Hip-Hop And The BiblePrøve

“Lauryn Hill Embeds Bible Verses Within Popular Songs” Grammy Award-winning superstar, Lauryn Hill, first captured the world’s attention with her performance in the box-office hit, Sister Act 2, in which she played Catholic high-school student Rita Louise Watson. In one of the film’s most famous scenes, she sang a duet of the iconic hymn “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” (with Tanya Blount) that was derived from Psalm 32:8 and Matthew 6:26. It wouldn’t be the last time Hill would rely on the Bible for inspiration. In fact, on her multi-platinum selling debut solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, she based much of the song “Tell Him” on 1 Corinthians 13. Let me be patient let me be kind Make me unselfish without being blind Though I may suffer I'll envy it not And endure what comes 'Cause he's all that I got and tell him Now I may have faith to make mountains fall But if I lack love then I am nothin' at all I can give away everything I possess But left without love then I have no happiness I'll never be jealous And I won't be too proud 'Cause love is not boastful Ooh and love is not loud Now I may have wisdom and knowledge on earth But if I speak wrong then what is it worth? See what we now know is nothing compared To the love that was shown when our lives were spared and tell him Hill also invokes Luke 23:34 throughout the song “Forgive Them Father,” and confirmed that her biblical references throughout the album were intentional. “Gospel music is music inspired by the gospels,” Hill was quoted in the book Lauryn Hill: She’s Got That Thing. “In a huge respect, a lot of this music turned out to be just that. During this album, I turned to the Bible and wrote songs that I drew comfort from.” And then, on her critically acclaimed live album Unplugged 2.0, Hill continued her biblically-themed lyrics including several direct biblical quotes and paraphrases on the song “Oh Jerusalem.” From Romans 7:24: Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me From the body of this death? From Proverbs 3:5-7: Trust in the Lord with all thy heart And lay not to thine, oh an understanding in all thy ways Acknowledge him, and he shall direct our paths Be not wise in thine own eyes and you can follow him From John 15:4-5 Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear Fruit of itself except in the vine I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that lives in me And I in him, the same bring forth much fruit Without me, you can do nothing During an interlude from that same album, Hill paraphrased 2 Corinthians 10:12 while discussing her desire to be true to herself and not conform to what others expected her to be: “Here’s a scripture in the Bible that we, what does it say, it says ‘We compare ourselves amongst ourselves,’ you know. That’s not the standard. You already are the standard. What are you trying to fit into a standard for? We were created to be individual standards, you know. And we’re trying to fit into a standard? It doesn’t make any sense, you know. So now I’m just, you know, after all that, I’m just ready to be me.”