"And Even After All My Logic And My Theory I add a 'Motherfucker' so you Ignant Niggas Hear Me"

Okay, so, allow me to set the scene…

It’s a warm day, the suns shining I just got out of class, so it’s around 2:30. I’m in the library, about 17 pages deep into a 90 page case. Listening to “The Score” by The Fugees and I’m just bobbing my head along, chilling, vibing enjoying life. And all of a sudden, I hear the voice of the incomparable Ms. Lauryn Hill utter these words on the song ‘Zealots’

“And even after all my logic and my theory I add a "Motherfucker" so you ignant niggas hear me”

Literally everything stopped.

I stopped reading. I paused my music. I had to go straight to genius to make sure I heard what I thought I did. I was literally blown aback by how poignant Lauryn’s words were. Bear in mind, I’ve listened to this song, this album, this verse, this line too many times for me to count. Like, I utter these words along with Lauryn’s verse all the time. But on this day, these lines stood out more than ever.

https://blavity.com/why-lauryn-hills-miseducation-is-still-spellbinding-the-masses-and-your-favorite-artists-twenty-years-later?category1=music

Even after all my logic and theory. After I’ve laid out everything so crystal clear for all to see. I add a motherfucker so you ignant niggas hear. Now this is a very, VERY simple line. I wasn’t blown away and marveling at the complexity of this line. I was blown away by the line’s existence itself. I was sat contemplating, how am I only now deeping this? How is it that Lauryn Hill put such a beautifully crafted and relevant line at the end of a verse, on a song which goes unreferenced on that album?

And it got me thinking even further. THIS…is why I never need another Lauryn Hill album again.

In that exact moment, sat amongst the hoards of books in the library, it became so abundantly clear to me why I never need to hear from Lauryn, and some of the legends like her ever again.

“The Score” was released in February 1996. Well over a year before I was born. I’ve listened to the album countless times over the course of my 22 years and even on this occasion, I really only put the album on because I wanted to hear “How Many Mics?”, and after that I just let the album rock. But in doing so, I found something new to love about the album. All of a sudden, I now have a new bar which I can’t stop repeating. And a new bar which applies to SO many other artists and rappers even in the game today. A new bar which sums up how so many of us speak in everyday life and conversation. Which is truly something to marvel at.

So, I say all this to say; although we as fans clamor and crave for new music and albums from legendary artists like Lauryn Hill & Andre 3000; what makes theses artists so legendary is that their prior work stands the test of time. For me to still be gaining and learning and hearing new things from a Fugees album which came out in 1996 is remarkable and speaks to the supreme bodies of work these artists released back in the day.

Now although it would be nice to get some sort of short project from Lauryn Hill, or for Andre 3000 to give us more than 1 guest feature per year, I think we as fans can take solace in the fact that their previous works of art are still taking on new and fresh meaning even still to this day. Thus, I’m left reflecting on the now infamous words of Jimmy Smith:

“Only real music is gonna last…all that other bullshit, is here today and gone tomorrow…”