There are relationships between famous people and relationships that seem to have real weight. These are the ones where two people from very different worlds meet and leave something real behind. By law, Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley were never married. But they built a family together over more than ten years that is a mix of reggae royalty and hip-hop history. The first part of that story was Zion David Marley, who was born on August 3, 1997.
Before Zion came, Lauryn Hill was already a well-known name. The Fugees had just won a Grammy for “The Score,” and Hill was known for having a voice that didn’t quite fit into any one category. Then she got pregnant, and people in the business had thoughts. Managers, advisors, and people with tour plans and spreadsheets all had something to say. Hill herself has said that almost everyone told her to be smart and think about her career. She made a different choice. “Having Zion made me understand what was most important,” she said in an interview soon after he was born. That has to be one of the most honest things a famous musician has ever said.
Zion’s dad, Rohan Marley, comes from a family that doesn’t need much of an introduction. He was born from an affair Bob had with Janet Hunt while he was married to Rita Marley. His father is Bob Marley. Some of Rohan’s childhood was spent with his mother. After Bob died of cancer in 1981, he spent more time with his paternal grandmother in Miami. After that, he played linebacker at the University of Miami and for a short time in the Canadian Football League. By the middle of the 1990s, he had moved into business and helped start Marley Coffee and the House of Marley brand. He is, in many ways, the quieter side of the Marley name. He isn’t a musician or performer, but he knew the weight of what he carried.
They got together in 1996 and were together until 2009. Even though they were never legally married, Hill would sometimes call Rohan her husband and he would do the same for her. This kind of arrangement doesn’t easily translate into tabloid shorthand, which is likely why it was taken the wrong way so many times. During those years, Zion, Selah, Joshua (now known as YG Marley), John, and Sara were all born at the same time. In reality, the house was in a suburban area of New Jersey, even though the names of the people who lived there were anything but normal.
When you look back, what stands out is what each parent taught you. Someone like Hill doesn’t think you can separate art from personal truth, and they believe that you owe yourself music more than anyone else. On Rohan’s side, there is a link to something older, to Bob Marley’s idea that what you build should last longer than you. Zion has said nice things about his mother’s 1998 album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, calling it the best album ever. This isn’t really a controversial opinion, depending on who you ask. Hill wrote the song “To Zion” for him before he was even born. It’s about putting your child ahead of what the industry wants. We got a Grammy for that song. Zion knew as a child that there was a song with his name on it.
After they broke up in 2009, Rohan helped out during a very hard time by taking temporary custody of their five children while Hill served a three-month prison sentence for tax evasion in 2013. The fact that it made the news doesn’t mean as much as a public fight, but it does show how they dealt with the fallout from a long-term relationship with children at its center. “It just didn’t work out,” Rohan said in an interview. “That doesn’t mean she’s a bad person or I’m a bad person.”
Zion now has two kids of his own, Zephaniah and Azaria. This makes Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley grandparents old enough to be in their 50s. That feels like a quiet circle coming full circle. One of the most famous albums of the 1990s was based on the artist’s son, who is now raising his own kids. His name is similar to Bob Marley’s Jamaica and Lauryn Hill’s South Orange. It’s possible that both of his parents were hoping for that the whole time, though in different ways.
