The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - Lawsuit

Lawsuit

Though The Miseducation was largely a collaborative work between Hill and a group of musicians known as New Ark (Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Tejumold and Johari Newton), there was "label pressure to do the Prince thing," wherein all tracks would be credited as "written and produced by" the artist with little outside help. While recording the album, when Hill was asked about providing contracts or documentation to the musicians, she replied, "We all love each other. This ain't about documents. This is blessed."

In 1998, New Ark filed a fifty-page lawsuit against Hill, her management, also her record label, stating that Hill "used their songs and production skills, but failed to properly credit them for the work." The musicians claimed to be the primary songwriters on two tracks, and major contributors on several others, though Gordon Williams, a prominent recorder, engineer, and mixer on The Miseducation described the album as a "powerfully personal effort by Hill" and stated, "It was definitely her vision." In response to the lawsuit, Hill claimed that New Ark took advantage of her success. New Ark requested partial writing credits, and monetary reimbursement. The suit was eventually settled out of court in February 2001 for a reported $5 million.