"Interlude 5" by Lauryn Hill

Interlude 5 lyrics: Lauryn Hill MTV Unplugged 2.0

You all doin' alright? You ok?  I'm not screamin at ya, I'm
just askin you a question.  Y'all givin' me a clap.  A yes
is fine (laughing) ok? (voice from audience ?I love that
song?) Thank you. Praise God.  I tell you, I know
everybody's in the same mess.  I'm telling you.  We all are.
 I know that, you know, and I'm just, you know, I'll be the
first to tell you, you know, I'm a mess and God is dealing
with me everyday.  And everyday I'm trying, you know, how I
can be less of a mess.  Cuz you know, he showed me, Look
Lauryn, you know, You're the problem, ok, I'm going to show
you how you're causing the problem, and now I want you to be
the solution.  And that's what all of these songs are about,
just, problem, cause and solution.  Free your mind.  It's
like, we all think that the gospel is join and church
building, and that's deception, you know.  The real gospel
is Repent, which means ?let go of all that crap,' that's
killin' ya.  Life was supposed to be a pleasurable
experience, not this torment, you know.  And when I realized
that I was tormenting myself, it was about my lust.  It
wasn't about things that I needed it was just, you know, all
these security blankets.  I mean, the more I acquired I
became more of a prisoner.  I mean, you know, forty people
on staff, and you can't do nothing, and now creativity is
impossible because all you can think about is all these
folks that you know, you're supporting and carryin' and you
know, it's not good.  You know, everybody?a friend of mine
says that every tub has to stand on it's own bottom, you
know.  And in that respect, we all get to do what our
passion is.  See that's what praisin God is all about, is
doing your passion.  You know, it's not useless, worthless
ritual, you know, monotonous ritual, where we just show up
and can't wait to see the game, you know.  It's doing your
passion and fulfilling your passion.  You know.  That's how
we're thankful.  That's how we say we appreciate the
opportunity to be alive.  And I'm just glad that I, you
know, I don't have to slave anymore.  You know, cuz I, music
was my love, and because of everything I thought had to
accompany my music it became my burden.  It just got stolen
from me.  I said, What is this?  How did this thing that I
love so much so easily and so quickly turn to something I
loath and hate?  And so now, you know, I understand that it
was because I was measuring myself or trying to compare
myself to a standard that wasn't reality.  It wasn't the
standard at all, you know.  There's a scripture in the Bible
that we, what does it say, it says ?We compare ourselves
amongst ourselves' you know.  That's not the standard.  You
already are the standard.  What are you trying to fit into a
standard for?  We were each created to be individual
standards, you know.  And we're trying to fit into a
standard?  It doesn't make any sense, you know.  So now I'm
just, you know, after all that, I'm just ready to be me. 
And it's a lot to work through, you know, because all of us
have hidden in these little boxes purposely, because of
parts of ourselves that we were unhappy about.  And it's
because we didn't understand, you know, because there's all
this social doctrine that says, you know, that the infinite
God, with all this expression, who created every single one
of us, absolutely different, on purpose, wants everybody to
fit into the same suit.  But like, you know, that's
deception.  That's deception.
	(Talking to someone offstage) Ok, let me just, I think this
is the wrong one (laughing) I don't think this is the right
one.
	We took?we were in, um, Florida this weekend and we took
the kids to Disneyworld, and um, you know we were going,
they gave us a tour.  They escorted us through the back. 
And when they escorted us through the back, we got to see
how, you know, there all these people workin all hard, and
it was like, real dirty back there, and of course, in the
front it was all immaculately clean.  And I said, I said,
you know, People need to see the reality, they need to see,
you know, how these people slave to maintain this illusion. 
And it felt like my life.  I said, If people only knew what
it was.  It's like, you know, a bunch of musicians, listen,
bustin' their ?mm' workin all hard to make it look easy. 
What's the point?  You know, Oh, uh, I just threw this
together, uh?(audience laughs).  You know, it's like, you
know what I'm sayin?  I mean, you know.  Slaving.  Slaving
to act like, you know, I wake up like this.  And none of us
do, you know, none of us do.  None of us do.  And reality is
good cuz that means everybody could just exhale, let your
belly out, you know, and chill.  You know.  But people get
mad at me when I say, Look, let's stop frontin'.  And I'm
saying, you know, that's the blessing.  Now we can go around
and look at each other and say, Oh, you got one too?! And be
free.  And we want to defend the curse.  I'll tell ya, that
was not fun.  Did it for a long time.  Too long.
	(offstage) You didn't find it? It's another white one.  But
you see?in my purse.  Or the, the other bag?  Or the green
one?  Ghetto.  You know, it's reality, ok (laughing)?
