10 Musicians Whose Careers Were Destroyed By Just One Album
4. Lauryn Hill — MTV Unplugged No. 2.0
Okay, enough bad albums. By this stage, it's fair to say that this list has proven one bad record can permanently affect an artist's track record.
Genuinely unique and daring, former Fugee Lauryn Hill’s second studio record MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 was a risky shift in direction for the rapper.
Seeing her transition into a folk influenced, stripped back sound which incorporated spoken word segments, social commentary, and some sparse, intimate instrumentation, this intentionally messy and unvarnished album couldn’t have been a bigger departure from her slick mainstream debut success The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
However, great as this unheralded classic has since been considered, critics and fans alike wanted something more conventional and polished from the performer, and this one put a permanent end to any chance of mainstream superstardom.
Which is probably exactly what the offbeat R+B heroine hoped it would do, as the alternative career opportunities since afforded to her by this misunderstood classic would have been impossible for a mainstream superstar.