Lately it seems when you hear the name Lauryn Hill, it’s surrounded by legal issues and financial drama. Rumors and reports have been flying about Miss Hill’s tax evasion charges for a while now, and last week, it was all about her eviction woes.
Well, it looks like the Grammy Award-winning artist is officially sick of the gossip, and she’s broken her silence, speaking out about the issues on her Tumblr page.
In regards to the eviction rumors:
I’d like to set the record straight: I am not squatting, and I do not owe any money to my landlord. I have always stayed current on rent. I was raised in South Orange, which is why these allegations are not only false, but insulting. I am in talks with the town about resolving an unrelated issue, regarding how I use my home to work on my music, which has nothing to do with my financial obligations.
Won’t it be great when real journalism returns to replace inaccurate tabloid harassment.
On her new record deal and tax issues:
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.
MLH
No word when we can expect to hear new music from Lauryn (or when she’ll actually pay those damn taxes), but let’s just hope that both happen sooner than later.
