# Doo Wop (That Thing)
**Doo Wop (That Thing)** is the debut solo single by American singer and rapper [Lauryn Hill](https://www.edgepedia.org/lauryn-hill), released on July 7, 1998 as the lead single from her album *The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill*[1](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1447372639). Written and produced by Hill, it debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to win two [Grammy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-awards) at the [41st Annual Grammy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/41st-annual-grammy-awards) in 1999[2](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1998/nov/13/lauryn-hills-first-single-hits-no-1/) • [3](https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/best-female-rb-vocal-performance/1999/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist and role | Written, produced, and performed by Lauryn Hill, formerly of the Fugees[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/) |
| Release | July 7, 1998, on Ruffhouse/Columbia; lead single from *The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill*[1](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1447372639) • [4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/) |
| Billboard Hot 100 | Debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated November 14, 1998, the third single to bow at the top in 1998 and the 10th ever to do so; stayed at No. 1 for 2 weeks[2](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1998/nov/13/lauryn-hills-first-single-hits-no-1/) • [5](https://stereogum.com/2190677/the-number-ones-lauryn-hills-doo-wop-that-thing/columns/the-number-ones) • [6](https://device.report/m/8a3a56dcb2c787d98c5606567c9d392582d174bdc394a8e14a637605bb061ff1.pdf) |
| UK charts | Peak position 3 on the Official Singles Chart, first chart date 3 October 1998; No. 1 on the UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart[7](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/lauryn-hill-doo-wop-that-thing/) |
| Grammy Awards | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best Rhythm & Blues Song, 41st Annual Grammy Awards (1999)[3](https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/best-female-rb-vocal-performance/1999/) • [8](https://www.grammy.com/awards/41st-annual-grammy-awards/) |
| Music video | Split-screen block party in Manhattan's Washington Heights, contrasting 1967 and 1998; directed by Andy Delaney[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/) |
## Release and chart performance
The single preceded the album by two weeks and immediately went to No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the [Hot Rap Songs](https://www.edgepedia.org/hot-rap-songs) chart; as a woman solo artist, Hill set long-held records on both charts with it[9](https://www.grammy.com/news/lauryn-hill-the-miseducation-of-lauryn-hill-25th-anniversary-reflection/). Billboard reported that the debut at the summit marked only the 10th time a song had entered the Hot 100 at No. 1[6](https://device.report/m/8a3a56dcb2c787d98c5606567c9d392582d174bdc394a8e14a637605bb061ff1.pdf), and trade coverage at the time noted it was the third such debut of 1998, after [Celine Dion](https://www.edgepedia.org/celine-dion)'s "My Heart Will Go On" and Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"[2](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1998/nov/13/lauryn-hills-first-single-hits-no-1/). It was Hill's first and only Hot 100 No. 1 as a solo artist[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/).
In the United Kingdom the single entered the Official Singles Chart on 3 October 1998, peaked at No. 3, and spent nine weeks in the Top 100 across two chart runs; on the UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart it reached No. 1 and logged 24 weeks in the [Top 40](https://www.edgepedia.org/top-40)[7](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/lauryn-hill-doo-wop-that-thing/). It also charted in Canada, Switzerland, France, Australia, and the Netherlands, among other countries[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/).
## Lyrics and themes
The song is a warning to both men and women against exploiting one another for "that thing", which the song's commentary identifies as sexual intercourse[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/). Hill alternates the chorus between the two audiences: "Guys, you know you'd better watch out / Some girls, some girls are only about / That thing, that thing, that thing", and the mirrored verse addressed to women[10](https://time.com/5377938/miseducation-lauryn-hill-anniversary/). Lines such as "Baby girl, respect is just a minimum" emphasize self-respect, particularly for women[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/).
Scholarly readings have placed the song in a black feminist frame. Maisie Hulbert, a researcher at the [University of Cambridge](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-cambridge), argues that the track "sounds gender" through its lyrics, flow, and multimedia, working to empower black femininities with self-respect and voicing concerns central to black feminist thought[11](https://www.iaspm.org.uk/iaspm/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/hulbert_goodwin_essay_2018.pdf). Throughout the song, Hill's lines are echoed just after her by a group of female voices, an effect read as implying solidarity and support[11](https://www.iaspm.org.uk/iaspm/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/hulbert_goodwin_essay_2018.pdf).
The title plays on the doo-wop vocal style of the 1950s and 1960s, though, as one music-and-copyright study observes, Hill's lyrics have nothing to do with doo wop itself; the song instead plays on the expectation that a sample will signify on older music[12](https://ebooks.gatewayofhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Demers-Steal-This-Music-How-Intellectual-Property-Law-Affects-Musical-Creativity.pdf). A collaborator recalled in an XXL track-by-track breakdown that Hill said she wanted to do a doo wop song[13](https://www.xxlmag.com/a-track-by-track-breakdown-of-the-miseducation-of-lauryn-hill/).
## Music video
The video was filmed in Manhattan's Washington Heights and employs a split-screen format to show Lauryn Hill performing at two separate block parties.[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/) • [20](https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/150-greatest-hip-hop-videos-all-time-list-49286/lauryn-hill-doo-wop-that-thing-2-49350/) The screen is split: both sides show Hill, with the left side depicting her in 1967 attire paying homage to older R&B culture and the right side showing her in the 1998 hip-hop scene[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/) • [20](https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/150-greatest-hip-hop-videos-all-time-list-49286/lauryn-hill-doo-wop-that-thing-2-49350/). A contemporary description of the concept describes two different Lauryn Hills at two different neighborhood jams on the same Washington Heights block, one in 1967 and one in 1998[14](https://davesmusicdatabase.blogspot.com/1998/11/lauryn-hill-doo-wop-that-thing-debuted.html). The official HD video was uploaded to Hill's YouTube channel in 2010 and has drawn over 245 million views[15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6QKqFPRZSA).
