Solo performer: Lauryn Hill (vocals, acoustic guitar).

Recorded in July 2001.

"Mystery Of Iniquity" was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Female Rap Solo Performance.

This is a multi-channel Super Audio CD playable only on Super Audio CD players.

Solo performer: Lauryn Hill (vocals, acoustic guitar).

Recorded in July 2001.

"Mystery Of Iniquity" was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Awards for Female Rap Solo Performance.

Surviving controversy and delays, former Fugee Lauryn Hill's new material sees its long anticipated release in MTV UNPLUGGED 2.0. In a decidedly gutsy move, Hill follows up her Grammy-sweeping debut emerging as a woman reinvented; a folk soul diva if you will. Older, wiser, and finding comfort in unabashed honesty, Hill offers a performance that plays like both a sermon and a confessional. Her spoken interludes are as compelling as the set's 13 self-penned songs. Sans the "entourage" as she so wryly puts it, Hill shares her new music in pretty much a solo-acoustic format.

Though some tracks seem like works in progress, there are many simple, beautiful moments on UNPLUGGED 2.O. "Adam Lives In Theory" speaks to the struggle of men and women to reconcile their imperfections, while the repeating refrain in "Freedom Time" finds Hill feeling liberated from self-deception. Her jazzy fingerpicking sets the perfect mood for the bittersweet ballad "I Find It Hard To Say (Rebel)." In a heart-wrenching section of "I Gotta Find Peace Of Mind," Hill breaks into tears, wearing both her heart and her music on her sleeve. When Hill sings "that old me is left behind" with such raw passion, one can't help but believe her and admire the sentiment.

Rolling Stone (5/23/02, p.78) - 3.5 out of 5 stars - "...An unpolished collection of thirteen demos sung and strummmed exclusively by the ex-Fugee....this tender renegade purposefully does what she's gotta do to keep her music sacred..."

Q (6/02, p.121) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Less is indeed more; performed so simply, each song has the resonance of Bob Marley's 'Redemption Song'...Hill's traditional songwritting values and strong roots in '70s soul music mean that a beautiful and heartfelt song requires nothing more than her gritty sweet voice and funky strumming..."