Just in time for her release from prison today, Lauryn Hill has released a new track from her new project Letters From Exile entitled “Consumerism“. Ms. Hill, who just served a 3-month sentence for tax evasion wrote the track prior to her imprisonment and it was released on the eve of her release. It is similar to much of her recent work and while the track is thought-provoking we may have to accept the fact that we will never hear music similar to the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill era from her. However, artists are supposed to evolve over time and she certainly has. She took to her Tumblr page to explain the song:
“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 its level.”
Take a listen:
Do you like Lauryn’s latest effort?
-Jordan
