Lauryn Hill Is Finally Recording A New Album

Lauryn Hill hasn’t recorded a complete solo album since 1998’s critically-acclaimed The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, despite her claims that she’s always writing new music. Basically, she’s like hip hop’s Axl Rose. But now, thanks to Hill’s massive tax debt that she incurred by not filing or paying her taxes between 2005 and 2007, Sony Worldwide Entertainment is finally bringing her fans a new album. Otherwise, she’ll probably go to prison.

Hill, though, posted on Tumblr that this has nothing to do with owing the government $500,000. Sometimes it just takes 15 years to make a decent album.

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.

She also claims that this is a matter of art vs. commerce, which is her fancy way of saying that she’d like to make music and keep all of the money. I don’t know if the IRS is on Tumblr, but I’m sure they’d post something like, “Tough tits, lady.”