Lauryn Hill is an American artist of many genres, soul being one of them. She is a well known artist all over the world. She is an eight-time grammy winner as well as has received many musical awards over the years.

From her song, “Nothing Even Matters” in the album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” the africanisms seen in this song are polyrhythm (finger snaps & bass), group participation (duet), and pitch inflection (a lot of pitch inflection really gives this song a soul feeling) as if Lauryn is really in touch with the message of her song. This song is about the strength of ones’ love that it causes everything else in the world to seem irrelevant. It is a song about the power of love.

The genre of soul comes from a combination of gospel music, rhythm and blues and jazz. The purpose of soul music was for artist to be able to create music with personal meaning. The songs’ message did not have to individually connect with the audience, but at least with the artist. Soul music is huge on emotional honesty and voice intensity. When soul music is performed, it should be able to be felt in the hearts of the people in the audience. That is why Lauryn Hill’s music can be considered soul music, it is because she sings about topics that personally matter to her. Due to that when Lauryn Hill performs she is able to draw from personal experience and emotion. I enjoy soul music because of the way it makes me feel, there is so much emotion in the music. Soul music is great music to listen to when one is in their feelings and needs to cope with it, that is why I believe most people listen to it.  

By: Toluwanimi Araromi