Thoroughly enjoyed this book! Full review on my blog: http://www.soshewritesbymissdre.com/2...

A short banger of a book. Loved that it was written by smart women who love hiphop, and that it included numerous conversations about feminism, black identity and femininity. I also appreciated that the author gave a critical analysis of the Miseducation album instead of just blowing smoke up Lauryn Hill's ass. Complete with a great play list that a top female DJ put together to honor Hill's legacy, this book is an all around great read for anyone who appreciates music, fashion, and politics.

Lovers of hip-hop, soul, the 90’s & all-around badass women.. this one is for you. We’ve praised Lauryn and crucified her in the same breath. Joan breaks down Hill’s most prized body of work so eloquently, flaws and all . 👏🏿👏🏿

SIX WORD REVIEW: Got sad for what once was.

Absolute fire! Whose idea was it to conceive of this project with Joan as scribe? A perfect pairing. Joan Morgan and Lauryn Hill. This is Davis and Coltrane. Lennon and McCartney. Shaquille and Kobe. Right from the start this book screams greatness. Kierna Mayo sets the table with a lavishly elegant forward and Joan Morgan takes the assist and keeps the ball moving forward with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight. Joan is both point guard and closer dishing out assists and receiving them from the tal...

Joan Morgan is an award winning journalist and cultural critic. One of the original staff writers for Vibe, her work has also appeared in More, Ms, and Giant magazines. Over the course of her career she also served as editor for Spin and Essence. Morgan is probably best known for her 1999 work When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: A Hip-Hop Feminist Breaks It Down which examines the strange dichotomy of feminists within the male-dominated world of hip-hop. How is a woman supposed to handle such

She Begat This was fine. I mean, it accomplished what it set out do. I just wanted it to do something different. I ride for Joan Morgan. Chickenheads changed my life as did Miseducation. "I Used to Love Him" was a huge part of my hip hop work. Naturally, when I read the Essence excerpt, I had high hopes for the book. When I acquired it, I was disappointed that it was so small. When I opened it, I was surprised to find myself in a Morgan memory and not a Hill one. Then I realized She Begat This i...

What a perfect celebration of the legendary record that is the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and of Ms. Lauryn Hill, in all her humanness. Yo, I'm shook that I didn't read this earlier. Joan Morgan captures what the game-changing, Grammy-winning, record-breaking album meant to women everywhere, and Black women in particular, upon it's release. Ms. Hill was simultaneously embracing the culture, scolding the culture, living in and illuminating the culture and yet rebuking the standards set by all cu...

Some of this book is awesome really great insights. Amazing women of hip hop weighing in on Hill and her importance in the culture. Some of it reads as 40-50 year old black women laying claim to all good black stuff and over indulging on their responsibility for the culture. It’s a mixed bag. The context stuff is great.

“Lauryn exemplified our complexity and how those complexities could complement each other. Black women are dynamic. We can be sexy. And tomboy. And radical. And church girl. And visionary. With wizardry.”She Begat This is an insightful and thought provoking examination of Lauryn Hill’s only album and, to an extent, the rest of her career. The author and those whom she interviews provide reflections upon music, culture, feminism, blackness, motherhood, and placing artists on pedestals. The book d...

I got the audiobook from the library, so didn't realize how short this is.It's very short.It's under 4 hours.There isn't anything in this book that doesn't belong, but I would have liked more depth and breadth in all areas.That said, I really liked it.

The soundtrack of a generation. Awesome playlist at the end of the book.

****1/2 for content***1/2 for structureThe Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was part of the soundtrack to my formative years. I remember her as a critical darling. She won all the awards. The album was a PHENOMENON.My fond memories of the music and times in which Miseducation came out plus Bookstagram brought me to Joan Morgan’s She Begat This: 20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. If you’re looking for a musical critique of each song from this album and/or a titillating behind-the scenes look...

This was the book I didn't even know I needed in my life. Journalist Joan Morgan mashed up a biography of Lauryn Hill with a lesson on black history. Morgan tackles the issue of systemic racism in our justice system, how clack families have existed in America throughout history, the struggles of women in America, particularly the struggles of black women. Did I, along with some many people, think that Lauryn Hill was a little too full of herself when she went from being Lauryn Hill to, "Call me

A book about one of the most influential ALBUMS on it's 20th year anniversary? Yes sign me up! This album has a very special place in my heart as a Jamaican, and as a man who loves music. When this album dropped I was a barley old enough to walk myself to school, but I remember hearing my mom sing every single word, track one to track fifteen, every Saturday, whilst doing our cleaning. Joan Morgan, provides us with a deep dive into the cultural impact of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, while al...

"I would like another Miseducation, but Lauryn might not be capable of doing that. That happens to a lot of artists. It's an unfair burden. But I can leave it there because nothing in the world can unmake that one album. She gave it to us. That's her gift to the world." --Akiba Solomon"Lauryn Hill is an artist who does what she wants to do. She chooses whether or not to share her work with the world or keep it to herself. That kind of respect for her own genius is something we all need to apprec...

It's ok. I was initially excited about this book, but as I began to read it, I realized that it wasn't really resonating with me. Not because I don't like Joan Morgan (I do) or I don't like Lauryn Hill (I do). Perhaps it was the writing style, which read too much like a magazine article and got so boring at times that I found myself skipping pages. There's also the not-so-flattering comments made about Lauryn from some of the people interviewed in the book that I could have done without, especia...

An obvious must-read for any and all lovers of Lauryn Hill and Miseducation. She Begat This is a quick, insightful investigation into Hill’s influence immediately pre- and post- Miseducation, and a look into how her disappearance from public life affects our understanding of her cultural significance today. Like other reviewers, I did feel the book was a little uneven and too short; that said, Morgan’s love for Hill is apparent, and her interviews with other black women contemporaries who came u...

Three stars is generous here, but the fact is that any book on Lauryn Hill and Miseducation sort of enters the discussion with three stars because of how interesting its subject is. Morgan spends most of the book asking friends about their memories of encountering and living with Miseducation as younger women. It's perhaps a credit to Morgan (and certainly to Lauryn) that most of the reviews of this book here begin with the reviewer remembering her/his own first encounter with Miseducation. Such...

She Begat This reads as part love letter, part in-depth analysis of Lauryn Hill's 1998 solo debut. As someone who deeply loves and remembers the release of that album, reading through this book was both nostalgic (especially with references made to musical artists, groups, and songs that were concurrently popular at the time) and intriguing, in the ways in which the text examined the fortuitousness of the album's release through the lens of musical and even political events. Morgan dialogs with