The Love Movement(or How Spirituality Helped Lauryn and D’Angelo Change the Face of Soul Music)
by Claude Grunitzky, photography by Warren Du Preez

There’s something about Lauryn. About the way she strolls into a crowded lower Manhattan photo studio and commands immediate attention. About the way she sings along to her own songs on New York’s Hot 97 radio station. About the way she steals glimpses of her boyfriend [Rohan Marley] from the corner of the mirror’s eye. About the way she is utterly unimpressed that September afternoon when her manager walks in and announces that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the number one record in America and fastest-selling female debut ever.

And there’s something about D’Angelo. He sits smoking weed in the middle of a large leather couch, all baggy homeboyness and reflective silence. He talks about his childhood church, about his little boy, and you hear the preacher’s son in his slow, measured delivery of words, but the next minute he’s mentioning DMX’s “Ruff Ryders Anthem” which he refers to as, “the music we want to hear right now.” In a second he’ll rise to be styled and when he returns from the dressing room he is souled-out Sunday-best preacher’s son again.

Right now, Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo are on the verge of reinventing the way young America feels about hip hop soul. If Puff Daddy can be fully credited as the inventor of a sound that was best reflected in the mid-‘90s music of Jodeci and Mary J. Blige, then D’Angelo can rightfully claim that his debut single— 1995’s “Brown Sugar”—heralded a movement whereby the philosophy of hip hop could be successfully adapted to the luscious harmonies of soul music as we once knew it. The buzz generated by D’Angelo’s first album in both R&B and hip hop circles enabled it to sell close to two million copies, and overnight D’Angelo emerged as more than a catalyst. Suddenly, he was a keeper of some sort of new soul idealism. This year, drawing from her Fugees experience while venturing into a personal quest for sincerity, Lauryn seized D’Angelo’s brief and released the solo record we’d all been waiting for.

Next February, D’Angelo will expand on his initial agenda, and release Voodoo, an addictive concoction of soul food where the songs are the male answer to all the female dilemmas enumerated in Miseducation. The street record that is currently being circulated on underground airwaves, “Devil’s Pie,” was produced by D’Angelo and DJ Premier. You could call it D’Angelo’s “Lost Ones”. “The Root”, with its backward guitar solos, could be compared to Lauryn’s “To Zion.” “Send it On”, which benefits from the musicianship of Roy Hargrove and The Roots’ ?uestlove, has the potential to be another “Doo Wop(That Thing.” And “Untitled”, a stunning Prince tribute, which D’Angelo produced with Raphael Saadiq, contains a chorus that asks,How does it feel? For that reason alone, “Untitled” is a song in the key of Miseducation’s eye-opening title track.

Dominique Trenier, the president of Cheeba Sound, D’Angelo’s Virgin-distributed record company, says that D’Angelo called him one day and said, “Either I’m under a spell, or everybody who’s listening to this shit is under a spell. I wanna call this album Voodoo.” And because you’re not hearing drum machines but real drums, or horn machines but real horns, Voodoo is reminiscent of Miseducation in its deliberate attempt to set a new standard for music and articulate the contradictions of urban life in America. A telling episode came during the photo shoot, Lauryn suggested to the photographer that they try a Marvin and Diana pose for the cover, and D’Angelo complied. At 24, Lauryn and D’Angelo have succeeded in emulating the R&B greats. And soon they could be legends in their own right.

TRACE: D’Angelo and I were talking about God. How can you draw from God and create music, that’s where I saw the connection between you two [D’Angelo and Lauryn], because the inspiration comes from God.
D’ANGELO: It’s God and I’m saying it doesn’t have to be one religion, but it’s still…
LAURYN HILL: One God, yeah[laughs].

TRACE: What I’m really interested in is the creative process. How do you translate your emotions to so many people on a worldwide level?
LAURYN HILL: There are a couple of ways you can approach music. Some people approach it on a groove basis, they like to make people move. There are some people who approach it on an intellectual basis, they like to make people think. I like to approach music where I can make people groove and make people think. I don’t like to separate myself from the audience. I don’t like to do music about what I got and you don’t got, it’s about what we have in common. So I find myself writing very heartfelt music about my personal experiences, things that I’ve been through…That’s the easiest thing because they’re closest to the nerve of me, a lot closer to the skin. A lot of people say that if a record is very personal it’s very hard to do, but I think it would have been harder to do if I’d had to pretend to be someone else or put on a face. My music is very honest because it’s for the people and directly inspired by God. I think that neither myself nor D’Angelo are trying to be pretentious or too deep. I think we are just really relating who we are; we are like the combination of our influences and also who we’ve become, what we’ve grown into in this hip hop thing coming from the church, being inspired by soul music—and I know I got a little reggae up in me, y’nah mean? It just comes in the way that it does.

