Lauryn Hill thought nobody wanted to hear her 1998 album. It went on to win five Grammys and define a decade

Lauryn Hill doubted whether listeners would accept an album built around her singing, having made her name as the rapper in the Fugees. Her solo debut, *The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill*, blended singing and rapping across hip hop, soul, reggae and other influences, helping establish a sound that has since become common in pop.

Recorded from September 1997 to June 1998, the album sold 422,000 copies in its first week in August 1998, then a record for a woman, and its single ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’ reached number one in the US. Hill won five of her ten Grammy nominations in 1999, including Album of the Year, and the record has sold more than 20 million copies. It remains her only studio album.