Before the release of Lauryn Hill’s masterful debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the singer met with D’Angelo to record one of the album’s most captivating tracks, “Nothing Even Matters.” The duet would play a part in expanding and nurturing soul’s rebirth in the Nineties, while both artists as individuals would make even deeper impacts felt across genres today. Lauryn HIll’s record took home five Grammy Awards, while D’Angelo would go on to release 2000’s Voodoo and 2014’s Black Messiah (following his own debut, Brown Sugar).
On Tuesday, Hill penned a letter to D’Angelo following the visionary’s passing on Oct. 14 at the age of 51 following a long battle with cancer. “People need reflection,” began Hill in her tribute. “I regret not having more time with you,” she continued. “Your undeniable beauty and talent were not of this world, and a presence not of this world needs protection in a world that covets light and the anointing of God. You sir, moved us, stirred us, inspired and even intimidated others to action with your genius.”
She continued, “Thank you for being a beacon of light to a generation and beyond who had no remembrance of the legacy that preceded us. Thank you for charting the course and for making space during a time when no similar space really existed. You imaged a unity of strength and sensitivity in Black manhood to a generation that only saw itself as having to be one or the other.”
“It is my earnest prayer that you are in peace, far away from selfishness, fear and/or controlling interests. Far from possessiveness, far from greed, far from manipulation, far from exploitation, far from intentionally designed chaos and that you Brother are in peace, in bliss and in eternal light and fulfillment with our Father in heaven,” Hill wrote. “I Love you and I miss you. May God grant peace and shelter to your family, true friends and genuine appreciators, Brother, King.”
When speaking to Rolling Stone in 2008, D’Angelo looked back at this time working with Hill, calling her “warm and sweet.” “Originally, we were going to swap tunes for each other’s projects because I was working on Voodoo at the same time and my keyboardist James Poyser was also working with her,” said D’Angelo at the time. “I went to her house in New Jersey, she played a lot of songs for me and gave me a rough copy to listen to. When Lauryn and I went into the studio together, I laid down my vocals in the course of an hour.”
