Lauryn Hill Makes Rare Appearance At New Zealand Music Festival

Lauryn Hill made a rare public appearance on Saturday (January 23) when the former Fugees superstar co-headlined a music festival in New Zealand with Shaggy.

Hill, sporting a cropped leather jacket over her dress and wearing a yellow sun bonnet, performed her breakout hit "Doo Wop (That Thing)."

The Grammy-winning artist has been reclusive since earning a handful of awards after the release of her debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The project earned five Grammy awards in one night a then-record for a woman including Album of the Year, a first for a hip-hop-tinged album. Hill was also involved in several lawsuits over musical credit on the album.

Various articles have painted Hill as either being a religious zealot, a free spirit, artistically stifled, or some combination of the three.

During her performance at Raggamuffin, billed as New Zealand's largest reggae music festival, Hill looked upbeat and happy to be performing. She smiled often and interacted with the audience as they cheered her during a vigorous rendition of "Doo Wop (That Thing)."

In 2007, Hill showed up for a show in Brooklyn, New York, more than two hours late covered with a bizarre amount of clownish makeup.

However, her appearance in New Zealand was a very different story Hill sported a bouffant-like hairdo and was boisterous, powering through her vocals. During her '07 show she reconfigured songs so much they barely were recognizable.