Music

Listen to Lauryn Hill's new song, "Neurotic Society (Compulsory Mix)"

by Tyler Munro

Lauryn Hill released her first new song this weekend, and whether or not you like it we can probably meet in the middle to say it is completely insane.

Hill makes a point of calling the track a rush job on her tumblr, where she posts that she’d never release something so unfinished. But then her standards aren’t exactly relative to anything, well, standard. If Lauryn Hill had her way, we’d be left with years more of butchered live renditions of “Doo Wop” centered around hours-late arrivals and gibberish filled rants. And as far as this new cut goes, it’s most certainly the latter.

Is Lauryn Hill losing it? That’s a question we’d be more comfortable asking about ten years ago. For now, we’ll ask if there’s anything left to lose.

If you’re lost, Sony recently gave Hill a hefty contract worth a reported $1 million dollars under the pretense that she’d record at least five new songs in the lead up to an eventual new album. But because a chunk of that money also went towards paying off her massive debts—roughly $500,000 in unpaid taxes—we’ll assume they’d rather not give her the benefit of a doubt. If you do the math, then, that means this song essentially cost the label $100,000. Did they get their money’s worth? If yes, you can grab it on iTunes.