Fashion brand Louis Vuitton teamed up with songstress Lauryn Hill to deliver a 20-minute set, complete with a full band.
Ms. Hill performed six tracks, including singles “Black Rage,” “Guarding the Gates,” as well as her 1998 classic “Doo Wop (That Thing).” Fans of Hill were delighted with the collaboration, celebrating the intermixing of the former Fugees star’s classic songs and some of her newer offerings.
The monochrome visuals were recorded in late July at MLH Studio in New Jersey and were directed by Naima Ramos-Chapman.
The set was created to supplement Louis Vuitton’s Spring-Summer 2021 menswear show in Shanghai. “Ms. Lauryn Hill is, to me, forever a muse,” artistic director Virgil Abloh said.
Hill announced that Abloh and the luxury fashion label would be making a donation to the MLH Foundation “with all proceeds going to Black businesses affected by Covid-19 and other hardships”.
In the past, the notoriously private star has faced criticism over her tardiness. Fans threatened to boycott the star, assuming she was not appreciative or their time nor efforts
Hill addressed the backlash in a blog posted online, ensuring that her fans knew what was in her heart.
“Perhaps my seriousness and militancy in the face of tremendous resistance was misinterpreted as meanness, or that I was unloving or uncaring, when my true intent was to protect,” she wrote via Medium in 2018. “I wouldn’t be the first Black person accused of this. I don’t think of Harriet Tubman’s skills as those of a hostess, but rather her relentless dedication to helping people who wanted out of an oppressive paradigm.”
