MTV Unplugged No. 2.0

Either Lauryn Hill’s Unplugged was hip-hop’s most powerful artistic document to emerge post-9/11 or it was a colossal misfire. Picture Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska as a hip-hip moment: an acoustic, commercially alienating personal project, unsettling, straight-forward, biting. Unplugged lost points over her raspy vocals, elementary guitar chord command, “emotionally unstable” rambling and oblique lyrics. She directs “Mr. Intentional” either toward the record industry, the American Dream, or an old lover. The target of “I Gotta Find Peace of Mind” could be inspired be Rohan Marley (her ex) or white supremacy. Full of reggae polemics and biblical metaphors, Unplugged added layers to Miss Hill’s artistry in full view of the public in real time, for better or worse.