Lauryn Hill’s Comeback

About a month ago, I heard through word of mouth that Lauryn was making a comeback. Since then, I have been trying not get too excited. But after NPR reported about her recent performance in Santa Rosa, California it seems that the return of Ms. Hill isn’t too good to be true. The million dollar question that everyone wants to know is: What gives about the disappearing act?
Check out Lauryn’s answer from the NPR interview that followed her performance:

The support system that I needed was not necessarily in place. There were things about myself, personal-growth things, that I had to go through in order to feel like it was worth it. In fact, as musicians and artists, it’s important we have an environment — and I guess when I say environment, I really mean the [music] industry, that really nurtures these gifts.

She also mentions this:

“I don’t know if you know this, but I have five children,” she says. “The youngest is 2 now, so she’s old enough that I can leave her for a period of time and know she’s going to be OK. That’s one reason [Hill is starting to perform again].

It seems that her absence speaks to many of the challenges that everyday women face in striving for success in their career: trustworthy childcare and systems of support to nurture them. I think it’s interesting that when you observe many of the female MCs that attempted to fill her pumps, many of them were childless and the crews that surrounded them were virtually all-male. This begs the question, how do we set up an infrastructure to support and retain women in hip hop?