Dissect - MS1E2 - "Lost Ones" and "Ex-Factor" by Lauryn Hill

Episode Date: November 13, 2018

Ms. Lauryn Hill begins Miseducation with a dualistic examination of heartbreak. "Lost Ones" is a scathing, venomous assault while "Ex Factor" reveals the pain beneath Ms. Hill's harden exterior. Follow @dissectpodcast on Twitter and Instagram. Join our newsletter at dissectpodcast.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Spotify Studios, this is Dysect, long-form musical analysis broken into short digestible episodes. I'm your host, Cole Kushner. Today we begin our serialized analysis of the miseducation of Lauren Hill. On our last episode, we dissected Miss Hill's eclectic upbringing in New Jersey and a rise to prominence with the hip-hop trio of the Fugis. After the complications of Wyclef Jean and Miss Hill's personal relationship interfered with their creative relationship, the Fugees disbanded, and Miss Hill began to be. Gann work on a solo project.

Assembling a handful of New Jersey musicians and producers, Ms. Hill and her team would write a collection of songs that expressed her experience coming of age in the Fugis, which she learned through the tumultuous disillusion of her relationship with Wycliffe and the emotion she felt throughout it all. It's really interesting because I didn't actually make a decision to be solo. It really just happened. I promise you that, it's hard to explain, but I'd intended to be in the group forever until I found myself in circumstances where I felt the inner desire to express myself.

I'd gone through a lot, a huge emotional and spiritual battle prior to the creation of that album. And the funny thing is that while I was going in the battle, I couldn't see my hand, despite my face. I mean, I really couldn't see anything because I was so emotionally. entangled and everything that I'd gone through. But it was like once I was delivered from that situation, you know, and once I got the perspective was able to look back at heartache and look back at pain and disappointment, for some reason it all was so clear, you know, it was just like a, you know, the picture started to form itself.

The song started to create themselves. I was able to look back and be a narrator of my own situation. But the interesting thing was that it couldn't happen while I was in the middle of the confusion. The album's title The Miseducation of Lauren Hill is a nod to the 1933 book The Miseducation of the Negro by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. In the book, Dr. Woodson asserts that blacks in the American school system were being conditioned or culturally indoctrinated rather than being taught. As a result of this miseducation, he argues black Americans view themselves as inferior and are understretched. able to thrive in the American system. Over the course of his book, Dr. Woodson provides solutions to the problems he identifies, encouraging his readers to become self-reliant. Quote,

the mere imparting of information is not education. Above all things, the effort must result in making a man think and do for himself, unquote. With the miseducation of Lauren Hill, Ms. Hill aligns herself with the doctrines of Dr. Woodson. Over the course of the album, she will share with the world the lessons no one taught her, lessons about love, lessons about an industry that thrives off exploitation, lessons about a young, gifted, intelligent black female seeking to gain autonomy in a society whose structures are historically not known to support such women. Miss Hill plays off this education theme with the inclusion of an ongoing skit that portrays a high school classroom in session. The skit and the album itself

begins with the class's roll call. Lauren Hill. Lauren Hill is absent from class, a metaphor for all the lessons she missed, all the lessons that she had to learn through experience. You know, miseducation, you know, it, um, wow, every day it means something more to me, actually. People automatically thought, you know, oh my, she must not done school. I mean, my, they're teachers didn't teach anything, but that, that wasn't it. The meaning behind it was really sort of a catch in, and me learning that, you know, when I thought I was my most wise, it was really not wise at all, and in my humility, you know, and in those places that most people wouldn't expect a lesson to come from, that's where I learned so much.

And, you know, and so I termed the phrase, miseducation, you know, not because it was a miseducation, per se, but just because it was sort of contrary to what the world says is education, you know. It was this education that came from life and experience, you know, and not necessarily academic, all academic, but related to living. After its introductory skit, the miseducation of Lauren Hill opens with an empowering declaration of arrival, Lost Ones. It's funny how money change your situation. Miscommunication lead the complication.

