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Hill says that before Rohan, she had "dysfunctional" relationships. She tried to channel the pain of those experiences into her music. "It wasn't someone writing for me; it wasn't someone telling me what I felt," says Hill, who wrote and produced the songs on Miseducation. "It was exactly how I felt the moment I felt it." Her maverick vision hasn't been without controversy. Late last year a group of four musicians who worked on Miseducation filed a suit claiming they deserved additional songwriting credits. Hill denies the allegations. Gordon Williams, who worked as the sound engineer on every song, says, "Definitely the driving force behind that record was [Hill]."
Her colleagues worry about Hill's frantic pace. "She's a workaholic," says Williams. "She doesn't stop. To be a mother, two times, and then have all this stuff going on is crazy. Sometimes I just look at her and go, 'Lauryn, take it easy.'"
But Hill plans to push ahead. She says the Fugees "definitely aren't broken up," though the members have to "sit down and see where all our heads are at." She has her own production company, and she might steer it in a unique direction: "I'm looking to produce black science-fiction films." Then there's her tour. She'll perform her first solo show in the U.S. on Feb. 18 in Detroit. But she'll take time out to attend the Grammys in Los Angeles on Feb. 24, for which she has received 10 nominations. "There are kids in the audiences now who weren't born when there wasn't hip-hop," says Hill. "They grew up on it; it's part of the culture. It's a huge thing. It's not segregated anymore. It's not just in the Bronx; it's all over the world. That's why I think it's more crucial now that we, as artists, take advantage of our platform."