In order to build and sustain a successful career, you have to put up with a lot of shit, and some people just aren’t up to the task. For whatever reason, the glare of stardom and all eyes on you has a tendency to either drive you over the edge or do an abrupt 180 and run away from the limelight.

I’m still not sure which of the two happened to Lauryn Hill. You don’t need me to recount what a musical revelation “Miseducation” was when it came out twelve years ago. You probably also don’t need me to recount the confusion that’s followed in the years since. However, after numerous false starts (including a prematurely aborted Fugees reunion a few years ago), a recent interview with NPR suggests that L-Boogie might be on the road towards a REAL comeback.

During the interview she seems lighthearted and lucid, not that she’d ever really appeared to be going off the rails D’Angelo style (although some might beg to differ), but the self-righteousness that’s been a hallmark of her personality for a decade and a half now seems to have lessened a bit. She comes across as eager to work again, which is good news to all of her fans who have been waiting for a LONG time. Lord knows the current music scene could stand to be “miseducated” again.

I don’t totally have my hopes up (if I had a dollar for every time a long-departed performer has promised to be back on the right track I’d be able to buy myself a pretty nice TV set), but my fingers are crossed that the dopest female emcee of all time (and that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of her talents) will be able to recapture her former glory.