TRACE: Your music is so honest, but I think there are two types of people in this hip hop thing. Some people will do anything to taste the ‘American Dream’ and some people just project who they are without chasing anything.
LAURYN HILL: I think it also depends on their relationship with God too. It’s very easy to chase that [American Dream], or to want to chase that—there’s a lot of desire and temptation around us constantly. Most people in hip hop are under 24 years old, at least when they start, so they’re very young. Things are tempting, and by the time they’ve matured enough to realize that all the superficial, monetary shallow stuff don’t count, usually their career span is not able to do it anymore. But then you have certain people who know what touched us in our lives…perhaps it was the fact that D’Angelo’s father was a preacher…actually know that it was the Father. Everybody has a corner to hold, and I think you can’t necessarily recognize the music of D’Angelo, without differentiating it from that something else.

TRACE: Some people can differentiate.
LAURYN HILL: I think we are inspired to do what we do for a reason. There are people who relate like, you know, there was music that touched me when I was growing up. I think we have a job to do for our generation.

TRACE: The moral responsibility for the youth because you’re like their heroes, because there is no political leadership in this country really…
LAURYN HILL: Because music’s raising babies right now.

TRACE: For me, the greatest record is Innervisions. For me that’s the perfect record, it contains every single human emotion.
LAURYN HILL: Definitely, definitely. I think that’s why we take so long on our albums, because it’s not just about anything, it’s not about releasing a hit. You know it’s not easy in the industry today because the industry doesn’t develop artists anymore, they develop hit singles—not even hit albums. So it really takes a lot of strength and a lot of courage to take your time and really evolve, to push envelopes and kinda broaden the base of hip hop, because a lot of people are trying to swing on the coast-tails of somebody else’s success, y’nah mean?
D’ANGELO: She’s right on point man, there isn’t nobody in the industry that think like that, it’s not even the industry, it’s in general, you know what I mean? Everybody got different motivations—people be in it for different reasons. The reason Lauryn is on is the same reason I’m in.

TRACE: At the same time, someone from the outside could say that you benefited greatly from the singles thing. Both of you had hit singles and the way a person maybe would never have heard of you if not for “Killing Me Softly” or “Brown Sugar”.
LAURYN HILL: That’s a lesson that comes from making the music. But I don’t think we sat in the studio and thought, “Okay, we can easily make this hot single that’s gonna blaze.” That wasn’t motivation behind making the music. You have music from your heart, from your soul…and if people feel it, that’s wonderful, you know what I’m saying? That’s the motivation [behind the music], it wasn’t to top the Billboard [charts]…
D’ANGLEO: Our music comes from the heart…
LAURYN HILL: Yeah!

TRACE: I think the problem when you’re a new artist trying to create music, is that it’s so difficult to express oneself accurately. Some people find it easy to express themselves, they have so many feelings inside themselves but when it comes out the way it comes out, they feel that “This is not really me”. Have you ever felt you released something that wasn’t really you, that you were ashamed of it,that, “This record is not really me and I’m ashamed people are going to see me in that light”?
LAURYN HILL: I…er…um, have you ever had that experience? [to D’Angelo]
D’ANGELO: I…I was one time, one time…
LAURYN HILL: Yeah, I think one time [both laugh].
D’ANGELO: You know what? When it happened, I was doing it for the money—I had a taste for clothes, I had bills to pay. When I approach it from that point of view I ain’t gonna be proud of that.
LAURYN HILL: Believe it or not, the record company [Columbia] tied and gagged me to put [the Frankie Valli cover] “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” on the album. It was never intended for release, it was supposed to be for The Score: The Movie [laughing]. It was for money that I made that song [still laughing]. D’ANGELO: For me it was a thing where I did the song—I probably wrote it when I was 17 or 18 years-old, you know—people were like “Put it out”. People don’t know how much, or can’t estimate how much…
LAURYN HILL:…How much they’ll drive us to.
D’ANGELO: But I learned.
LAURYN HILL: Just like for me, being a female, for the images and stuff. I remember doing a photo shoot and because I was surrounded by two guys, they were always going to make me stick out, they wanted to put me into something short and tight, and I used to be like, “Yo, you know I’m not really into…you know”, and they used to be like, “No, you look fabulous!” and I be like, “Nah, they crazy.” But then like a fool I wore it, they snapped the pictures and of course the publication would come out and I be like, “See, I do look like a fool”, and everybody be like, “Yo L, I don’t know what that fur coat you had on was doing.” You know what I’m saying? So because it’s like…our image that’s out there, and will be out there for years to come, I think we got to be very strict about what we allow to be released of ourselves because it’s us. It’s like this is our heart and this is our soul, and this is what gets out to the public.

