Lauryn Hill Gets Accused of Being a Diva

By: Taren Vaughan

Lauryn Hill has made her way back onto the music scene much to her fans’ delight as they have been anticipating the lyrically gifted female emcee to make her long awaited comeback. Currently touring with Nas at the moment, Lauryn Hill has been enjoying the warm rounds of applause that she has been getting at her shows and all the support and love that people have been showing her, despite one incident where she was said to have left her fans hanging. As many people are thrilled that Lauryn is back at it again, there are some that are bound and determined to not let her enjoy were comeback moment as former band mate Wyclef Jean spoke out about the affair that he had with Lauryn in his new book and even claimed that she lied to him about carrying his child. Lauryn’s ex Rohan Marley went off about Wyclef’s claims, saying that Wyclef knew that Lauryn was not pregnant with his baby. It was only a matter of time before Lauryn herself addressed the comments that had been made about her during one of her performances. It seems though that Wyclef is not the only one who has some negative words about Lauryn as some of her former band members have spoken out, alleging that they have seen some strange behaviors from the artist, one being that she has clothes for days and spends thousands of dollars on them:

According to Owens, Hill has an affinity for Le Méridien hotels, where she rents three suites for a month at a time, and one suite is exclusively for her clothes. He adds that she’s known to tour via three private jets, but on commercial flights her wardrobe racks up luggage fees as high as $30,000.

And Owens adds that Lauryn is very particular about the way that she is addressed:

It’s “Ms. Hill,” not “Miss” or “Mrs.” but “em ess period,” as she spelled it out to Owens and Givhan. “She is very adamant about this,” Owens says. “She explained to me that it is a respect thing with her. It’s a little extreme, but it’s just what she prefers.”

And another claims that her mother chauffeurs her around and that Lauryn treats her more like a slave than a mother:

Valerie Hill, who goes by “V” (and also calls her daughter Ms. Hill), drives the singer around in a black SUV. Ms. Hill rides in the back with “stacks of books on philosophy and religion,” Owens says. From Givhan’s point of view, “Her mom seemed to be her assistant-slash-slave.”

It was also supposedly said that Lauryn Hill’s band members change on a regular basis, sometimes from gig to gig:

Hill is known to hire a different set of musicians for each gig. After the show in Senegal, Givhan says she felt her band looked “too young,” so she brought in the drummer and bass player of Living Color for her next concert in New York.

And as for how she greets people, it was alleged that Lauryn is not that friendly and is not one for shaking hands:

“The first glimpse of Ms. Hill that we got, she was not that friendly,” Givhan says. “I think someone actually tried to shake her hand, and she said, ‘I don’t do that.’ ”

 

It’s also speculated that Lauryn Hill considers herself a revolutionary and even compares herself to Harriet Tubman:

“She went into this long monologue about how we were all mercenaries and that we should be paying her even to be in her presence. At one point she was slamming her foot against one side of the hallway and her hands against the other side, calling herself a modern-day Harriet Tubman.”

 

Paying her band members with cash only and thinking of herself as a revolutionary were other claims that were made about Lauryn. These comments about Lauryn Hill’s alleged habits are strictly gossip at this point. Yet it’s hoped that the claims aren’t true as Lauryn Hill as been loved by her fans for her message-driven songs and her appeal as an artist.