"Everything Is Everything" is the fourth single from American Hip Hop/R&B artist Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...

's debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American musician Lauryn Hill, released August 25, 1998, on Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from late 1997 to June 1998, and were held primarily at Tuff Gong Studios in Jamaica...

.

Song information

The song itself features background music by John Legend

John Legend

John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...

, who at the time was virtually unknown. In the album's liner notes he is credited as his birth name John Stephens. The song reached #35 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 Singles Chart, #14 on the Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Chart, #18 on the Rhythmic Top 40 Chart, and #14 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. In 2007, the song was ranked #66 in About.com

About.com

About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....

's Top 100 Rap Songs.

Music Video

The Music Video for 'Everything Is Everything' was directed by Sanji

Sanji (director)

Sanji Senaka is a music video and advertising director.Sanji started his career in 1993, but it took 6 years until he made his name known. He was represented by Believe Media until 2004 and FM Rocks until the end of 2006. He is now represented by Yell Productions...

 who also directed many critically acclaimed videos for artists such as Macy Gray

Macy Gray

Macy Gray is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress, famed for her distinctive raspy voice, and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday and Betty Davis.Gray has released five studio albums, with her fifth studio album, The Sellout,...

, Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

, Seal

Seal (musician)

Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...

 and Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

. The video featured ground-breaking special effects by Method Studios

Method Studios

Method Studios is a post production company founded in 1998 and located in Los Angeles, California with offices in Vancouver, New York, London, Sydney and Melbourne. The company provides a full range of services including conceptual design, look development, on-set supervision, 3D animation/CGI,...

 depicting Lauryn on the streets of New York City which is seen as a huge vinyl record on a turntable spinning around playing the music as she tells the story of injustice and the misunderstood struggle of the black communities in Inner city/Urban America. She runs around in various scenes and stages dodging the turntable needle as it scratches back and forth through the city until the finale as she stands on the spinning record revealing her name on the label.

In 2000, 'Everything Is Everything' was nominated for a Grammy for Best Music Video/Short Film, along with a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award nomination and 3 MTV Video Music Award Nominations for Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Direction (Sanji), and Best Special Effects (Method Studios).

Tracklisting

UK CD1

1. "Everything Is Everything" (Radio Edit) - 3:56
2. "Ex-Factor" (Live on Radio 1) - 6:51
3. "Everything Is Everything" (Instrumental) - 4:57

UK CD2

1. "Everything Is Everything" (Album Version) - 4:57
2. "Lost Ones" (Live on Radio 1) - 5:13
3. "Tell Him" (Live on Radio 1) - 4:40

American Single

1. "Everything Is Everything" (Album Version) - 4:57
2. "Ex-Factor" (A Simple Mix) - 4:37
3. "Everything Is Everything" (Radio Edit) - 3:56
4. "Ex-Factor" (A Simple Breakdown) - 4:10
5. "Everything Is Everything" (Instrumental) - 4:57
6. "Ex-Factor" (A Simple Acapella) - 4:24

Chart performance

Chart (1998)	Peak Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	35
U.S. Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Chart	14
U.S. Rhythmic Top 40 Chart	18
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	14

Certifications

Country	Certification Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales thresholds)	Sales
United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...	Gold	500,000