TRACE: I’ve noticed over the years how both of you have taken real drastic steps to take more control of the image, of the music, of everything…
LAURYN HILL: Because we both know how it feels to be exploited. We don’t like being taken advantage of.

TRACE: Does there come a point where you think maybe you wouldn’t have been able to take control if you hadn’t been so successful?
LAURYN HILL: Yeah, it’s hard, definitely it’s hard. I know people who say, “I wish I could do that, but they just won’t allow me.” It is hard.

TRACE: How did you get the confidence to say, ”I’m going to take control over this [Miseducation] project”?
LAURYN HILL: It wasn’t even confidence, it wasn’t even a decision, it was like I was making music and before I knew it, I had this narrative. To me what’s in my heart and in my soul, it would have been harder for me to articulate that to somebody else, rather than just do that myself.
D’ANGELO: That’s right, that’s the whole thing that I deal with now. Because when I’m doing the music usually I start out everything myself, you know? I’m not skilled on all instruments how I am on the piano, you know, it’s my main instrument. I know what I wanna hear and, and…whether it’s scratchin’ or whatever, you know, I just play a rough little thing first, or just get somebody else to play it…
LAURYN HILL: Exactly, exactly, exactly…[throughout]
D’ANGELO: But it’s got to be that voice.
LAURYN HILL: Same way man, same way. Exact same process.

TRACE: There are so many similarities between you; both your families from Virginia, too. Did you feel that when you just met you knew you would get along? Like there was something there?
LAURYN HILL: When I first heard D’Angelo, I was just like…”Oh my God!”… I was overwhelmed, I was just happy ‘cause he set it down for real music, real soul. I was like, “Yeah, that’s it, that’s it, that’s exactly what we been missing.” He filled in the void…

TRACE: [to D’Angelo]…and you told me earlier you felt the same way.
D’ANGELO: I saw you a long time ago, Lauryn, before The Score had come out.
LAURYN HILL: Where were you?
D’ANGELO: I saw you in Sister Act [Laughter]. I had no idea who you were, I just thought you had an amazing voice, and the next time I saw you was on some MTV thing.
LAURYN HILL: Yeah at Unplugged…Hey yo. old ladies used to cuss me out, “Why you rapping girl?”
D’ANGELO: I couldn’t tell for the longest, I was like, “Is that her?” But the first time I ever talked to you was at an awards show, you grabbed me to the side and just talked to me, told me some real inspiring things…that, like, motivated me.
LAURYN HILL: I was so proud, I was just proud.
D’ANGELO: I was like, “Yo, I love L.” Now that’s love, that’s real love.

TRACE: “Nothing Even Matters” is beautiful. I read other people’s reviews, not just our own. Everybody loves that record.
LAURYN HILL: We got another one to do [for D’Angelo’s upcoming album]. It ain’t even done yet. We got this thing going on, it’s like reciprocity, you know what I’m saying?
D’ANGELO: We call her the princess, man, everybody in my camp, at the studio—it’s been like that just…Boom! Whatever, you know what I’m saying, she’s a princess, she’s a representative of what we are doing, she’s doing it very, very strongly. She’s the one.

TRACE: Lauryn, being such a huge star, being recognized all over the world and that kinda stuff, is that something that’s hard to deal with?
LAURYN HILL: You see my jewelry hasn’t changed, you know what I’m saying? We walk the streets, I’m not bothered, so it’s the attention that you seek that’s what comes back. I’m not driving around in limos and I’m not shopping for furs, we keep it real.

TRACE: Have there been times when your people were like, “Girl, you trippin’. This whole Fugee thing is getting to your head?”
LAURYN HILL: That’s why I’ve surrounded myself with family. I don’t ever think I tripped on that level, I think I was probably being attracted to drama, for a minute. I probably tripped on what every young girl growing up trips on. It’s all over the album, but I never tripped on myself…
D’ANGELO:…It was more on….
D’ANGELO & LAURYN HILL: …everything that was going on around you.
LAURYN HILL: Yeah, you know what I’m saying. But also with God at the center, Him saying, “This is the ground that gathers you.” When I met Carlos Santana—here’s this man whose music I grew up on and he was telling me about how it must be hard to be me. I was like, “Who you talkin’ to?” It seemed to me that all the real artists are humble, humble spirits, but some people…
D’ANGELO:…they got problems.
LAURYN HILL: It’s heavy, you know. If you really made a commitment to music, if you made a commitment to God, then you ain’t trippin’.
D’ANGELO: ‘cause you know where it comes from…
LAURYN HILL:…You know exactly where the source is.

