She Begat This

August 1, 2018
Morgan (When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost, 1999) builds her discussion of Lauryn Hill's seminal 1998 album? a reflection point for two intersecting generations of black women ?on a framework of conversations with several other music and culture critics, including Raquel Cepeda and Joicelyn Dingle. Their conversations are far-reaching, covering the album's instant success, its record-breaking Grammy nominations and wins, and Hill's ahead-of-her-time style, along with messier bits, like an immediate lawsuit over album rights, Hill's later jail time for back taxes, and her erratic performance style. On all of the above, Morgan's panel-of-sorts encompasses a wide spectrum of opinions. The two-decade distance adds other dimensions, too, in considering how very young Hill was when she released her masterpiece (only 23), how meaningful her decision to become a mother at that stage of her life was, the unbelievable pressure placed on her, and how early fame affected all that followed for her. A shoo-in for lovers of music writing, who will appreciate DJ Beverly Bond's included playlist of 40-plus tracks that wouldn't exist without Hill's influence.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)