Lauryn Hill Interview (page: 4 / 6) Singer, Songwriter & Record Producer	Print Interview

What other people inspired you growing up?

Lauryn Hill: Family. There's no cliché behind that.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I'm in a very close-knit, very, very tight family. My grandmother had 13 kids, so we had a lot of family -- like 50, 60 grandchildren -- and we all lived in Jersey, relatively in the same area. So every time there was something, my entire family was there. And I just believed everybody's family was like that. We were always there for each other. There was a lot of love.

How many siblings do you have?

Lauryn Hill: I only have one. I have a brother.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. My grandmother was such a matriarch that through her children, and then their children, this love, this family structure, this close-knit family structure was implanted in all of us. It really helped to give me the confidence. To know that you have family to go back to is a help. It doesn't always happen biologically. Sometimes God gives you family in other forms, but I was very blessed. I have a very strong biological family.

Is your brother older?

Lauryn Hill: Yeah, he's older, Malaney.

Are you close?

Lauryn Hill: Yes, we are. My brother's so funny. Every day I remember a lot of the things we did growing up. As a matter of fact, he was my first group. We were a music group together. We had a song called "Let's Be Friends." He played the acoustic and I sang. It was a pretty bad song, but those early seeds are planted. They were planted, definitely.

Were there books that were important to you when you were growing up?

Lauryn Hill: Honestly, not very many. I would get my books via my mother's reading. I would sit there, she'd read certain books, and I'd go, "Ma, tell me about it." And I'm sorry I didn't pick them up myself. I didn't do that until a little bit later. I think as a child I was into Ramona Quimby by Beverly Cleary. Yes, Ramona Quimby Age 8, things like that. But I was never an extensive reader until later.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I try not to have a day pass where I don't read something from the Bible, for example. It's like my sustenance to me. If the entire week is a battlefield, it's sort of like that parachute with the box of reserves that come in the middle of the war: food and water and the toothbrush and toilet paper. It's like, "Thank you!" You know? So my reading is definitely... I was very active. I was always all over the place trying to do a million things, just into this activity. If you asked me when I was 14 what I wanted to be: "Activist, first, is my occupation. I am an activist." After it was activist, it was, "I need to be a doctor," and then, "I'm going to minor in law," and this double major. Until I got into college and I was like, "Whoa, wait a minute. This is... wait! I haven't even picked a major yet and this responsibility, and perhaps I should focus." Every day is a lesson in focus for me, and not buying into the world's concept of what you have to be. I really try every day to be individual and not just in my style or my look or my music, but in my approach to life. I don't want to be religious, I want to be spiritual. Anybody can be religious. Some people jog religiously. You don't want to be that, you want to be spiritual. You want to have a relationship with God as opposed to doing what everyone else does. It's about having that unique approach and finding out what works for you. What works for you may not work for someone else, but that's exciting.

You began to perform in public at an early age. Were you encouraged by your parents?

Lauryn Hill: Definitely, definitely, definitely encouraged, definitely!

Get the Flash Player to see this video. When they could have easily said no or, "We have no interest. We're not going to drive you to this audition. We're not going to allow you guys to practice and play the music in the living room." When they could have easily done that, they didn't. And just very, very meaningful. My parents really took a heavy, very serious interest in my creativity from the time I was very young. And not for the sake of -- they didn't know what would come of it, just because I enjoyed it. To me that's a reflection of love, when someone can see you enjoying yourself, and want to participate, or want to encourage, or want to help you to do something that you enjoy. It wasn't about "making her a star," it was just, "Hey she likes to do this, let's support it."

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