It goes without saying that, in the ’90s, Lauryn Hill revolutionized what women could do in rap, hip-hop, and neo soul. While she only released one solo full-length after The Fugees hit it big with their sophomore album, 1998’s The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was a massive critical and commercial success. A true artistic statement, the album sold over 400k copies in its first week of release, and is often considered a watershed moment in multiple genres of music. And now, the album has helped Ms. Lauryn Hill reach an accolade that no other female rapper has ever attained.
Lauryn Hill becomes the first female rapper to earn an @RIAA Diamond award (album; @MsLaurynHill).
— chart data (@chartdata) February 17, 2021
The landmark album was certified for sales of over 10 million albums sold by the RIAA today. As our friends at ChartData note, Hill is also the first female rapper in history to have a Diamond-certified album, so this is history being made. The accolade is certainly well-deserved, too, as the critically acclaimed album won five Grammy awards (out of a staggering ten nominations), after its release.