My emancipation don't fit your equation. Lost Ones was produced by Lauren Hill and Veda Nobles and features drum programming by Nobles, guitar by Johari Newton, Earl Smith, and Robert Brown, and based by Chris Meredith and James Poyser. The track begins with the drum pattern created from samples taken from a 1987 Boogie Down production song called Superho. The bass drum, snare, and hi-hat are then used to create the drum pattern carried throughout Lost Ones. In addition to the Boombat drums, we are scratching turntables used as rhythmic accents. These two elements, thumping hip-hop drums and scratching turntables,

will appear time and again throughout Miseducation, working as consistent adhesive elements that unite Miss Hill's diverse array of musical influences. And to this point, the harmonic elements that enter Lost Ones are reggae-influenced guitar accents. A G minor chord is played on the fourth beat of each measure, voice strummed and accented in traditional reggae guitar technique. The result is a driving hip-hop beat with reggae inflections, a landscape over which Miss Hill delivers a scathing first verse. She plays into the reggae influences by rhyming with a slight Jamaican patois accent. It's funny how money changes situation. Miscommunication lead the complication. My emancipation don't fit your equation. I was on the humble you on every station.

Someone play young Lauren like she done But remember not to game, New under the sun Everything you did has already been done I know all the tricks from Bricks to Kingstown My Teng Don Major King Don Juan Ron Now understand El Boogie not violent But different things test me run for me kind

Can take a thread to me new born son Elbinus way since creation A group we call you far from temptation Now you want to follow for separation Tarnish my image in the conversation Who you're going to scrimmage like you the champion? You might win some but you just lost one. You might win some but you just lost one.

With the first lines on her first solo album after the dissolution of the Fugis, Ms. Hill addresses straightaway the elephant in the room with the now iconic lines, it's funny how money can change a situation. Miscommunication lead to complication. Here Ms. Hill lays out the thesis she'll work to develop throughout the track,

how success and its manifestations disrupted the Fugees, and more specifically, her romantic and creative relationship with Wyclashon. Technically, the lyrical couplet contains a few clever rhyme schemes. Aside from the standard rhyme of the last word of each line, in this case, situation and complication. Miss Hill also rhymes funny and money in line one, following the word money with change, a type of money, as in pocket change. Situation is followed by the rhyme miscommunication, and Miss Hill fuses those two words together, to get the word complication that ends a couplet. She continues,

My emancipation don't fit your equation. I was on the humble, you on every station. Aimed at Wyclef, these lines simultaneously refer to both the Fugees and the romantic relationship. Wyclef being on every station, alludes to both his solo record, The Carnival, released more than a year prior to miseducation, and Wyclef's sexual promiscuity, something she'll address several times on lost ones.

Saying her emancipation or freedom doesn't feel, his equation, refers to her being freed from their unequal romantic relationship, but by saying equation, it also ties back into money reference in the verse's opening line, that her leaving him creatively would negatively affect his finances. Ms. Hill continues to claim being exploited by Wycliffe with the lines, some want to play young Lorne like she's dumb, but remember not a game new under the sun. Everything you did has already been done. I know all the tricks from Bricks to Kingston. Miss Hill asserts that she's wise to the schemes of Wycliffe, and or the music industry at large, citing the Bible passage Ecclesiastes 1.9,

quote, The thing that hath been, it is the thing that shall be. And that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun, unquote. Knowing the tricks from Bricks to Kingston, refers to both Brick City, a nickname for her hometown, Newark, New Jersey, and Kingston, Jamaica, where lost ones was recorded. Miss Hill ends verse one with a series of lines again aimed at Wyclef, a great, groupie call, you fall from temptation. Now you want a ball over separation. It seems that Ms. Hill is claiming that Wycleft's sexual involvement with groupies contributed to their split, and she shows no remorse when he hypocritically cries over their separation. She continues, tarnish my image in the

conversation. Who you're going to scrimmage like you the champion? You might win some, but you just lost one. Again, Miss Hill cleverly plays on Wyclef's adultery with metaphor, comparing his sexual exploits to scrimmage or meaningless games a sport. The punchline comes when she says that because of those meaningless wins, he lost the real game. He lost her. You might win some, but you just lost one. Wisdom is better than silver and gold. I was hopeless. Hope roll. Every man wanna act like he's exempt. Need to get down on his knees and repent.

Kian Slick talk on the day of judgment. The movement's similar to a surpin. Try to play straight how your whole style been. Consequences, no coincidence. Hypocrats always want to play in the sin. Always want to take it to the full out extent. Always want to make it seem like good intent. Never want to face it when it time for punishment.

I know you don't want to hear my opinion. Miss Hill begins the whole world. And if you don't change in the rain soon come see you might win some but you just lost one. You might win some but you just lost. Miss Hill begins verse two. Now how come you talk turn cold? Gained the whole world for the price of your soul. This makes reference to the Bible passage Matthew 1626.

