Oof: Turns Out Lauryn Hill Is Not Headlining Rock The Bells This Summer

So Urb caused a sizable kerfuffle yesterday afternoon by breaking the news that the stupendously volatile Lauryn Hill would headline the annual hip-hop nostalgia tour Rock the Bells by performing 1998's classic The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in its entirety, triggering equal amounts joy and fear. (Lauryn's shows can be harrowing.) Urb had a sizable scoop here, as the official RTB lineup-unveiling event was set for Monday night in L.A. Well, that happened, and the lineup was officially announced. You'll never guess who wasn't on it.

Well, actually, Lauryn does appear on the official Rock the Bells press release (announcing four North American dates, including Governors Island August 28), but only as a not terribly official-sounding "special guest." Your actual headliners include Wu-Tang Clan, KRS-One, Rakim, and Slick Rick doing their own classic albums (36 Chambers, Criminal Minded, Paid in Full, and Paid in Full The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, respectively). The door is theoretically open for Lauryn, but the video above, of RTB bigwig Chang Weisberg addressing the rumor at last night's press conference, is not terrifically encouraging. ("I would love to have Lauryn Hill on this bill. We would love to have a lot of acts on the bill.") We've reached out to the RTB folks and will keep you posted; as for Urb, they have recanted for the moment. "While information leaked earlier on the day of the lineup announcement that Lauryn Hill would be performing The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in its entirety turned out to be incorrect," they note, "the leaked information did reveal one important piece of information: The theme of this year's Rock the Bells." That would be miseducation.