Inside "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill"

Lenesha Randolph (backup singer): In November 1997, I get a phone call asking if I was available to come to Chung King Studios. Lauryn came in eating spaghetti pomodoro and garlic bread and explained where she's trying to go with this album and how she wants it to be a reflection of all of us. I was an 18-year-old girl that just wanted to sing. For "Doo Wop" she said, "I wanna play with '50s and '60s harmonies, like barbershop guys on the corner and then we all just jumped in harmonizing a cappella "whooo whoo whoo whoo." She directed us and from there history was made.

Commissioner Gordon: When I mixed "Doo Wop" at Sony Studios, it was 128 tracks — two 48-track machines plus two 24 two-inch machines all running at the same time. When James Poyser came in for "Superstar," we rented a harpsichord that was so old it fell out of tune really quickly so we had to have the tuner actually there. By the time James finished playing it once it was out of tune.

The Move to Jamaica

Marley: One time at Chung King Studios she was like, "I can't do this, there's too many people popping in." I said, "Let's go to Jamaica, you don't worry about anything." She needed to get away. She needed to get to the rock.

Nobles: We stayed way up in the hills and Rohan would take us to the studio. He would fly in that BMW around curves, he was messing with us. I remember being scared for my life. "Forgive Them Father" and "Lost Ones" were made at the Bob Marley Museum on 56 Hope Road. That's why on "Lost Ones" she says, "I was hopeless, now I'm on Hope Road."

Commissioner Gordon: That first day in the studio was a lot of pressure because we were late since all the equipment was held up in customs for two days. The lead engineer Errol Brown used to be Bob Marley's engineer and the family — Stephen, Damian, Julian, Ziggy — were in and out. Vada set up his drum machine and got the beat rocking. He'd always do his little dance while he's making his beats.

Nobles: Lauryn was in the studio room redoing vocals. Stephen and Damian Marley would play football at the museum and hang out. I had a MPC 3000 and an SP 1200 connected together, showing them the sounds and I said, "Wait a minute, this is hot, let me record that!"

Commissioner Gordon: Right as Lauryn walks in, she starts freestyling. A lot of Bob's grandchildren were there, all these little kids jumping around. As she kept doing that rhyme pattern, Situation! Complication! Tion! Tion! she would point to the kids and they all chimed in "Tion! Tion!" She put down the verses on a handheld mike 'cause she always had a different vibe when she would hold a mike.