Quote, For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? Miss Hill follows with the lines, Now you all floss, what a sight to behold, wisdom is better than silver and gold. This is yet another reference to the Bible, this time to Solomon,

a king that valued his God-granted wisdom more than his riches. Miss Hill continues, I was hopeless, now I'm on Hope Road. Lost Ones was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, at the Tuff-Gong studio built by Bob Marley. The address of the Toughgong studio is 56 Hope Road, so while the line addresses Ms. Hill's more hopeful path forward in life without Wycliffe, it also cleverly references where she was recording at the time.

Miss Hill follows with a series of lines that contain more biblical undertones. Quote, Every man want to act like he's exempt. Him need to get down on his knees and repent. Can't talk slick on the day of judgment. Your movement similar to a serpent. A snake or serpent, commonly thought to represent Satan, infamously deceived and convinced Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit

in the Garden of Eden. This original sin caused mankind's quote-unquote fall from paradise, and because of it, we became mortals subject to sin, disease, suffering, and ultimately death. Miss Hill compares the serpent's slick-talking with Wyclef, warning that his deceitful ways will catch up to him on his day of judgment when he's forced to answer to God for his behavior. Miss Hill punctuates the second verse with yet another Bible reference. She says, Never want to face it when it's time for punishment. I know you don't want to hear my opinion. There are many paths and you must choose one, and if you don't change, the rain soon come. With all the talk of judgment, allusions to Adam and Eve and the serpent's deception,

we might suspect Miss Hill's line about choosing one path refers to John 146. Quote, Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth in the life. No one comes to the father except through me, unquote. Miss Hill seems to be implying that if Wycliffe doesn't repent, doesn't change and follow the teachings of Christ, the quote unquote, rain soon come. Here we suspect Ms. Hill is saying rain, spelled R-E-I-G-N, as in God's reign or punishment will soon come. To this end, the loss spoken of in the verse's final line, you might win some, but you just lost one, likely refers to Wycleft's spot in heaven, that is manipulative and deceitful ways will cost him his place in heaven.

Miss Hill's ferociousness continues into the song's third and final verse. to you stall. Never underestimate those who you star. Cause comma, comma, comma, come back to you heart. You can't hold God, people back that to pretend like your word is your mom, but it's who you do right or you do what go wrong. Now some might mistake this, just a simple song, and some don't know what they had till it's gone.

Now, even when you're gone, you can still be reborn. And from the night can arrive the sweet dawn. Some might listen and some might shine. And look closely, you'll see what you become, because you might win some, but you just lost one. Miss Hill begins verse three. Now don't you understand, man, universal law? What you throw out comes back to you, Star. Never underestimate those who you scar,

because karma, karma, karma comes back at you hard. Again, Miss Hill is cautionary here, citing different scientific and spiritual interpretations of the same belief. What goes around comes around, or what comes up must come down. She begins by referencing Isaac Newton's universal law of gravitation, which states that every object in the universe,

attracts every other object in the universe, and the amount or force of the attraction depends on the mass of the object. She compares this later with karma, the law and moral causation, a foundational belief in many Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Miss Hill continues the spiritual undertone saying, you can't hold God's people back that long. The chain of Satan wasn't made that strong. Shaton is Arabic for Satan, and again Miss Hill is describing Wycliffe's controlling behavior as akin to the chains of Satan. While the majority of the song seems to be aimed specifically at Wycliffe, the themes get more universal as the verse works towards its conclusion. Ms. Hill notes that it's never too late to begin anew, to change one's life path.

Quote, Now even when you're gone, you can still be reborn, and from the night can arrive the sweet dawn. As the third verse concludes, she asserts that some difficult self-examination and humility will be required for this rebirth. Quote, Now some might listen and some some might shun, and some might think they've reached perfection. If you look closely, you'll see what you've become, because you might win some, but you just lost one. Again, the phrase lost one takes on a new meaning in this context. In verse one, it was Lauren herself that he lost. In verse two, it was a spot in heaven that was lost. Here on verse three, Lost One is the realization you've lost yourself. In Wycliffe's case, Ms. Hill claims that he's lost himself to lust, greed, and power.

These are of course universal temptations, and in the blind pursuit of those things, we all risk losing our true identity. Let's now listen to Lost One's Hook, a passage that makes a number of crafty references to a few Jamaican songs. Lost One's hook interpolates a melody from Jamaican artist Sister Nancy's 1982 classic rendition of Bombong. At the end of Lost Ones, Ms. Hill sings what intentionally sounds like both What a Bombom and What a Bum, both paying homage to Sister Nancy and taking one more jab at Wycliffe.

