Lauryn Hill‘s chronic lateness saw her hit headlines over the weekend after Atlanta concert-goers booed for turning up over 2 hours after the start time of her concert.
When the news hit social media, the story took on a life of its own – so much so that the former Fugees front-woman was forced to make a statement. Therein she promised to make it up to fans, apologised, but oddly blamed her tardiness on her “energy” needing to be right and how it doesn’t always align with show times.
That didn’t wash with many, including Roots drummer Questlove.
See what we mean below…
Remarking on Hill’s situation, Quest said on Facebook…
There is this glorious fantasy going on in our heads. It’s like a movie and you imagine folks cheering your name like the end of Purple Rain (“Lauryn!! Lauryn!! Lauryn!!!!!!!”) and movies make you feel like “that’s how life should be” (this should also apply to the “can I audition for you on the spot? And you just clap your hands and make me a star right quick?” crew: what you see on movies ain’t real. Entourage is not REAL)
So with this in mind you HAVE to think like a businessman in order to please the fan (the aforementioned alias celebs here call me “Suit” like Billy from Entourage as if “I’ve lost touch with the people”)
Hardly.
Every aspect from walk in music (Mike D told me to DJ before the shows to engage fans—boring walk in music makes em tired, DJ trine kill it could dwarf the show and steal the ounce of energy a standing on their feet audience has) to the pacing of the show has to be combed over.
4 hours on their feet is inconsiderate and uncalled for.
Now on the other side of the coin (and not wanting to put people’s business out there) this is prime psychological sabotage fear in motion. This is the embarrassment of that Newark 4 lawsuit. This is age fear talking loud and clear. This is resentment of having to now do this to survive (I mean we all “do it for the love”—but this is survival) the embarrassment of now being a one album legacy artist and the possibility of not mattering anymore in this disposable society. People will kill something before it grows.
This is prime example of that. {Source}
Hopefully the furore over Hill’s latest episode see her make the adjustments to ensure her “energy” arrives on time in the future.
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Lauryn just be on time. That’s all I have to say cause most folks were dragging her to Hell and back tho she put on a great show all the time.
I didn’t enjoy her show when I went in Philly! She was very late and changed her songs so much that they were unrecognizable. She deserves to be dragged. NEVER again will I pay to see her pretentious ass!!!
That’s because she’s being creative. Whitney for an example never sang her songs the same way live than her recorded tracks and even tell her band to add a new spin to it. MJ, Prince, Nina, James Brown, ect have all done the same thing too when it came to their live performances.
You cannot compare the two. Whitney did not completely change the arrangement of her songs. She just did things different, vocally. If Lauryn is tired of singing the same songs, maybe she should release new music! It’s totally unfair to her fans who spent their hard earned money on tickets to see her ass. Stop making excuses for this chick. She’s only touring to pay her taxes anyway.
@LMFAO You’re missing the point here. Whitney and said other artists changed the arrangements of their songs but they were still recognizable and the audience could still sing along. Now when Lauryn performs, the songs don’t sound or feel the same. It’s just noise. If ppl are paying you $170 per ticket, give them what they came for.
You would never hear the original production of her music on tour because she does not own any of her music. She lost all rights when she owed taxes and went to jail. So she is not allowed to perform her original production.
Why do people even try with her anymore? Laueyn clearly has one of largest egos. She made ONE legendary album back when I was 9. I’m in my 20’s now and she has yet to make another one. All hope for her is lost at this point.
That’s what I’m saying. I only went to see her perform the classics but she butchered them.
Cling to the album that was released a century ago.
People like D’Angelo and Lauryn Hill just doesn’t have the headspace to be pop stars. They’re talented, but they can’t roll with the punches, pressures and expectations that come with fame, celebrity and professionism. The audience was lucky she even showed up, I’d expect her to be late and to totally rearrange the songs. If you have any ‘expectations,’ you may as well just listen to her CDs instead.
Yup, they clearly aren’t. It would explain why they left the industry at the height of their respective careers. D expressed last year in 2015, that he was disappointed with the way he turned into this major s*x symbol because of the Untitled video which shifted the focus on his talent to his physical appeal. With D’angelo though, I’ve never really heard anything bad regarding his live shows.
That may be the case for D’Angelo but not Lauryn. Lauryn went on hiatus after the writers of the miseducation sued and revealed she didn’t write a thing on that album. She conveniently made exit stage left. Lauryn’s pride was so big that she couldn’t even regroup and give her fans another album.She instead chose this crazy lady wardrobe,hopped from island peen to island peen and disgruntled horrible concerts. She deserved the dragging she has gotten and hopefully she’ll do better.
Quest is on point here. Lauryn is continuously late because she doesn’t want to be there in the first place. If it wasn’t for her tax and money issues, Lauryn would be at home with her 13 kids right now. She clearly doesn’t give a damn and neither do I.
And for those of you too young to remember, the lawsuit Quest mentioned is the 4 musicians and writers who successfully sued Lauryn Hill and Columbia Records for not giving them their proper writing and production credit on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. She only wrote one song herself but lied and listed herself as the only writer and producer. That is why she hasn’t released another album because she would have to admit the limitations of her actual talents.
I find that very ironic as someone is always trying to sue or say that Beyoncé doesn’t write her own material. She hasn’t had a successful claim against her though.
That’s cuz Beyonce is smart. She won’t even accept songs from a writer unless they give her 25% writing credit upfront. So it’s not a surprise when the song comes out that she is listed as a writer.
I think this is the first time she was truly DRAGGED for her chronic tardiness. Questlove was right. Yes, many artists do this for the love of it (with Lauryn, it doesn’t always seem that way these days) but just like ANY job that you have a passion for, there’s the business side of things you can’t ignore. I would be livid if I had to wait three hours for a concert only for said artist to show up and deliver a lacklustre show.
This is resentment of having to now do this to survive (I mean we all “do it for the love”—but this is survival) the embarrassment of now being a one album legacy artist and the possibility of not mattering anymore in this disposable society
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Welp, this is what I been saying for a while now. I still play that album (without an S), but one album in over 15 years doesn’t make you a legend nor excuses your diva ways.
She was late for the Grammys as well and came up with a lame excuse then. There’s a video of her on stage after being 4 hours late telling people they can leave, she does it for the love. ?
Noone won’t see her performance no more cause she was late to her job and he does have a point about Her
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