Lauryn Hill is a helluva artist, but ever since the 1990’s there have been ongoing rumors about her diva-like attitude behind the scenes. A few days ago she was forced to publicly confront the rumors, after multi-platinum selling musician/producer, Robert Glasper, went OFF about her diva-tude in a radio interview. That led to Hill releasing an exceptionally long response, which only led to further obliteration by several very well known singers in the game.
Robert Glasper Tells All About Lauryn Hill
In a recent interview on 92.9 The Box, Robert Glasper accused Lauryn Hill of being a very arrogant person. He said Hill demanded that he and the other band members- who were performing with her for a 2008 show- not look her in the eyes and that they must address her as Ms.Lauryn Hill. Glasper then accused Hill of being music thief who stole the work of his musician friends that worked on her Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album:
“Miseducation was made by great musicians and producers that I know, personally. You got a big hand off of music that you didn’t even write.”
It’s worth noting that a group of musicians did sue Hill over “Miseducation” for not being properly credited on the album. They reportedly settled out of court for $5 million.
Glasper also compared his pleasant experiences of working with larger music icons – like Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones – to his unpleasant experience with Hill in 2008; stating that she should humble herself a bit. Lastly, Glasper says that the night before that 2008 show, Lauryn suddenly tried to cut the band’s pay in half for no provoked reason. See what else he said in the interview below:
Lauryn Hill Blasts Back At Glasper
A couple weeks later, Lauryn Hill finally responded to Glasper in an online open letter posted. Her reaction is hella long and wide ranging, so we’ll share the most potent parts as it pertains to this topic:
Lauryn Hill- “No idea why any musician would have had knowledge of what I was being paid, not sure what he’s saying is accurate. Don’t have the details or recollection of cutting the band’s pay in half. If fees had been negotiated and confirmed without my knowledge, I may have asked for them to be adjusted. But I would never just cut a musician’s pay arbitrarily unless I had a legitimate reason. There are artists who do cut pay though, James Brown was notorious for docking musicians if they did something he didn’t like, I’m sure there are others…..
When you’re a popular artist or public figure, people can sometimes forget that you’re hiring them to perform a service, and that you’re not the one there to entertain THEM. I didn’t scream or yell. Maybe I didn’t provide the experience that a musician may have wanted or expected during that time, but I was straight-forward, direct, and about the business at hand…..
Perhaps my seriousness and militancy in the face of tremendous resistance was misinterpreted as meanness, or that I was unloving or uncaring, when my true intent was to protect. I wouldn’t be the first Black person accused of this. I don’t think of Harriet Tubman’s skills as those of a hostess, but rather her relentless dedication to helping people who wanted out of an oppressive paradigm…..”
Then came the insult to all other music artists:
LH- “Show me an artist working now who hasn’t been directly influenced by the work I put in, and I’ll show you an artist who’s been influenced by an artist who was directly influenced by the work that I put in. I was and continue to be a door opener, even if the blind don’t see it, and the prideful are too proud to admit it. I lived this, you watched this and heard about it.”
Hill had WAAAAY more to say, you can read the full letter here.
Singer, Rashaan Patterson, Shuts Hill Down, Gets Backed By Lala Hathaway, Miki Howard, Ledisi & More
Soon after Lauryn released her response, singer, Rahsaan Patterson, posted a lengthy response of his own…and he had much to say to Hill:
Singers, Miki Howard (@mikithat), Lala Hathaway, Ledisi, “Living Single” actor, TC Carson and more agreed with Rahsaan, that Lauryn needs to humble herself a bit:
Thoughts ILOSM fam?
