Innovator, singer, songwriter, actress, director, role model, philanthropist, wife, mother, career woman: you could say Lauryn Hill has it all. Factor in ten Grammy Award nominations surrounding her first solo album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (Columbia/Ruffhouse), and it becomes more than a little tempting to affix the word “superstar” to her name. She climbed her way up the ranks as a member of the Fugees, whose stylistic creativity blurred categorization and introduced a new audience to the world of Hip-Hop. On her own, Hill integrates street smarts with pop flavor, a formula that has rewarded her with remarkable success. In a recent interview, she looked at the big picture and discussed her primary loves: God, family, and music.
     Inside Cx: Lauryn, you have quite a career! Your solo album is a major success, you were the voice of the Fugees... Modeling jobs, a part in a soap opera, yes. Some might even call it a chequered past, but I never did anything I'm really ashamed of. You know, we were all crazy about music and almost all the money we had, we spent for equipment.
     Inside Cx: It's amazing; the Fugees were almost an overnight success. We were together at Columbia High School; that was in ’88 or so. We changed our name a few times and ended up as the Fugees. Our beginnings were everything else than easy. Clef was our backbone who gave us the courage to pull through. He is very headstrong and he always pushed us in the right direction, made sure that we invested the little bit of money we didn't need for our lives, or better to survive, in equipment. Without Clef and our strong believe in God, we would have never gotten that far!
     Inside Cx: Were you surprised by the positive reaction the Fugees got? It was quite a surprise that we got our break with the second album. But our first album was a stupid mistake by the record company. They tried to sell us as an alternative act. A big mistake! In our genre it only reduces bands to laughingstock. Unfortunately, they didn't ask us and just went ahead with it. If we would have had a say in it, it wouldn't have happened. Definitely NOT!
     Inside Cx: You have always been open about your spirituality.You’re a Christian; your husband is a Rasta. Did this cause any conflicts? I was having second thoughts about it, but we both believe in God, which is really important, and we have two beautiful kids together. I think God is love, and love is very important. It's the most important thing we have on earth!
     Inside Cx: Have the Fugees officially broken up? You all seem to make solo albums. There was never an official breakup and I don't know what's going to happen, but we all had our own projects. We're all creative and it seems to be a good way to fulfill our creative urges. We weren't really in touch with each other; we all had other things on our minds, but we didn't have a falling out like a lot of papers claim.
     Inside Cx: Is there a rivalry as far as whose album has more success? Not really. We all go back a long way and we don't grudge each other the success. The Fugees were never a band like others!
     Inside Cx: How would you describe your work with them? We did things the way almost no other band did them, we had no fixed patterns and we avoided getting stuck in our roles in the band. That's one of the reasons why we swapped out instruments. Clef even thought about doing a live performance with an accordion. We wanted to surprise people. That is true Hip-Hop.
     Inside Cx: Do you think Hip-Hop is still a strong trend? Hip-Hop isn't just music, it is also a spiritual movement of the blacks! You can't just call Hip-Hop a trend!
     Inside Cx: The Fugees were among the first who included all different styles. You added a new element to Rap. For a while, the genre seemed to be just about sex and crime. Rappers are storytellers; the stories don't need to be true! Fairy tales are also not true and a lot of rock singers who are happily married sing about broken hearts and love stories! So what? A good Rap needs good rhymes and a big mouth! But it's wrong to see Rappers just as criminals. A lot of them sing about it, true, but I don't really agree with it. Of course a lot of the guys don't know anything else, but also a lot of people just put it on to cash it in. I don't agree with it; it gives the kids the wrong example!
     Inside Cx: What was the motivation for the Fugees? We combined Rap with Hip-Hop and all other musical genres. We founded a new musical language, a new universal language! Something that everybody everywhere understands! Rap and Hip-Hop don't belong to the ghetto. We never liked the clichés of Gangsta Rap; that's sick! Soul never did any harm to any music! It was a time for new inventions. We took a little bit from every genre and invented something new.
     Inside Cx: What are your plans for the future? A big solo career or another Fugees album? I don't really know. It looks like I'm already having quite a solo career, but I'm also having a family and I want to spend a lot of time with them. I'm in the lucky position that I can lean back and decide what I want to do next. Only time will tell.