Music

Lauryn Hill is out of jail and celebrating with new single "Consumerism"

by Tyler Munro

via Billboard

Fresh out of prison, Lauryn Hill’s new song “Consumerism” shows fans she was working even while behind bars.

Hill was released this morning from a minimum security federal prison after serving a three month sentence for tax evasion, and “Consumerism” was in progress the entire time.

“Consumerism’ is part of some material I was trying to finish before I had to come in,” said Hill in a statement you can read in full below. “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.”

Like the rest of her recent material, the song has a hyper-political bent, but because she’s been out of the loop on news, she kept things a little vague on “Conspiracy.” And like “Neurotic Society,” it’s mostly just Hill rambling at light speed. This is, uh… maybe not what fans want?

‘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 it’s level.