Lauryn Hill, the enigmatic hip-hop star, avoided sentencing for tax evasion charges after striking a deal earlier this week to pay back $504,000 within two weeks. Now she's confirmed that she's made a deal with Sony to launch a new label for new music. Of course, she's still got some axes to grind.
On her Tumblr, she wrote, "I’ve remained silent, after an extensive healing process. This has been a 10+ year battle, for a long time played out behind closed doors, but now in front of the public eye. This is an old conflict between art and commerce… free minds, and minds that are perhaps overly tethered to structure. This is about inequity, and the resulting disenfranchisement caused by it. I’ve been fighting for existential and economic freedom, which means the freedom to create and live without someone threatening, controlling, and/or manipulating the art and the artist, by tying the purse strings." In other words, everything was keeping her down!
After the charges last year, Hill explained there were dangers in being "manipulated and controlled by a media protected military industrial complex with a completely different agenda" so she retreated "underground" with her family to protect them.
Anyway, Hill actually owes more than $504,000—the Star-Ledger reported, "The judge’s deadline does not apply to the civil tax liability that Hill faces, which includes interest, penalties and unpaid state taxes. Altogether, the singer owes a total of $968,000 to tax collectors, [lawyer Nathan] Hochman said. Based on that amount, federal sentencing guidelines call for prison sentences of 24 to 30 months, he said, adding that he is hopeful that Hill will be given probation instead."
It has been reported that I signed a new record deal, and that I did this to pay taxes. Yes, I have recently entered into an agreement with Sony Worldwide Entertainment, to launch a new label, on which my new music will be released. And yes, I am working on new music.
I’ve remained silent, after an extensive healing process. This has been a 10+ year battle, for a long time played out behind closed doors, but now in front of the public eye. This is an old conflict between art and commerce… free minds, and minds that are perhaps overly tethered to structure. This is about inequity, and the resulting disenfranchisement caused by it. I’ve been fighting for existential and economic freedom, which means the freedom to create and live without someone threatening, controlling, and/or manipulating the art and the artist, by tying the purse strings.
It took years for me to get out of the ‘parasitic’ dynamic of my youth, and into a deal that better reflects my true contribution as an artist, and (purportedly) gives me the control necessary to create a paradigm suitable for my needs. I have been working towards this for a long time, not just because of my current legal situation, but because I am an artist, I love to create, and I need the proper platform to do so.
The nature of my new business venture, as well as the dollar amount reported, was inaccurate, only a portion of the overall deal. Keep in mind, my past recordings have sold over 50,000,000 units worldwide, earning the label a tremendous amount of money (a fraction of which actually came to me).
Only a completely complicated set of traps, manipulations, and inequitable business arrangements could put someone who has accomplished the things that I have, financially in need of anything. I am one artist who finds value in openly discussing the dynamics within this industry that force artists to compromise or distort themselves and what they do, rather than allowing them to make the music that people need. There are volumes that could (and will) be said.
And here's a little Lauryn Hill from 15 (!!) years ago:
