“To Zion” by Lauryn Hill

"To Zion" comes from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, her 1998 solo debut, and it's her song for her first son, Zion, born the year before, and for the choice she made to have him rather than put a rising career first. Hill wrote and produced it herself, with Che Pope taking a co-production credit under the name Che Guevara, and Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel also appear among the writers.

Carlos Santana guests, and the track rides an acoustic Spanish guitar somewhere between hip-hop and gospel as Hill works through faith, rebirth and her bond with God. Reviewers made it one of the album's focal points, Hill and Santana played it together at the Grammys in 1999, and it has been in her sets on every tour since. Critics have traced its influence in rappers who broke through decades later.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.