"Doo Wop " is the debut solo single from American recording artist Lauryn Hill. The song is taken from her debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Written and produced by Hill, the song was released as the album's lead single in July 1998. It was Hill's first and only US Billboard Hot 100 number-one to date; it debuted at number one on the Hot 100, making it the tenth song in the chart's history to do so, the first debut single to do so, and the first female rapper to do so. The song experienced similar success abroad, reaching number one in Iceland, number two in Canada, number three in the United Kingdom and number eight in Australia. The song won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song at the 1999 Grammy Awards on February 24, 1999.
Background
The song is a warning from Hill to African-Americanmen and women caught in "the struggle". Both the women who " be a hard rock when they really are a gem", and the men who are "more concerned with his rims, and his Timbs, than women", are admonished by Hill, who warns them not to allow "that thing" to ruin their lives. The chorus has been praised for promoting egalitarianism between the sexes. In terms of production value, Hill borrows heavily from elements of soul music and doo-wop, lending credence to the song's title. One such example is the opening riff of late 1960s soul hit "Stop Her On Sight " by Edwin Starr which Hill uses certain distinct elements of, as can be heard in the opening of this song.
Release and reception
Hill's first solo singles were from two 1997 movie soundtracks: "The Sweetest Thing" from Love Jones and a cover of Frankie Valli's 1967 song "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" for Conspiracy Theory. "Doo Wop", released in 1998 as her first solo song from her debut album, was a major success. It became the 10th single to debut at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, and the first by a rap artist. It stayed there for two weeks in the fall of 1998. On Billboard's R&B Singles chart, it reached #2 for three weeks in November 1998, held out of the top spot by "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" by Deborah Cox. It won two Grammy Awards the following February. The success of "Doo Wop" and the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album established Hill as a success outside of her group, The Fugees. In 1999, "Doo Wop " was ranked at number two to find the best music of 1998 on The Village Voices Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll, after Fatboy Slims "The Rockafeller Skank".
The song's music video was filmed in Manhattan's Washington Heights in New York City, with the video showing two Hills singing side by side at a block party. On the left side of the split screen, the 1967 Hill dressed in full retro-styled attire, complete with a beehive and a zebra-printed dress, she pays homage to classic R&B and doo wop, and on the right side of the screen, the present-day 1998 Hill is shown in a homage to hip hop culture. Slant Magazine's Paul Schrodt praised the "Doo Wop " music video, stating "The resulting split-screen music video is the most flabbergasting testament to what the neo soul movement is all about."
In 1999, Filipino rapper Francis Magalona recorded a parody version titled "Bading ang Dating" which appears on the albums Interscholastic and The Best of Francis M. Kanye West's protégée Teyana Taylor, signed in 2012 to his G.O.O.D. Music label, released a mixtape in early 2012 called The Misunderstanding of Teyana Taylor, which draws particular influence from much of Hill's work. One of the tracks, "Lauryn's Interlude", features Taylor performing a shortened, a capella performance of Hill's classic song. The American avant-garde band Mr. Bungle often performed an excerpt of the song as an outro for their song "Travolta " while simultaneously playing Hemanta Mukherjee's "Ei Raat Tomar Amar" during live shows in the late 1990s. Devendra Banhart has covered the song during live performances including Bonnaroo 2006, the Pitchfork Music Festival and Tim Festival 2006, in Brazil. Amy Winehouse also incorporated the song into her own "He Can Only Hold Her" at live concerts in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Rihanna covered the song while on Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour in 2008. The song was covered in Spanish by Anita Tijoux in a collaboration with the producer Quantic in 2013. The 2014 Glee episode "Back-up Plan" includes a cover version performed by Mercedes Jones and Santana Lopez. The 2015 film Pitch Perfect 2 included a cover of the song by singer Ester Dean who performed the hook of the song in the Riff Off. Drake sampled the song to create a song titled "Draft Day". Phemza The Kween recorded the cover of the song. In July 2014, French producer MKL released a remix of "Doo Wop".