	One time, it came to me, you know, I was just told very
concretely.  You know, it was like that voice, the right
one, said to me, he said, Lauryn, You know the real you is
more interesting than the fake somebody else.  I just want
you to know that.  Because we always thought we could get,
you know, we could get reality by just putting on the
clothes and wearin' the face and you know, lookin hard in
the video.  But, you know.  Reality is..it's like I've
always told to my husband, it's like, look, you know, we
look at Bob Marley, you know, and we say Ok, let's just grow
locks and wear the clothes and have the band and we have no
many idea how many years of struggle and pain and suffering
that made that content.  You see what I'm saying?  You can't
get it from the outside in.  Truth is from the inside out. 
You know, and the way we've been trying to heal and be
healed is with these topical, surface, superficial,
temporary solution.  And I'm telling you, true healing is
from the inside out.  You know, we've been told to protect
our outer man while our inner man is dying.  (offstage) Oh,
this is the one.
Boy I'll tell ya, God made him for me.  I'm something to put
up with.  And to endure that is amazing.  I'll be the first
to tell you, trust me.  Y'all could clap cuz that's some
real work (more clapping).  I was in there in the room, you
know, before we came out here, and he said to me, I said, Ro
should I change?  And he said, Yeah.  So I looked at him, I
said, Why did you tell me to change I was comfortable, man. 
But I asked him the question.  So I went in the room and I
tried on all these clothes and I was like, I feel like an
idiot.  So I pulled out all these clothes and I'm sayin, ok
Ro, you know, Pack the bag neatly, you know, Could you put
the clothes back in?  And he's like, Alright.  So he's
trying to do this but then I'm like, No!  Now take this out!
 Now put that back and take that out!  Put that back, hold
that, take, that, put, The orange shoe!  The orange shoe! 
So I'm like.  And then after awhile I just said, Ro baby,
could you leave? Please get out the room.  And I just put
back on the clothes I came in.  Ok, I was like?I'm just not
there anymore.  Nah, I'm telling you.  It's like, uh
(laughing).  Hey you know he's learned.  Because before we
used to just beef and now he's like, Okay?I'm out.  It's
real.  God gave us a brand new relationship, man, I mean,
one in truth, you know. It's like, we date people, like
let's say, you know, we're interested in somebody and we put
on the perfume and dress up and then we do things that we
will never ever ever do again!  You understand what I'm
sayin?  It's like?And that's why so many marriages end up in
divorce. It's because people wake up next to a stranger. 
They say, Who the hell are you?  What are you doing in this
bed?  Where's that man that used to do ?du, dua, and du.' 
And I'm sayin let's give them reality from the door
because?you're going to attract love, and the one that
really loves you.  And then you don't have to pretend and
falcify, and you know, keep that posture.  You know, you
know, I can't, I'm just like...I'll never forget when I
first met him I said to him, it was like, he saw me eating
in front of him, and he told me, he was like, You eat like a
man, you must not like me.  You know, because, women,
usually they keep that posture.  And I said, Nah.  I said
it's not even that, you know.  It's but, this is reality. 
This is, you know, and that's it, man, I mean, I'm just
telling you, it's so wonderful to finally find?And trust me,
it's a work in progress, it's not something that happens
overnight.  We all have to be introduced to each other.  I'm
telling you, I know that I'm up here and you see, Lauryn
Hill, you came to see Lauryn Hill.  But this is the first
time y'all meet me.  You see what I'm saying?  Don't think
you met me before, ok.  And as I grow, you're going to meet
me a little bit more.  You're gonna be exposed to the real
me a little bit more.  I can tell you I had to reintroduce
myself to everybody I know.  My mother my father.  Listen,
y'all never knew me.  I want to introduce you to me.  I'm
just getting to know me.  And you know what, anything that's
not growin is dead, so we better be changing.  You know,
people would say to me, they would hold me hostage.  And
they, seriously, emotionally hostage, and they'd say, Uh,
she's changing.  The money's changing her.  And I'd say
Listen, the money's not changing me, God's changing me.  I'm
changing, because that's a natural part of life.  We're all
supposed to change.  Who wakes up and is the same way
tomorrow and the day after that?  Nobody is.  Let the
experience teach you and be real, man.  And, um..there's
gonna be warfare involved.  Because there's some people who
prefer deceptions, see.  They say, uh, I don't like this new
expression, and I say, what, you want two-thirds of me to
stay outside?  I'm a whole person.  You can't say, you know,
two-thirds of Lauryn, come in here.  Only two-thirds is
acceptable.  I'm a whole person.  You know.  And that's
everybody.  You always talk about spiritual warfare and we
did
n't realize that it was in relationships.  It's emotional
warfare.  Being able to tell the people we love the most the
truth about ourselves.  And when they say, Hey that doesn't
fit into our box for you, we say, Well, I ain't in no box. 
Don't try to put me in one.  I'm going to play a little bit
of guitar with this one, but I might stop it's cuz I really
want you to listen to the words, so if I stop, you
understand why.  I want you to really hear the words?