Sunday, September 03, 2006

Beyonce Comments on Lauryn Hill's "Tragic" Story

KB was viewing the Black Voices website and showed me the following quote, which was made by Beyonce: "'Her story is the most tragic. Her album was genius. I know I'm more than a singer and I have so many other things in my life to keep me focused. I hope and pray that I stay as comfortable in my own skin as I am right now.' -- Beyonce Knowles Explaining Why She'll Never "Lose Herself" Like Lauryn Hill"

After reading the quote, I had to find the article where she made this comment so that I could put it in the right context. I mean, Beyonce has been slowly but surely losing my respect, and now it appeared that she was talking junk about Lauryn Hill, my favorite Hip Hop artist. So I found the article on the internet and read it:

Beyonce Deals With Fame

by Daniel Zugna

August 21 2006

Beyonce Knowles has claimed that she will never "lose herself" like Lauryn Hill.

Beyonce described the former Fugees star's story as "tragic", claiming that Hill has been unable to cope with the demands of fame and success.

Whilst Beyonce describes Hill's story to be tragic, others view her self-imposed exile as inspiring. After the phenomenal commercial and critical success of 1998's 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill', she returned head-shaved and glam-free with the 'MTV Unplugged' album of 2002, and has since performed at underprivileged schools across New York, channelling her humanitarian ethos. Hill also made an appearance at Dave Chapelle's Block Party in 2004, documented in the Michel Gondry film of this year.

Still, Beyonce said, "[Lauryn Hill's] story is the most tragic. I mean, her record was genius. But drama and demands and the pressure and all of the people giving you so much access to so many things can be too much.

"I don't know what's going to happen to me but I know I'm more than a singer and I have so many other things in my life to keep me focused. I hope and pray that I stay as comfortable in my own skin as I am right now."

Beyonce's new album, 'B'Day' is released worldwide on September 4, and in the US on September 5, to coincide with the star's 25th birthday.


I don't look at Lauryn Hill's story as tragic; I view it as triumphant. Many people called and are still calling her crazy. I beg to differ. She found a knowledge, the same knowledge that Gnarls Barkley describes in "Crazy," which sounds contradictory but its not a real crazy.

Its the kind of crazy in which a person discovers truth and is viewed as "crazy," weird, or different by outsiders who don't understand and who don't have the same truth. I equate her leave of absence from the limelight with Dave Chapelle's exodus. Both realized that there were people in their lives who were controlling them, exploiting them, and who were restricting them by putting them in boxes they didn't subscribe to. They realized they were becoming persons whom they didn't like anymore and they needed, to quote Hill, " to get out". They needed to get free to be who they were supposed to be. And thus they became conscious people.


So maybe Beyonce is comfortable with her commercial self and maybe she has no problem being her own video ho to Jay-Z in her Deja Vu video in which he pimped her and maybe she's ok with her own definition of deja vu being that in her song she experiences a day dream and not the illusion of having previously experienced something actually being encountered for the first time. Be happy with yourself B, but don't refer to Lauryn's awakening, coming of age, as "the most tragic." Guess I'll be celebrating my 'B'Day' in March.

46 comments:

Daniel Kelvin Bullock said...

"So maybe Beyonce is comfortable with her commercial self and maybe she has no problem being her own video ho to Jay-Z in her Deja Vu video in which he pimped her and maybe she's ok with her own definition of deja vu being that in her song she experiences a day dream and not the illusion of having previously experienced something actually being encountered for the first time."

LOL - that's a hilarious run-on sentence. I've been saying this ever since Beyonce' wrote "Bootylicious," though - the girl is special. She's not the most intellectual person in the world. And it upsets me that people still don't get the Lauryn Hill thing. Oh well - "To be great is to be misunderstood."

erin.davis said...

Ronda, I'm so glad you're back! Yay! I haven't truly decided how I feel about Beyonce- I'm a bundle of contradictions when it comes to her.

I'm a bit upset at what she's implying about Lauryn Hill. It's easy to examine the situation from the outside and try to come to your own conclusions. But at the end of the day, both Lauryn Hill and Dave Chappelle decided that their own personal happiness and satisfaction was more important than catering to the industry. I think that's definitely worth applauding and celebrating. Perhaps Beyonce is just getting a little too full of herself and her success. Who knows- in a few years she might be on hiatus, and we just might see more of Rihanna on Jay-Z's arm...

Anonymous said...