Not only does Miss Hill interpolate the melody of BombBum, it would seem that Lost One's Stymatic content was also inspired by Sister Nancy's Bombom. Not unlike Lauren Hill and hip-hop, Sister Nancy was a trailblazer in the 1980s Jamaican dance hall scene. She was the first woman to perform at the reggae festival Sunsplash and the first woman Jamaican DJ. DJ to tour internationally. Throughout Bombum, Sister Nancy asserts herself as powerful and independent. In verse 1, which I'll recite an English translation from Jamaican patois, sister Nancy sings, quote, one thing Nancy can't understand, why are they talking about my ambition? Some of them are asking me where I got it from. It's because they don't know it's from creation.

Miss Hill actually nods to this latter line in the first verse on Lost Ones, as she says, Elle been this way since creation. Let's hear this. two back to back. Later in Bambam, Sister Nancy calls at her hometown of Kingston. As noted earlier, Lost Ones was recorded in Kingston. Things get even more layered when we realize that Sister Nancy's Bambum is actually an interpretation of the original Bumbum by Toots and the Maytals. a band who are also from Kingston, Jamaica.

Frederick Toots-Hibbert, the composer of the original Bomb-Bomb, actually receives a writing credit on Lost One, due to Miss Hill's interpolation. And we know that Miss Hill was also paying homage to Toots version, as she's known to incorporate additional melodies from Toots' Bomb-Bum when performing Lost Ons live. Lost One's nods to Bomb-Bomb in classic Kingston reggae are the first of many multicultural influences Miss Hill will assimilate throughout Miss Education. As an album opener, Lost Ones is a stake in the ground,

a scorching declaration of autonomy, a colossal middle finger to her former friend, lover, and creative partner. But as we'll see time and again on Miss Education, Miss Hill demonstrates a geministic dualism when expressing her emotions on a particular subject. Indeed, she will reveal the emotional flip side to her severance with Wycliffe with the album's next track, X Factor. A song will dissect right after the break. Welcome back to Dysect. Before the break, we examined Miseducation's album opener Lost Ones, a liberating declaration of purpose that flexes Ms. Hill's strength in the aftermath of a tumultuous relationship.

Lost Ones is immediately contrasted with an emotional expression of heartbreak, X Factor. X Factor's musical infrastructure is based on an excerpt of Can It Be All So Simple from Wu-Nitlan's 1993 debut album, Enter the Wu, 36 Chambers. To create this track, Wutain Klan sampled a 1974 song The Way We Were Tried to Remember by Gladys Nights and the Pips. Can it be that it was all chance to do it all again? And for the sake of thoroughness, we should note that this track is itself a cover of a a 1973 Barbara Streisand song, The Way We Were.

Can it be? To create X Factor, Miss Hill and her team embellish and recreate with live instruments, the Gladys Knight sample used by Wutang. It features a drum pattern created by Veda Nobles and percussion played by Rudy Bird. Bases added by Paul Vakery, and pianos and keyboards are played by James Poyser. Despite X Factor being a ballad, Ms. Hill is able to preserve the hip-hop flavoring of the Wutang clan's source material. This is a epic-es-factority. This is executed through the strength of the knocking drum pattern and slumping bass line,

as well as Miss Hill's hip-hop style ad libs throughout the track. Miss Hill opens with the line, it could all be so simple, but you'd rather make it hard. This cleverly nods to the Wu-Tang source material, as well as both Gladys Knight and Barbara Streisand. We also find a nice execution of what's called word painting, a musical technique of composing music that reflects the literal meaning of the song's lyrics. For example, if a composer wanted to employ word painting to the lyric, Your Love Gets Me High, they might write an ascending vocal melody,

one that climbs higher and higher in pitch, climaxing with the highest note on the word high. This would reflect in the music what is expressed in the lyrics. That's called word or text painting. Miss Hill opens X Factor with the line, it could be also simple, and the melody she sings itself is very simple, just three notes that descends stepwise.

