Wyclef Jean believes that Lauryn Hill being booed as a teen while performing at the Apollo Theater pushed her to become the R&B icon she is today.
The three-time Grammy winner was a guest on the latest episode of podcast Still 400, where he discussed his longtime collaborator with hosts Juvenile and Mannie Fresh.
Around the 42-minute mark of the episode below, Wyclef reflected on being introduced by Hill to legendary musicians he wasn’t raised on, like Nina Simone and The Four Tops. He went on to call himself and Hill, who were teens at the time they met, “child prodigies.”
“We was just kids that love music, loved the energy and didn't think we was going to be famous because that was the last thing in our head,” he continued. “It was like I remember us saying we not going to do music, we going to be a movement.”
Wyclef then brought up Hill’s 1988 performance of The Jackson 5’s “Who’s Lovin’ You” at the Apollo when she was 13 years old, which was televised. While the vocalist appeared to be nervous, which incited boos, roughly ten years later, she would win eight Grammys in a single night off the strength of her debut solo album, The Mis-Education of Lauryn Hill.
“And then you could see us later coming back at the Apollo like, ‘We came for revenge,’” Wyclef continued. “‘We came for blood this time.’ She came for blood. She was like, ‘Y'all gonna get this work.’”
Hill and her fellow Fugees later appeared on on It's Showtime at the Apollo, broadcast April 27, 1996, when the group, including former member, Pras Michel, performed before the same Harlem crowd that had once run her off the stage. Despite their multiple hiatuses, the group planned a tour in 2024, which fell apart due to being cancelled under Hill’s discretion. The group has released two albums, Blunted on Reality and their seven-times RIAA-certified Platinum The Score.