Well the PR machince behind Beyonce is going to eat Black Voices up in like 5 minutes for writing to something that could be interpreted as negative. But I want to give B the benefit of the doubt and hope that when Beyonce said "tragic," she means the way the media has treated the situation. Beyonce is too media-trained to say anything bad about another artist.

B, if you read this, please know that you will never have to deal with the issues Lauryn deals with. You have already proven that your perception of what's acceptable - on almost all levels - is quite different from Ms. Hill's.

Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock said...

Gene you could be right, but the comment was on BV about a week ago. Maybe no one has read it. Or maybe no one cares.

Anyways, Im not the only one who is a lil skeptical of B. Check out this link to Clayton Perry's discertation on why Beyonce is not a Diva: http://www.thenubianoproject.com/beyonce_rta.pdf

He makes some interesting claims. He also started a facebook group called "Ring the Alarm: Beyonce is Not a Diva," which is a bit much, but I guess that was on his heart.

Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock said...

"Ronda, I'm so glad you're back! Yay!"

Thanks Erin. Once the school year started, my leisure time for the blog slowly decreased. Hopefully I will get a post up at least once every week or two.

Anonymous said...

WOW. I'm a bit amazed that Clayton took that much time to dismantle Beyonce. But that's another topic ....

One thing he failed to acknowledge is that Beyonce's CD came out in the era of illegal downloading, iPods and low music sales in general. Even though Alicia Key's album came out only 3 years earlier, the music sales game changed significantly in those three years. Beyonce's "low" sales aren't necessarily indicative of a lack of talent as much as the economics of the music industry. And even if they were the terms "success" and "diva" are mutually exclusive, but I digress.

Be that as it may, I think he has a great site and I plan to visit frequently.

Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock said...

That is very true Gene. I didn't think about that, but Napster was real big when Nora Jones and Alicia Keys came out. iPods, while they first came out in 2001, weren't real popular until around 2003/2004ish (this is just my opinion. I don't have numbers to support this claim). Beyonce dropped in '03. But anyways, I still think she is a great singer. I just don't like her image.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, she is talenteb,but I listened to her CD today and umm ...... I won't be buying it. At all. Ever. Or even downloading it illegally. Not one drop of it.

Anonymous said...

I think ET's post was very thorough. I guess the real question for Limited Edition and others, why DON'T you think the Lauryn Hill situation worked out tragicly?

Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock said...

When I think of Lauryn Hill, I am reminded of the saying, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" If, in order to maintain one's success, one has to lose a part of the self, then what is it worth? She kept her soul and found a PURPOSE in her life(Her Unplugged CD is very spiritual with a gospel feel to it). Ms. Hill was at a crossroads, ("Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I , I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference" Frost)and in order to save herself, her sanity, she had to get away. I think she won the battle. Some people think their job is their life (Have you ever seen the t-shirts that say for example"Basketball is Life"?) Life is so much bigger and greater than that. Its just like people are mad at Venus and Serena for not devoting more time to tennis. But those girls are like, "Tennis is not my life."

Thus, Lauryn did what made her happy and she was not limited to what everyone else thought she should do or be. "Its freedom time. Get free. Be who you're supposed to be." ~Ms. Hill

Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock said...

When I think of Lauryn Hill, I am reminded of the saying, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?" If, in order to maintain one's success, one has to lose a part of the self, then what is it worth? She kept her soul and found a PURPOSE in her life(Her Unplugged CD is very spiritual with a gospel feel to it). Ms. Hill was at a crossroads, ("Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I , I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference" Frost)and in order to save herself, her sanity, she had to get away. I think she won the battle. Some people think their job is their life (Have you ever seen the t-shirts that say for example"Basketball is Life"?) Life is so much bigger and greater than that. Its just like people are mad at Venus and Serena for not devoting more time to tennis. But those girls are like, "Tennis is not my life."

Thus, Lauryn did what made her happy and she was not limited to what everyone else thought she should do or be. "Its freedom time. Get free. Be who you're supposed to be." ~Ms. Hill

Dr. Ronda Taylor Bullock said...

ET, I totally agree with you about the media twisting things up. And that would go along with what Gene was saying about Beyonce being well trained in speaking to the media. However, my argument still stands that Lauryn's story isn't tragic. And I still don't like Beyonce's image. LOL.

PS. ET is my brother. I was crunk to see your post E :0)

Anonymous said...

I feel you. The tragedy is not Lauryn's self-discovery, as much as it is the media and other's negative analysis and misunderstanding of what she's experiencing/experienced. But that makes sense, because if the masses understood and supported her philosophy, she would have never had to leave in the first place. But that's the way it is when you're set apart.

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