Next, Miss Hill sings, but you'd rather make it hard. Here, the melody gets much more complex or hard, especially in comparison with the simplicity of the previous line. She begins on a D and ascends a third to an F, and then up another third to an A. Then, in just a half a beats time, she descends from a G down a fourth to a D,

using a 16th note triplet. She immediately jumps back up a fourth, back to a G, only to stretch the note one last time up to an A. Now let's hear the two lines back to back. Let's hear these lines again performed in X Factor, appreciating now the word painting, the contrast between the simplistic melody when singing about things being simple, and the more complex melody when singing about things being hard.

As the verse continues, Miss Hill sings, Loving You is like a battle, and we both end up with scars. This line describes the tumultuous nature of Lauren and Wycliffe's relationship, which was by all accounts a relationship that oscillated between two polarities, charities, love and rage. Wyclef stated, quote,

We were either deeply in love or fighting. There was no middle ground. It was a passionate roller coaster ride every single day. We had fights on planes. We had the police called to a hotel in Germany because our arguing was keeping the neighbors awake, unquote. Ms. Hill continues singing, tell me who I have to be, to get some reciprocity. This confronts the all too real scenario in which one either questions who they are

and or seems willing to change who they are in order to requite an unrequited love. In a relationship, we typically desire to receive and give in somewhat equal proportion, and when an imbalanced or perceived imbalance of reciprocity occurs, it can fuel insecurity, vulnerability, helplessness, anger, resentment, desperation, any number of compromising emotions. The verse ends with a simple but powerful statement, No one loves you more than me, and no one ever will. coming after a series of lines that imply Miss Hill may care about this person more than they do

her, this naked declaration of love feels extremely courageous, a vulnerable, unveiled expression of emotion that requires humility and the swallowing of one's ego to communicate what's truly in their heart. These truthful sentiments continue into verse two. Miss Hill sings, is this just a silly game that forces you to act this way? forces you to scream my name, then pretend you can't stay. Often when we're fighting in a relationship, a conflict can escalate to a point in which both parties begin playing roles,

almost like actors. You start to say things you don't mean and do things out of character just to propel your position forward and get a reaction. It becomes an out-of-body experience, like you're watching yourself becomes somebody you don't recognize, hence Ms. Hill implying that it's a game that, quote, forces you to act this way. We also realize that saying,

forces you to scream my name, then pretend you can't stay, could imply not only a passionate fight and lack of commitment, but also sex. This person screams her name during intercourse, but coldly leaves when the deed is done. X Factor continues with the first iteration of the song's momentous hook. The song diverges from its two-cord repetition of the verses, breaking into a four-core progression. Guitar played by Johari Newton enters the mix, as well as the squealing organ. With these harmonic and instrumental changes, Ms. Hill diverges from the expressive flourishings of the verses and sings a series of steady, head-knonting eighth notes. For me, this hook finds Ms. Hill at her compositional best, displaying her unique ability to imbue an R&B melodic line with hip-hop seasoning.

The melody she sings is built on four descending eighth notes, which repeat four times. She begins this melody on the pickup of beat three, and in doing so, ensures that the last note, the lowest note, falls on the downbeats 1 and 3, the strong beats of a musical measure. She distributes one syllable per note, giving the passage its sing-song quality, but she also cleverly places the rhyming words, how, grow, and no, on the last note of that 4-note pattern, on those low notes, so more weight is added to the downbeats 1 and 3. The overall effect is similar to how an MC would write the beat, creating rhythmic cadences within a measure, and we can't help but not our heads.

Miss Hill sings, no matter how I think we grow, you always seem to let me know it ain't working. This displays the retrogressive nature of their relationship. Whenever things seem to be going well, when progress is perceived to be made, they regress again to a tumultuous state, similar to the expression one step forward, two steps back. The hook continues, and when I try to walk away, you'd hurt yourself to make me stay. This is crazy. While suicide or self-harm is of course,

an issue that should always be taken seriously. In some cases, threatening your partner with self-harm if they leave is a desperate tool that can be used to manipulate and maintain control over that person, a definitive marker that a relationship has reached an unhealthy state. It puts the person who wants out in an impossible quandary. They don't know if their partner is serious about self-harm, or if they're just being manipulative, making it very difficult to leave the relationship with any security. X Factor continues with verse 3. Verse 3 begins, I keep letting you back in. How can I explain myself?

As painful as this thing has been, I just can't be with no one else. Again, we're getting expressions of the illogicality of love, how it often forces us to attempt fitting a square peg into a round hole, how it has us making uncharacteristic decisions, ones we can't explain with logic or traditional reason. The verse continues with what I personally feel are the song's most powerful lines. Quote, see, I know what we've got to do. You let go, and I'll let go too.

