New Video: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: Pro Life and Other Catholic Things in Hip Hop

Hip hop, as a cultural tradition, represents a vibrant insistence on human dignity and overcoming injustice. So it’s unsurprising that so many rap songs feature themes of pro life and pro family, in the context of Christian love. In my personal relationship with this beautiful genre, few albums express this love as powerfully as Lauryn Hill’s debut (and only) album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It was an expression of my own love to get to discuss the ways that this work has influenced me, and how it laid the seeds of my eventual conversion to the Catholic Church. I consider this album a deeply reverent expression of Marian devotion. It is also an affirmation that we can only love our unborn children as much as we love ourselves; and we can only love ourselves as much as we understand and accept how much God loves us.

This video is Part One of my Catholic analysis of Lauryn Hill’s masterpiece. I tackle the first four tracks: Lost Ones, Ex-Factor, To Zion, and Doo-Wop (That Thing). I hope you enjoy my take on this album as a Lauryn’s journey from Eve to Mary, and why I see this album as so very, very Catholic!