BREAKING NEWS: Lauryn Hill Released From Prison and drops new single CONSUMERISM

Laruyn Hill is officially a free woman. As scheduled, Hill was released from the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Conn., sometime Friday (Oct. 4), according to information posted on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Hill pleaded guilty to tax evasion late last year and was sentenced to three months in July. Before she went in, the ex-Fugee paid off over $900,000 of the debt stemming from $1.8 million in income she earned between 2005 - 2007.

At a hearing in May, Hill refused responsibility for the tax troubles, stating, "I was put in a system I didn't know the nature of. I'm a child of former slaves. I got into an economic paradigm and had that imposed on me.

"I sold 50 million units," she added. "Now I'm up here paying tax debt. If that's not slavery, I don't know what is."

Prior to her release, the mother of six dropped the new track "Consumerism" and is working on a new album titled Letters From Exile.  

LISTEN HERE

"Consumerism" was written before Hill's incarceration, and mixed while she was locked-up. She wanted to get this music out while she was incarcerated, as it is a product of the space she was in while she was going through some of the challenges she has been faced with recently.

A message posted by Hill on her Tumblr page explains the background to the track:

"Consumerism is part of some material I was trying to finish before I had to come in. We did our best to eek out a mix via verbal and emailed direction, thanks to the crew of surrogate ears on the other side. Letters From Exile is material written from a certain space, in a certain place. I felt the need to discuss the underlying socio-political, cultural paradigm as I saw it. I haven’t been able to watch the news too much recently, so I’m not hip on everything going on. But inspiration of this sort is a kind of news in and of itself, and often times contains an urgency that precedes what happens. I couldn’t imagine it not being relevant. Messages like these I imagine find their audience, or their audience finds them, like water seeking its level."  

Available now on iTunes: bit.ly/MLH_C