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Lauryn Hill Preps for Prison Release With New Song

Singer drops "Consumerism" just before she comes home today.

In honor of her release from prison, Ms. Lauryn Hill has new music for fans. Hill's latest, "Consumerism," was posted on her Tumblr page Thursday (Oct. 3) night, alongside a statement form her team. "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." 

Hill rages against "egotism," "materialism" and a bevy of other topics on the nearly five-minute track, slated to appear on her Letters From Exile release.

"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."

The mother of six began her three-month sentence in July for failing to pay taxes on $1.8 million worth of income dating back to 2005. Hill, 38, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and covered a large portion of the debt before she was ordered into custody. She disregarded Uncle Sam at a time when she "withdrew from society at large due to what she perceived as manipulation and very real threats to herself and her family."

Hill is expected to be released sometime today.

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(Photo: David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns via Getty Images)

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