On Sept. 12, 1998, Lauryn Hill's timeless gem, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, landed at No. 1 on Billboard.

Considered among the best albums of all time, The Miseducation both cemented and defined Hill's legacy. Triumphant, mournful, profound, and layered, songs like "Ex-Factor," "Nothing Even Matters" featuring D'Angelo, "When It Hurts So Bad," and "Lost Ones" are still just as fresh today as they were when they were initially released.  

A landmark, deeply influential album, The Miseducation was nominated for 10 Grammys in 1999, and Hill became the first woman to ever be nominated that many times in one year. It also became the first album by a solo female rapper to peak or debut at number one on the Billboard 200 in the US. The album also made Hill the first act to have debuted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 with their first entries on each chart.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Hill talked about how she viewed the album 20 years after its release.

"I’ve always been pretty critical of myself artistically, so of course there are things I hear that could have been done differently, but the LOVE in the album, the passion, its intention is, to me, undeniable," she said. "I think my intention was simply to make something that made my foremothers and forefathers in music and social and political struggle know that someone received what they’d sacrificed to give us, and to let my peers know that we could walk in that truth, proudly and confidently."