Did you ever find what you were looking for?

Sometimes you hear a song or a new album by an artist you like and it just grabs you. It´s hot. It´s got it going on, and before you know it you´re head is bouncing and your feet are moving. But other times you hear something by a musician you thought you knew and loved, one you thought you understood and it´s completely unlike what you expected. You thought they were zigging and it turns out they were a-zagging. And you walk away confused not knowing what to think.

And sometimes that bit of art just sticks in the back of your mind. It just kinda eats away at you. And you go back to it time and time again and maybe what you think and feel changes with every listening. And you struggle with it, and you ponder about it, and when you least expect it a song jumps into your mind and you feel like maybe you have an idea of what they´re talking about, and it´s like you just heard it for the first time.

Lauryn Hill started out humbly before she exploded beyond belief. She and the Fugees broke all kinds of records, she killed us softly with that voice of hers. When she went solo she was still dropping killer beats and doing that thing she did. But you could kinda feel the change coming on. She sold millions or records and collected more than a handfull of Grammy´s.

But when she came out with her Unplugged 2.0 album it was entirely different than what I think anyone expected. Gone were the finely produced rhythms and enchanting vocals. It was just her and an acoustic guitar and her bracelet jangling along for accompanyment. Her voice cracked, her fingers missed the chords she was strumming, she stopped and started in the middle of songs and broke down and cried as she played. The lyrics were hard to follow, deep and introspective.

Critics and fans couldn´t agree on anything. Some piled on the critical praise, some though she must be having a nervous breakdown. But as I reflect on that album now I think it must be among the most courageous things any artist has ever put out. She wasn´t what she was supposed to be, she kept it real by ignoring everything everyone thought she should be doing and defining her own path.

That album is raw and open like Dylan´s ¨Blood on the Tracks¨ It´s defying the same way Beck´s ¨Sea Change¨was. It´s like when Bruce Springsteen went to Nebraska or when Cat Stevens gave up music altogether because he didn´t believe in it anymore. It´s like when Nirvana started the whole Unplugged trend by doing what they weren´t supposed to. Or like when Marvin Gaye asked What´s Going On, or Charlie Parker started playing with strings.

I haven´t heard much from Lauryn since that album came out. I don´t know what she´s up to, but I suspect she found that piece of mind she was looking for. And if not Lauryn, you know it´s just right there, all you gotta do is reach out and grab it.