazz Lessons, Fresh Spin Fridays, Album Breakdown, Music Analysis, Kid A Harmony Analysis, Jazz Education, Musical Life, Video Podcast, Isolated Stems, Track-by-track, Song Breakdown, Music Advice, Jazz Tutorials, Music Education, Album Deep Dive, Jazz Musicians React, Music Commentary, Jazz, Vocal Stems, Adam Maness, Tutorials, Jazz Courses, Musicians React, Peter Martin, Song Stems, Chords, Music Theory

4.9 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was one of the BIGGEST records of the 90s. When you sell 20 million records, like Lauryn Hill did, you're into mass market territory; you're selling records all over the world and reaching across genres. With Miseducation, Lauryn Hill struck a nerve with humanity. How did she do it?

As you'll hear in this episode, the album sounded unlike other chart-topping hits at the time. It features tons of acoustic instruments, beautiful chord progressions, Stevie Wonder vibes, palatable melodies, a D'Angelo cameo and deeply personal storytelling. And Lauryn Hill herself has the presence of an actor with the soul of an underground musician.

Listen with us as we parse through Lauryn Hill's only album track-by-track to answer the question: What makes this album great?

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00:00 - Intro Jam: "Doo Wop (That Thing)"
02:05 - A Concept Album About Love
04:55 – The Fugees, Sister Act II & Stardom
07:40 - "Intro" + "Lost Ones"
10:50 - “Ex-Factor”
13:15 - "To Zion (Feat. Carlos Santana)"
20:05 - "Doo Wop (That Thing)"
21:45 - "Superstar"
23:30 - “When It Hurts So Bad”
25:50 - "I Used to Love Him (feat. Mary J. Blige)"
33:00 - Hitting a Nerve with Humanity
37:20 - "Every Ghetto, Every City"
40:20 - "Nothing Even Matters"
42:50 - "Everything Is Everything"
45:10 - "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill"
47:30 - "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You - (I Love You Baby)"
52:35 - Desert Island Tracks + Apex Moments
1:01:50 - Up Next

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey Adam. Hey, Peter. It's come to my attention, attention is K-Bart Shoppers, that we now have over 50,000 subscribers on YouTube.
0:08.2	What? Oh, on the you'll hear it YouTube channel. Yeah, Peter, that's amazing. That's huge.
0:12.9	That is huge. Well, at least I thought it was huge, but there's a little bit of a problem.
0:16.8	Oh, yeah? What's that, bud?
0:18.1	Well, not all of our subscribers or subs, as we call them in the business, are actually open studio members yet. Wait, what? Well, Peter, they're in luck because right now, it's Black Friday. You are correct, my friend. It's our biggest savings of the year to get you off the fans, not you, the folks listening to this, and into the shed. Level up with lessons from jazz legends like Emmett Cohen, Sullivan Fortner, Jeffrey Keiser,
0:40.1	and of course, yours truilies.
0:42.2	Yeah, well, we snuck in there too.
0:44.1	Just had to openstudiojad.com slash y-h-I.
0:47.0	That's open studio jazz.com slash y-h-I.
0:50.4	For I.
0:50.8	Oh!
0:52.1	Your jazz lesson needs.
1:12.3	But hurry, these deals and November 30th. Hey, Adam. Peter Martin. I am so excited about the album we're covering today. Man, I am super excited. Thing is, I don't know what it is. Oh, you don't? No, I don't know what we're doing. Well, this is cool. This is going to be right in your wheelhouse.
1:23.5	I think it came out right when you were sort of coming of age. We're talking late 90s. We're talking early 2000s. We're talking Y2K. Buddy, this is in my wheelhouse. I did have frosted tips. Okay, great.
1:25.8	Actually, I'll just play you a little.
1:27.0	You're going to know what this is.
1:31.2	Oh, yeah, Dr. Drey's Chronic 2001.
1:28.7	That's a... great. Actually, I'll just play you a little. You're going to know what this is. Oh, yeah, Dr. Dre's Chronic 2001.
1:31.3	That's a classic.
1:32.2	Oh, you're talking about it?
1:33.3	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:35.5	Still Dre.
	...

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