I know most people have been working under the assumption that Lauryn Hill was driven crazy by Rohan Marley. I submit that he was probably the end of the process. So I recently borrowed “The Score” to add to my iTunes/iPod etc. I used to own it…but despite losing it, the version I bought was a cassette and I’m not built for that transfer. So anyway I load it up and I’m rocking it all this morning and something hit me. I recall thinking about it the first year I had the album, but now looking back it just has more meaning to me. My friends…The Fugees had hate in their heart. Now I know you’re wondering why I’ve come to that conclusion, you’re probably suspecting me of some shenanigans. When you listen to the album for yourself you’ll see what I’m saying. Everyone who is a fan, emcee, producer or has any history with Hip-Hop knows this simple truth: The best verse goes last. This is the point within a group where you find out who knows how to be honest and humble. When you write a verse you’re trying to produce the best you can. When it’s time to put the song together, you have to do what’s right for the song. So if the verse that you knew was the best one in the universe isn’t quite as good as the one your partner wrote…they need to go last. It’s different if there are two people, because you need a strong opening as well. So switching back and forth between first and last is easy. When there are three or more people then you start to find out what the deal is. A weak verse can be hidden between two stronger ones, a strong verse can clean up behind two weaker ones. Three weak verses means go get job applications. The hardest and at the same time easiest scenario is several strong verses. It’s not so much a matter of which is better, but which is appropriate for each slot. This is when humility and honesty really comes into play. When your verse is great and ends up in the middle you can feel a certain way when you don’t accept that the others were built more to open and close the song. This is leads me to the insanity that is “The Score” as good of an album as it is, NO ONE come close to touching any of Lauryns verses. The problem is that she is either first or in the middle of just about every song on the album! I’ll present the best example/worst offender of the whole bunch….Manifest.

Just for the record I’ll include the text version of her verse.

You see I loved hard once, but the love wasn’t returned
I found out the man I’d die for, he wasn’t even concerned
And time it turned,
He tried to burn me like a perm
Though my eyes saw the deception, My heart wouldn’t let me learn
From um, some, dumb woman, was I,
And everytime he’d lie, he would cry and inside I’d die.
My heart must have died a thousand deaths
Compared myself to Toni Braxton thought I’d never catch my breath
Nothing left, he stole the heart beating from my chest
I tried to call the cops, that type of thief you can’t arrest
Pain suppressed, will lead to cardiac arrest
Diamonds deserve diamonds, but he convinced me I was worth less
when my peoples would protest,
I told them mind their business, cause my s*** was complex
More than just the sex
I was blessed, but couldn’t feel it like when I was caressed
I’d spend nights clutching my breasts overwhelmed by God’s test
I was God’s best contemplating death with a Gillette
But no man is ever worth the paradise MANIFEST

Look…there are certainly some better verses out in the universe….but I’ll be damned if there are many. Something no one can deny is that this man:

(Picture added so you can boo him on sight)

This man, Pras, has NEVER put together a verse that could touch anything that Lauryn has ever done. That acoustic MTV album….still better then anything he ever did, has done or will ever do.

SO HOW IN THE HELL DOES HER VERSE GET PLACED BETWEEN WYCLEF AND ONE WRITTEN BY THIS INDIVIDUAL WHO CLAIMS TO BE ABLE TO RHYME!?!?!?!?!

What the hell type of shenanigans came about to make that happen? Not only that stellar verse on that one song…but through most of the album. I understand that a group may not want to keep the same order going….but frankly Pras should almost never be the last person to spit on a song. Maybe if you get various friends of famous emcees and give them a song…perhaps then. When you have Lauryn Hill….NO! I contend that whatever type of insanity had Lauryn Hill placed in stupid positions on songs was the beginning of her fall into insanity. I blame those two dudes for not cherishing a precious gem and talent in Ms. Hill and instead putting their ego ahead of all logic and common sense. Thanks guys…thanks a fricking lot.