## Awards and context within the album
At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards in 1999, "Doo Wop (That Thing)" won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, beating nominees including [Aretha Franklin](https://www.edgepedia.org/aretha-franklin), Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, and [Erykah Badu](https://www.edgepedia.org/erykah-badu), and Best Rhythm & Blues Song[3](https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/best-female-rb-vocal-performance/1999/) • [8](https://www.grammy.com/awards/41st-annual-grammy-awards/). The two awards were part of the five Grammys Hill took home that night for *The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill*, a total that made her the first woman to win five or more awards in a single night and made the album the first hip-hop record to win Album of the Year[10](https://time.com/5377938/miseducation-lauryn-hill-anniversary/) • [16](https://www.grammy.com/news/album-of-the-year-grammy-winners-90s/).
Hill's achievement carried a specific commercial distinction as well: she was the first woman since [Debbie Gibson](https://www.edgepedia.org/debbie-gibson) to have a No. 1 song that she wrote, produced, and recorded on her own[4](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/).
## Legacy and sampling
The song has been sampled repeatedly in later hip-hop. Drake built his 2014 surprise track "Draft Day" on a sample of it[17](https://time.com/46748/drake-draft-day-song/), and [Kanye West](https://www.edgepedia.org/kanye-west) sampled it on his 2021 track "Believe What I Say"[5](https://stereogum.com/2190677/the-number-ones-lauryn-hills-doo-wop-that-thing/columns/the-number-ones). At Hill's 2023 25th-anniversary concert celebration, local students performed "Doo Wop (That Thing)" at the end of her set[18](https://apnews.com/article/6dfb486000e93ccac58faf7c292a6973).
The song's production has also been studied on its own terms; a mixing analysis of its electric bass and kick drum relationship opens by calling the record a "Total Banger" and treats its low-end balance as a case study in R&B and hip-hop engineering[19](https://willbosworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/doowopbass_b.pdf).
## References
1. [Doo Wop (That Thing) – Song by Lauryn Hill, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/song/1447372639)
2. [Lauryn Hill's First Single Hits No. 1, The Spokesman-Review (1998)](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1998/nov/13/lauryn-hills-first-single-hits-no-1/)
3. [Best Female R&B Vocal Performance 1999 Winners & Nominees, Grammy.com](https://www.grammy.com/awards/categories/best-female-rb-vocal-performance/1999/)
4. [Lauryn Hill – Doo-Wop (That Thing), Story of Song](https://storyofsong.com/story/doo-wop-thing/)
5. [The Number Ones: Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)", Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/2190677/the-number-ones-lauryn-hills-doo-wop-that-thing/columns/the-number-ones)
6. [Billboard 1998 chart compilation (Hot 100 debut at No. 1 note)](https://device.report/m/8a3a56dcb2c787d98c5606567c9d392582d174bdc394a8e14a637605bb061ff1.pdf)
7. [DOO WOP (THAT THING) – LAURYN HILL, Official Charts Company](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/lauryn-hill-doo-wop-that-thing/)
8. [41st Annual Grammy Awards 1999, Grammy.com](https://www.grammy.com/awards/41st-annual-grammy-awards/)
9. [Revisiting 'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill' 25 Years Later, Grammy.com](https://www.grammy.com/news/lauryn-hill-the-miseducation-of-lauryn-hill-25th-anniversary-reflection/)
10. [How Lauryn Hill Educated the Music Industry 20 Years Ago, TIME](https://time.com/5377938/miseducation-lauryn-hill-anniversary/)
11. [Maisie Hulbert, "'Respect is just a minimum': Self-empowerment in Lauryn Hill's 'Doo-Wop (That Thing)'", IASPM (2018)](https://www.iaspm.org.uk/iaspm/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/hulbert_goodwin_essay_2018.pdf)
12. [Joanna Demers, *Steal This Music: How Intellectual Property Law Affects Musical Creativity*](https://ebooks.gatewayofhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Demers-Steal-This-Music-How-Intellectual-Property-Law-Affects-Musical-Creativity.pdf)
13. [A Track By Track Breakdown Of 'The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill', XXL](https://www.xxlmag.com/a-track-by-track-breakdown-of-the-miseducation-of-lauryn-hill/)
14. [Dave's Music Database: Lauryn Hill "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted at #1](https://davesmusicdatabase.blogspot.com/1998/11/lauryn-hill-doo-wop-that-thing-debuted.html)
15. [Lauryn Hill – Doo Wop (That Thing) (Official HD Video), YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6QKqFPRZSA)
16. [Album Of The Year GRAMMY Winners: '90s, Grammy.com](https://www.grammy.com/news/album-of-the-year-grammy-winners-90s/)
17. [Drake Drops Surprise Track "Draft Day": Listen, TIME](https://time.com/46748/drake-draft-day-song/)
18. [Concert Review: Lauryn Hill's 25th 'Miseducation' celebration, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/6dfb486000e93ccac58faf7c292a6973)
19. [Electric Bass & Kick Drum Mixing in Doo Wop (That Thing), Will Bosworth](https://willbosworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/doowopbass_b.pdf)
20. [Lauryn Hill, ‘Doo-Wop (That Thing)’ - Rolling Stone Australia](https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/150-greatest-hip-hop-videos-all-time-list-49286/lauryn-hill-doo-wop-that-thing-2-49350/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › R&B and soul songs*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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