SILLY GAME

“Ex-Factor” is the third single from Lauryn Hill from her debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). The song incorporates elements of R&B, neo soul and hip hop soul. “Ex-Factor” was written and produced by Lauryn Hill and it features replayed elements of “Can It Be All So Simple” performed by Wu-Tang Clan. Although not as successful as her previous single “Doo Wop (That Thing)”, the song still garnered widespread success, and acclaim. This song spent 22 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at 21 on the week of April 10, 1999. It also charted on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, spending 31 weeks and peaking number 7 on March 13, 1999. It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart.

YOU CAN’T HIDE

The Score is the second and final studio album by the hip hop trio Fugees, released worldwide February 13, 1996 on Columbia Records. The album features a wide range of samples and instrumentation, with many aspects of alternative hip hop that would come to dominate the hip hop music scene in the mid-late 1990s. Upon its release, The Score was a commercial success, peaking at the number one spot on both the Billboard 200, and the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart (it was a number-one album on the latter in 1996 on the year-end chart). The singles “Killing Me Softly,” “Fu-Gee-La,” and “Ready or Not” also achieved notable chart success, and helped the group achieve worldwide recognition. On October 3, 1997, The Score was certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

In addition to receiving mostly favorable reviews upon its release, the album has garnered a considerable amount of acclaim over the years, with many music critics and publications noting it as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. In 1998, the album was included in The Source’s 100 best rap albums list, and in 2003, it was ranked number 477 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

EX FACTOR

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by Lauryn Hill, released August 25, 1998. Recording sessions for the album took place from late 1997 to June 1998, and were held primarily at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica. The album’s lyrics deal with Hill’s pregnancy at the time, the turmoil in her former group the Fugees, and also love and God, while it incorporates musical elements of R&B, hip hop, soul, reggae, and gospel. The album’s title was inspired by the film and autobiographical novel The Education of Sonny Carson, and Carter G. Woodson’s The Mis-Education of the Negro.

Upon release, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 422,624 copies in its first week, which broke a record for first week sales by a female artist. The album spent 81 weeks on the Billboard 200 and topped the Billboard Year-End Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In 1999, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill garnered ten Grammy nominations at the 41st Grammy Awards, winning five, making Hill the first female recording artist to receive that number of nominations, as well as awards in one night. The album was certified Gold on September 29, 1998 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of over 500,000 copies, and on December 17, 2001, it was certified 8x Platinum in the United States. According to Soundscan, the album surpassed 7 million sales in the U.S. in September 2010.

Initially, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill received a great amount of critical praise for its lyric themes and genre variance. Since its release, the album has perpetuated its acclaim from most music critics and publications, and has been widely recognized as a crucial and influential component of the neo soul sub-genre. The album has appeared on numerous accolades, with many regarding it as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2003, it was ranked number 312 on Rolling Stone magazine’s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.