Many of you chose female rap and r & b artists as your favorites in your survey answers, so this month I am reviewing Lauryn Hill's solo album,

T H E  M I S E D U C A T I O N  O F  L A U R Y N  H I L L 

I really don't listen to rap very often, and I'm not a very big fan of r & b, but I really dig Lauryn's voice. We got to sample it some with the first two Fugees CDs and a bit on Wyclef's solo album as well, but this album lets more of her talent show, since she produced, wrote, arranged, and performed most of it on her own. Joining her on a few tracks are Mary J Blige, D'Angelo, Fundisha Johnson, and Carlos Santana.

Lauryn sings about everything from being a star to being in love. In track 3, To Zion she talks about getting pregnant and deciding to keep the baby even though many people think it could affect her career. When it hurts so bad is a ballad about the familiar unrequited love scenario I loved real, real hard once/But the love wasn't returned/Found out the man I'd die for/He wasn't concerned

As a whole, it's worth checking out. It has several very catchy songs (most notably Lost Ones, Superstar, and the secret track Can't Take My Eyes Off of You). Lyrically it's all good, although I got a little bored with some of the love ballads (like Ex-Factor and Nothing Even Matters for example). But if you enjoy r & b you'll probably like these too.

If someone was talking about a certain tune that you didn't know anything about -- would you pretend that you did? Check out a girl who NEVER wants to look stupid in It Looks As If.

Buy the latest Lauryn Hill CD and tons more cool CDs from our Zone Tones store!