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| EDITORIAL:
MUSIC Lauryn Hill MTV Unplugged 2.0 (Columbia) ** stars (two stars) ----------------------------  In
the hands of someone less dignified than 26-year-old Lauryn Hill, “MTV
Unplugged 2.0” would amount to disastrous pity party about
the risks and rewards of celebrity. And even with Hill as the subject,
this live, two disc set/performance of raw, previously unrecorded
music and even rawer public “introspection,” can’t
totally avoid a woe-is-me” tone. Ultimately, it sabotages what
little creative momentum the Hill generates – if creativity
and artistry was even her intent at all. These 13 songs and seven “interludes” (sandwiched by an “intro” and an “outro” ) performed last summer and aired on MTV in March, convert Hill’s recent, admitted “emotional instability” into an extreme spectator sport. Apparently, the postscript to the fame of being a member of the hip-hop group Fugees, as well as the multi-platinum, multiple-Grammy winning of her 1998 solo disc “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” is that she became a “hostage” to her own success. The fantasy world of stardom interfered with the reality that was her personal growth as an individual; wife and mother. Now, according to Hill, “Fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need,” she says all-inclusively, strumming her guitar before launching into “Adam Lives In Theory.” She adds, to modest audience applause: “ I’ve just retired from fantasy part.” It suggests that she’s simplified her life and her approach to music: dropped the entourage of 40 staffers, stopped fussing over how she dresses and sounds (here, often like a raspier Gladys Knight), and achieved a work/family balance. What you see and hear on MTV Unplugged 2.0 is what you get: an acoustic-guitar-toting, self-professed hip-hop folksinger. Her interludes ramble as “problem–cause–solution” scenarios and exist mainly as therapeutic unburdening. But oddly, they’re often more illuminating than Hill’s new music, which with few exceptions, also rambles as a collection of reasons with neither the rhyme nor the rhythm. “Freedom Time,” works as a fiery fit of hip-hop social poetry informed by the spirit of her hero Bob Marley (Hill is married to Marley’s son Rohan). And Hill’s sudden vibrant and reverential vocal quality on “Just Want You Around,” make it a rare optimistic gem where she channels another hero, Stevie Wonder. But to the opposite musical extreme, Hill strums away for the nearly seven-minute “Mr. Intentional” and the nearly nine-minute “Oh Jerusalem,” respectively, without delivering lyrical hooks, profound musical shifts or memorable melodies. Granted, the newfound hip-hop folksinger may not concern herself with such matters, but what of fans of Fugees “The Score?” or of “The Miseducation?” For them, this “follow-up” to Hill’s debut solo disc, will be a shock to the system. It buries the socially conscious, but still upbeat L-Boogie (Hill’s hip-hop nickname) that millions happily accepted as the reality, but which Hill now sadly suggests is part of a fantasy-filled past. Originally published in The San Diego Union-Tribune, May 9, 2002 |