TRACE: And that’s why Bob Marley’s spirit lives on. Now you’re a part of the family—you’re close to all that. Can you still feel the spirit of Bob Marley to this day?
LAURYN HILL: I recorded part of this album at Tuff Gong, and I’m telling you we felt the spirit. [To D’Angelo] You got to go there and record. On my God! Whenever you want to come, let me know.
D’ANGELO: I gotta come, I never ever been there.
LAURYN HILL: Let me tell you, and whenever you talking about licking come basslines, on my God, and there’s this young bass player…he had this bass which was like the color of natural wood—I used to call it ‘The Tree’—and the sound used to be so heavy we’d be like, “Jesus, yo.”
D’ANGELO: That’s the sound, that’s what we been trying to find, what we been trying to look for.
LAURYN HILL: [To D’angelo] How was, um..how did you…you know what I’m talking about, Electric Lady [recording studio]? Because, you know if you listen to albums. Like from 1974, ’75,’76, that’s when music started sounding different, that’s when the technology changed. So if you want that raw sound you have to really work it to record it in that same tight…you know what I’m saying? Heavy sound. It’s not easy man, you got to work at that.
D’ANGELO: I got an engineer, he was assisting during them days, you know, there was no automation. So he really seen how the masters do it—mic, the drums, put the amp on it and he be in the corner on the DAT board. I be like, “What de doing down there.”
LAURYN HILL: Yo listen, Carlos [Santana] put this mic behind the amp, behind something else, yo it was crazy so you only got the box of his sound, it was so ill, I was like, “Oh my God!”
D’ANGELO: That’s like the warped sound. Probably now it’s just all digital, hook the shit straight to the computers, and you’re not thinking about the…
LAURYN HILL:…ambiance…
D’ANGELO: …the acoustics, that’s the whole sound.

TRACE: That gets me back to Innervisions. How do you feel about that record?
LAURYN HILL: It’s an all-time classic, when I’m Mcing, I always be flowing Stevie up in the rhymes.

TRACE: I remember one CD I bought in London a couple of years ago. It was “Blame it On The Sun”, a John Peel Session that was a B-side to a Fugees single you released.
LAURYN HILL: Stevie was like….please, please. I can’t even begin to tell you.

TRACE: Have you hung out with him?
LAURYN HILL: Yeah, a little something. He’s a brilliant man. Yo, you know that’s all God.

TRACE: [To D’Angelo] Have you hung out with him too?
D’ANGELO: He sang “Shit, Damn Motherf**ker” to me…
LAURYN HILL: Stop lyin’. [Laughs]
D’ANGELO: When I was walkin’ him around and he was singin’ “Shit, Damn Motherf**ker” to me and I couldn’t do anything after that, I was shocked man.
LAURYN HILL: When I was nine years old, we happened to be in the same restaurant. My father was like, “Lauryn, sing for him.” I was like, “Dad, you better stop playing me.” Yo, in the middle of this man’s brunch I think I got up on the table and was like, “La la la…”

TRACE: What did he say? How did he react?
LAURYN HILL: I sang one his songs of course! When you see Stevie that’s all you can think of, you can’t think of no other song. Yo, it was either that or Mary Poppins. I remember what I sang, but he was so sweet. He was so sweet man, but I was speechless. I tell you though…listen, when it came to singing, yo…when I had my child though, my voice changed. It’s just now that it is becoming the same. Women go through some crazy stuff, yo. Like my body was…[laughs] and my voice was weird.

TRACE: You’re seven months pregnant and your record is number one, do you feel like maybe people are making too many demands of you as a person?
LAURYN HILL: People will always make demands, it’s how far you allow them to go, that’s what I’m realizing now. It’s cool if they knocking, that’s a blessing ‘cause they could definitely not be knocking. It’s just as far as me, you know? I have to make decisions wisely and take into consideration I’m not the 16-year-old I was when I started in this industry. You know when you 16, you’re naïve and you just want to do everything and I really exhausted myself. Now I just choose wisely.
D’ANGELO: You learn to make choices.
LAURYN HILL: Very smart man, see he can tell you. My brother right here.

TRACE: I can see all the warmth, I can feel the love. There’s not that much black love out there right now…
LAURYN HILL: When black love is there, it’s the strongest thing, yo.

TRACE: It comes from suffering, years of suffering.
LAURYN HILL: It comes from struggle, struggle then love. For the record: let it be known that Lauryn loves D’Angelo.

The Q&A with D'Angelo!