For anyone who's been a part of an unsuccessful relationship, i.e. all of us, these words ring all too true. They express with simplicity and concision the act of acknowledging the inevitable demise of a destructive or dead-in relationship, and finally pulling the plug once and for all. Love is something to be nurtured. We all recognize on some level that it takes patience and understanding and constant maintenance in order for a relationship to continually flourish. This can make it difficult to distinguish healthy conflict with toxic, unhealthy conflict. Exactly how many fights is too many. Exactly how many second chances are too too many. Exactly when does forgiveness turn to naivity? These can be hard questions to answer when love is involved because love blurs the lines.

It can blind us. It can hold us hostage. It can have us justifying just about anything. And if we're not careful, it can forever perpetuate an unhealthy situation. Saying, I know what we've got to do, you let go, and I'll let go too. Ms. Hill has been forced to put head over heart, making the all-too-dif recognition of an unsalvageable relationship, despite the very real love between her and who we assume is Wycleft, those specifics here hardly matter. With the next line, she of course flips the previous refrain about love, saying, because no one's hurt me more than you, and no one ever will. After repetition of the song's hook, X Factor concludes with an outro that utilizes Motown-style backing vocals. On this outro, we find Ms. Hill putting a modern twist on a classic Motown-style vocal technique.

The main vocal part sings variations of a short three-note rhythmic motive. Backing vocals performed by Chuck Young and Lauren herself riff off the lyrics of the main vocal part, singing three-part harmonies with the words care, there, cry, and give. This technique of a main vocalist accompanied by two or more backing vocalists was standard practice in soul and Motown music. Music we know Miss Hill was very well versed in due to her obsessive consumption of old records when she was a child. As an example of this technique, let's listen to an excerpt of Gladys Knight in the Pips' performance of Midnight Train to Georgia.

Just as Miss Hill was able to synthesize reggae elements into the hip-hop track Lost ones, she incorporates Motown's soul and hip-hop elements in the R&B track X Factor. And with the addition of the guitar solo played by Mike Taylor on the song's outro, X Factor even exhibits some Latin flair. Conclusions With the one-two punch of Lost Ones and X Factor, the miseducation of Lauren Hill begins by presenting a dualistic view of heartbreak. With Lost Ones, Miss Hill decrees her independence, spiting her adversary with lyrical venom.

But with her next breath on X Factor, she removed. her armor, sentimentally expressing her grief with admirable honesty and poignant vulnerability. For me, the two tracks are almost inseparable, revealing two sides of the same coin, a dichotomy of strength and sensitivity that display not only Ms. Hill's emotional complexity, but the universal complexity of love and love lost. Consider for a moment your emotional state after a breakup. One moment you're spiteful, the next moment you're mourning. The next you're petty, jealous, or angry.

The next year nostalgic and lonesome. With Lost Ones an X factor, Miss Hill reveals this unpredictable emotional turbulence, sincere in both her feelings of spite and grief, proving that the two can and do exist simultaneously, that one is not superior over another, that one does not absolve another. We can and are both vulnerable and strong. In fact, we're strong because we're vulnerable and we're vulnerable because we're strong. The two are not mutually exclusive. They're forever bound together, a part of the diverse spectrum of human emotions contained within

our complex emotional DNA. Because of pride, because of fear, we might willfully conceal certain emotions, but just because they're not expressed doesn't mean they're not there. And as we've already heard in its opening two tracks, the beautiful thing about miseducation is that Ms. Hill holds nothing back. She presents the entire bouquet of human emotion with all its complexity, confusion, and contradiction. Indeed, with Miss Education's next track, Miss Hill will add another dimension to her dissertation on love, with an expression of perhaps the most powerful love of all, the love of a mother.

Of course, we're talking about the song To Zion, a track we'll thoroughly discuss, next time on Dissect. Dysect is written and produced by me, project support by Spotify's Michelle Santucci, original theme music by Beirocratic, song recreations by Andrew Atwood. Additional research by Akash Pandi. Remember, when you listen to Dissect on Spotify, you'll get episodes a week early plus access to exclusive bonus episodes. You can also find a growing catalog of Spotify exclusive podcasts like undercover,

Season 2 of Gimlet's Crime Town, and one of my personal favorites, the Joe Button podcast. Follow at Dissect Podcast on Twitter and Instagram and join our newsletter at dissectpodcast.com. Okay, thanks everyone. Talk to you next week. You know,