Podcasts | Spectacle

A spotlight on Columbia’s Black musicians

By Liza Evseeva / Senior Staff Illustrator
By Adrien Wheaton-Schopp • February 15, 2023 at 12:39 AM


In part one of a two-part exploration of Columbia’s Black musicians, Adrien Wheaton-Schopp discusses the historical context that influenced the figures who paved the way for current Black student-artists. This episode highlights Paul Robeson and Lauryn Hill, two Columbia-affiliated artists who revolutionized their genres both in the eras that they lived in and the ones following. This episode of Spectacle was produced by Julia Hay with original composition by Obi Okoli.

Transcript:

[Adrien Wheaton-Schopp]: New York City has long been a cultural hub for Black musicians in the United States, from the Harlem Renaissance and the early days of jazz and swing to the emergence of hip-hop and rap. Columbia has welcomed some of the city’s most notable Black artists throughout its centuries-long history. Paul Robeson, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Candice Hoyes all attended Columbia at some point in their careers, as well as acclaimed artists, composers, and music scholars like Courtney Bryan, Tyshawn Sorey, Dawn Norfleet, Andile Khumalo, and Althea Sullycole.

This is part one of a two-part exploration into Columbia’s Black musicians. Before delving deeper into the stories of current Black undergraduate artists, this episode of the Spectacle will focus on the historical context and figures who paved the way for them.

[Paul Robeson’s “Ol’ Man River” plays]

[Wheaton-Schopp]: After graduating from the Law School in 1923, Paul Robeson became one of the earliest prominent Black alumni in Columbia’s history. His affinity for music started during his childhood, where he sang in chorus and performed in theater pieces, on top of excelling at football and basketball.

Upon transferring to Columbia from New York University, Robeson was selected to perform at the dedication of the Harlem Young Women’s Christian Association. Following his time at Columbia, he went on to act in over a dozen films, play important roles in theater productions such as Shakespeare’s “Othello,” and release many albums and singles. Today, he’s also remembered for his political activism. One of the first artists to refuse to perform for segregated crowds, he received the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP in 1945.

Skipping forward a few decades, I want to highlight the work of the acclaimed “queen of hip-hop”: Lauryn Hill. Unlike Robeson, when Hill came to Columbia, a more extensive list of Black artists preceded her. Despite this, Hill and Robeson’s music undoubtedly share many of the same themes and revolutionized the perception of their musical genres—Hill burst onto the stage right when hip-hop boomed into the mainstream.


[Lauryn Hill’s “Lost Ones” plays]

[Wheaton-Schopp]: One of the first prominent women in hip-hop, Hill transformed the genre with her unique sound. Born into a middle-class family in New Jersey, Hill was strongly influenced by her parents’ musical proclivity. Growing up, her mother was a pianist and her father a singer: She often cites Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and Gladys Knight as regular voices from her childhood. In high school, Hill was already being recognized for her voice and quickly started performing in off-Broadway shows. This raw talent landed her a gig at the historic Apollo Theater in West Harlem, where she was both cheered and booed by an animated crowd at just 13.

However, it was only upon joining the hip-hop group the Fugees in 1994 that Hill really kick-started her career. In an age before social media, her ascent in the music industry was unprecedented—within a couple years, everyone in the ’90s recognized Hill as the unapologetic star who seemed to appear on the cover of every magazine.

[Fugees’ “Ready or Not” plays]

[Wheaton-Schopp]: Following the release of the Fugees album “Blunted on Reality” and its skyrocketing sales, Hill dropped out of Columbia in 1994 after only one year. Her ensuing success, including the Grammy Award-winning “The Score” and the iconic “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” qualified her as one of the most decorated artists of her generation: She earned eight Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, four NAACP Image Awards, and three American Music Awards.

With “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” Hill boasts a rapid rise to fame and influence. This sudden change of lifestyle is highlighted by the nostalgic sound of her music looking to her past. Effortless and timeless, the track “Every City, Every Ghetto” particularly stands out in the artist’s discography as an ode to her upbringing.

[Hill’s “Every Ghetto, Every City” plays]

[Wheaton-Schopp]: Four years after she released “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” Hill performed “Mystery of Iniquity” for the first time during her “MTV Unplugged No. 2.0” live album.

In this half-sung, half-rapped piece, Hill delivers a sharp and detailed critique of both American capitalism and the crooked criminal justice system that results from it through the lens of systemic racism.


[Hill]: Yo! Y’all can’t handle the truth in a courtroom of lies

Perjures the jurors, witness despised

Crooked lawyers, false indictments publicized

It’s entertainment, the arraignments, the subpoenas

High profile gladiators in bloodthirsty arenas.

[Wheaton-Schopp]: Hill criticizes the hypocrisy of the American legal justice system by highlighting its corruption and consequences.

[Hill]: “The more money you pay, the further away solution.”

[Wheaton-Schopp]: Implicitly signaling to the issue of mass incarceration, Hill despairs at the state of the system that perpetually marginalizes members of her own community. She stresses this with her use of the word “us” in the lines “Mafia with diplomas keeping us in a coma,” and “caused us to die, let your emotions be crucified.” Her rhetorical question in the middle of the piece continues to illustrate the intensity of her feelings:

[Hill]: “Do we expect the system made for the elect


To possibly judge correct? Properly serve and protect?

Materially corrupt, spiritually amuck

Oblivious to the cause, prosperously bankrupt.”

[Wheaton-Schopp]: Hill remains one of the most influential hip-hop artists of all time. She popularized the blending of rap and melodic singing and inspired a long list of artists such as Nicki Minaj, Drake, Kanye West, and SZA. And her work continues to be among the most sampled in pop and hip-hop, appearing in Drake’s “Draft Day” and Kanye West’s “Believe What I Say.”

[“Draft Day” sample plays]

[Wheaton-Schopp]: In today’s episode of the Spectacle, we focused on the profiles of two Black artists—Paul Robeson and Lauryn Hill—and their legacies at Columbia and beyond. Breaking down barriers of race, class, and gender, the two prominent artists revolutionized their genres.

Tune in to the next episode when I’ll talk with Columbia’s music faculty and students about the current experiences of Black musicians at Columbia.

Credits

• Edited by Claire Schnatterbeck


• Produced by Julia Hay

• Additional Music by Obi Okoli

• Illustration by Liza Evseeva

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