Grammy Award winning Jazz artist and pianist Robert Glasper has worked with the best of the best, so when the Houston native was asked about his worst experiences among the elite, you know he had a few stories to tell.
On Monday (Aug 13), Glasper stopped by Houston’s 97.9 The Box and chatted it up with the The Mad Hatta Morning Show to discuss his illustrious career. During the course of the interview, the interviewer asked Glasper about egotistical artists he’s worked with and that’s when the drag of Lauryn Hill began.
”She likes to fire bands. I can rattle off 15 guys off the top of my head. She will go on tour with a band, and in the city where they’re doing their show, she will hold auditions for her band. The band is always good. She gets the best musicians. She just has a thing.”
Glasper revealed that even the hiring process was condescending after she requested that he audition for her band despite having the number one Jazz album in the country.
“[Lauryn Hill] always wanted to work with me,” Glasper recounted. “I remember it was like 2008 when she called me and asked me to audition for her band. At the time I had the number one Jazz album in the country and was on all kinds of charts, so I had an established career of my own; I wasn’t going to audition and I told her, ‘you can go online and check out my albums there and let me know if you want to work with me.’”
The two did eventually end up working together for a show in which Hill was paid $500,000 for a 20-minute set according to Glasper.
After rehearsing all day for a week straight with a full band, Ms. Hill decided to cut each musician’s pay in half because she was dissatisfied with their work. This was the day before the gig. Glasper wasn’t down for any of that and decided to walk out.
“After we linked up, the band and I were told that we would need to rehearse for one week to learn the music. We practiced for one week at 10-hours a day and on the last day, the day before the show she didn’t show up but manager did saying that she was ill. Then he proceeded to tell us that she didn’t like the way we played and that we could play but our pay would be cut in half. I told the band I don’t know what ya’ll want to do but after I finish eating I am leaving.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Glasper then dropped a bomb on fans after confirming the rumors surrounding the production of her iconic debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by saying that the singer “stole all my friends’ music.”
“The one thing you did that was great, you didn’t do.”
Check out the interview below.
