Before releasing her iconic solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Lauryn Hill met up with D’Angelo to create one of the album’s most unforgettable songs, “Nothing Even Matters.” Their duet became a defining moment in soul music’s resurgence during the Nineties, while both artists individually would go on to leave a lasting mark across multiple genres. Hill’s album earned five Grammy Awards, and D’Angelo would later release Voodoo in 2000 and Black Messiah in 2014, following his first album Brown Sugar.
On Tuesday, Hill shared a heartfelt letter to D’Angelo after the visionary passed away on Oct. 14 at 51, following a long fight with cancer. “People need reflection,” she began. “I regret not having more time with you,” she continued. “Your undeniable beauty and talent were not of this world, and a presence not of this world needs protection in a world that covets light and the anointing of God. You sir, moved us, stirred us, inspired and even intimidated others to action with your genius.”
She went on to write, “Thank you for being a beacon of light to a generation and beyond who had no remembrance of the legacy that preceded us. Thank you for charting the course and for making space during a time when no similar space really existed. You imaged a unity of strength and sensitivity in Black manhood to a generation that only saw itself as having to be one or the other.”
“It is my earnest prayer that you are in peace, far away from selfishness, fear and/or controlling interests. Far from possessiveness, far from greed, far from manipulation, far from exploitation, far from intentionally designed chaos and that you Brother are in peace, in bliss and in eternal light and fulfillment with our Father in heaven,” Hill wrote. “I Love you and I miss you. May God grant peace and shelter to your family, true friends and genuine appreciators, Brother, King.”
When he spoke to Rolling Stone in 2008, D’Angelo reflected on that period working with Hill, describing her as “warm and sweet.” “Originally, we were going to swap tunes for each other’s projects because I was working on Voodoo at the same time and my keyboardist James Poyser was also working with her,” D’Angelo recalled then. “I went to her house in New Jersey, she played a lot of songs for me and gave me a rough copy to listen to. When Lauryn and I went into the studio together, I laid down my vocals in the course of an hour.”
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