Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actress. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as one of the most influential musicians of her generation. Hill is credited for breaking barriers for female rappers, popularizing melodic rapping and for bringing hip hop and neo soul to popular music. She is known for being the frontwoman of The Fugees, and for her 1998 solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Hill has won many accolades, including eight Grammy Awards, the most for a female rapper to this day.

Hill starred in the film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). Afterwards, she released two albums as a member of The Fugees. Their album The Score (1996), received the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, for which she became the first woman to win the award. The album contained the hit single "Killing Me Softly", with her on lead vocals. Hill then collaborated with Nas ("If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)") and Aretha Franklin ("A Rose Is Still a Rose"). The band split in 1997, and soon after she began work on her solo album.

Her sole studio album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), launched atop the U.S. Billboard 200 with the highest first-week sales for a debut album by a woman in the 20th century. It included the songs "Ex-Factor" and "Lost Ones". The lead single "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and made her the first artist to have debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 with their first entries. She also was the first woman rapper to earn a No. 1 on each chart. At the 41st Grammy Awards, Hill set a record for the most nominations in one night for a woman, with ten. She won five awards including Album of the Year, and became the first hip hop act to win the award. The album was later selected for the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

Hill then produced music for Santana and Mary J. Blige. Her new-material live album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2002), was later certified platinum by the RIAA. Ultimately, Hill dropped out of the public eye, only periodically releasing singles. Billboard placed her seventh on their "10 Best Rappers of All Time" list (2015), with her being the sole woman on the list. She has also been ranked as one of the Greatest Singers of All Time by Consequence of Sound and Rolling Stone. Throughout her career, Hill has earned several Guinness World Records, which include being the first woman rapper to earn a Diamond-certification by RIAA. She has received the NAACP's President's Award for her humanitarian work, and was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.