Addison Road

When I first heard The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998, I thought the top of my head might blow off. And I was certainly not alone — the record garnered 11 Grammy nominations and won 8 of them, included Album of the Year (over Madonna’s Ray of Light and Sheryl Crow’s The Globe Sessions, both darn good albums). Sure, we had heard chicks rap before…but not like this. Sure, we had heard ground-breaking studio production that was a work of art in and of itself…but not like this. And sure, we had heard lyrics that connected relationships, politics, faith and cultural criticism before…but definitely not like this. That album was a smack in the face to all the haters who charged that hip-hop didn’t have anything important to say, and kept saying it without a musical bone in its body. Snap!

Lauryn Hill herself was hailed as a genius, and shot to super-stardom almost overnight, a situation she was quite unprepared for. She was so overwhelmed by both the noteriety and the music industry fiasco that she deliberately dropped off the radar screen for three years, returning in 2001 with an all-acoustic album recorded live for MTV. It was such a radical departure from the pristine production of Miseducation that no one knew quite how to react. Critics and listeners alike were all over the map, half of them lauding her artistic bravery and half consigning her to the has-bin. (MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 went on to sell 5 million copies.)

No. 2.0 is chock-full of angry music: anger about the music industry, anger about social injustice, anger about sin and depravity of all kinds. Listening to “Oh Jerusalem” or “Freedom Time,” it’s clear that Hill is under no illusions that all is right in the world. One of the angriest (and dare I say, prophetic?) tracks is “The Mystery of Iniquity,” a song that verbally eviscerates the idolatry of putting one’s trust in anything but God, including the judicial system. (Hold on, kids. Hill doesn’t write short ditties.)

It’s the mystery of Inequity…
Said it’s the misery of Inequity…
Said it’s the history of Inequity…
When it all…
All falls down…
Telling you all…
It all falls down

Children, eat your bread
Little children, eat your bread
Cuz it all…
All falls down…
Telling you all…
It all falls down

Yo! Ya’ll can’t handle the truth in a courtroom of lies
Perjures the jurors, witness despised
Crooked lawyers, false indictments publicized
Its entertainment…the arraignments
The subpoenas, high profile gladiators in bloodthirsty arenas
Enter the Dragon, black-robe crooked-balance
Souls bought and sold and paroled for thirty talents
Court reporter catch the surface on the paper
File it in the system not acknowledged by the Maker
Swearing by the bible blatantly blasphemous
Publicly perpetrating that “In God We Trust”
Cross-examined by a master manipulator
The faster intimidator, receiving the judge’s favor
Deceiving sabers doing injury to they neighbors
For status, gratis, apparatus and legal waivers
See the bailiff, representing security
Holding the word of God soliciting perjury
The prosecution, political prostitution
The more money you pay, the further away solution
Legal actors, Babylon’s benefactors
Masquerading as the agency for the clients
Hypocritical giants, morally non-compliant
Orally armed to do bodily harm
Polluted, recruited and suited judicial charm
And the defense isn’t making any sense
Faking the confidence of escaping the consequence
That a defendant is depending on the system
Totally void of judgment purposely made to twist em’
Emotional victim blackmailed by the henchmen
Framed by intentions, inventions whereby they lynch men
Enter the false witness slandering the accused
Planting the seed openly showing he’s being used
To discredit, edit, headed for the alleged
Smearing the individual fearing the unsuspected
Expert witness (the paid authority)
Made a priority to deceive the majority
Of disinterested peers, dodging duty for years
Hating the process, waiting to be returning to their careers
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
Blind leading the blind, guilty never defined
Filthy as swine, a generation pure in its own mind
Legal extortion blown out of proportion
In vein deceit, the truth is obsolete
Only two positions: Victimizer or Victim
Both end up in destruction trusting this crooked system
Mafia with diplomas keeping us in a coma
trying to own a piece of the “American Corona”
The Revolving Door, insanity every floor
Skyscraping, paper chasing…What are we working for?
Empty traditions, reaching social positions
Teaching ambition to support the family superstition?
When the Son of Perdition is Commander in Chief
The standard is thief…Brethren, can we candidly speak?
Woe to the men trusted in the chariots, dem’
Leaning on horses, they run their intellectual sources
Counterfeit wisdom creating the illusion of freedom
Confusion consumes them
Every word they speak it turns them out really white
Internally they absent of light
trapped in the night and bonded to the Cain of the night
Under the curse, evil men waxing more worse
Faxing the first angelic being cast to the earth
It’s time for rebirth
Burnin up the branch and the root
The empty pursuits of every tree bearing the wrong fruit
Turning me ill
Let him who stole, no longer steal
Oh it’s real
Surrender for Jehovah is real
How long will you sleep
Troubled by the thoughts that you keep
The idols you heap
Causing the destruction you reap
Judgment has come, find it and return to the One
Abandon the flesh…self-interest: broad way to death
Pride and the Greed, hide and subdividing the seed
The knowledge of Good and Evil is what caused us to lie
Caused us to die
Let your emotions be crucified
Renounce all your thoughts
Repent and let your mind be re-taught
You’ll find what you sought was based on the deception you bought
A perception of naught
Where the majority remains caught

Loving a lie
Not realizing in Adam, all die

It’s the mystery of Inequity
Say it’s the history of Inequity
Say it’s the misery of Inequity
When it all…
All falls down
I’m telling you all…
It all falls down

You may not believe our American justice system is quite as screwed as Hill. If so, lucky you. (After reading this book, my faith is definitely shaken.) But in writing this post and reflecting on the lyrics, the recently-passed Military Commissions Act is what came to my mind, the bill signed into law by the President that suspends the right of habeas corpus for people detained under suspicion of terrorism or connection to terrorists, and gives our government the right to hold suspects indefinitely without being compelled to bring charges in a court of law. I know there are some fans of the bill, but I’m in the camp that believes the minute we dehumanize our enemy by denying him or her the basic rights upon which democracy is built is the minute we become our own enemy. This song reminds us that true justice can never be done outside a humble acknowledgement of God as final and ultimate judge, but it also asks us to examine our current systems and concepts of justice, and be willing to change them where we find they are not truly just.

Next week: “This Land is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie. (ht: Sharolyn)