Ms. Lauryn Hill is in the midst of a big year of touring in celebration of her groundbreaking 1998 LP, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The tour has been running throughout the summer with a rotating cast of high-profile supporting acts including Nas, Santigold, A$AP Rocky, Busta Rhymes, M.I.A., Big Boi, De La Soul, and many more.
In July, Hill canceled or postponed a number of upcoming tour dates due to unspecified “production issues.” Before last week’s Portland stop on the tour, more “production”-based shakeups arose when Santigold and Nas were scratched from the evening’s lineup at the eleventh hour with no advance notice. Santigold later tweeted that she had also been removed from a number of other upcoming shows and apologized to her disappointed fans:
I will no longer be performing on The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill Tour at the following dates due to the tour organizers’ decision to reduce the support. So sorry to disappoint my fans.
9/14: Vancouver, BC
9/15: Seattle, WA
9/22: Phoenix, AZ
9/26: Denver, CO— Santigold (@Santigold) September 15, 2018
I’m sorry you paid to see us and we’re not there. That really bums me out. I’m also bummed that @MsLaurynHill and crew didn’t tell ppl why we’re not there. She took us off the bill.
— Santigold (@Santigold) September 13, 2018
Fans were understandably upset about her removal from the above dates, and wondered about the reasons behind her set being cut. As Santigold responded via tweet:
Nope not sick. So sorry I wasn’t able to perform for you all. Note I saw from @MsLaurynHill Mgmt team read… “Due to production issues, The Miseducation 20th Anniversary Tour is unable to accommodate Santigold’s performance this evening”
— Santigold (@Santigold) September 13, 2018
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nas has also been removed from the tour’s October 5th stop in Missouri. Nas was also scheduled to join the tour on September 24th in New Mexico and on October 3rd in New Orleans, but has now been removed from the respective Ticketmaster pages for the dates, indicating that he will no longer appear. However, Nas still appears to be listed on the bill for Lauryn Hill’s upcoming run of dates in New Zealand and Australia early next year.
The reasons behind removing Nas and Santigold from the ongoing U.S. ‘Miseducation’ tour are still something of a mystery. However, this sort of drama has seemed to follow Hill throughout her career. In a recent radio interview, Grammy-winning pianist and producer Robert Glasper blasted Hill for her mistreatment of the other musicians she works with, telling stories of her liberal use of the diva card and alleging that she uses artists and dishonestly takes full credit for collaborations. He also spoke about Lauryn Hill’s reputation for firing and replacing her band members mid-tour, which is unavoidably echoed by Nas and Santigold’s unceremonious removal from the roster for this outing.
Hill later responded to Glasper’s assertions in a rare, lengthy testimonial via Medium, offering her side to Robert’s stories and addressing a number of the long-prevailing negative storylines that surround her career.
Below, you can see a list of Lauryn Hill’s upcoming U.S. dates, including a number of the rescheduled dates from earlier this summer:
[H/T Complex]