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Lauryn Hill is a free woman. TMZ reports that the singer was released early Friday morning from the minimum security Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut a few days early and will now be confined to her home for three months as part of her one-year probation. At the same time, she decided to issue a new song, “Consumerism,” which was penned before she was incarcerated in July for tax evasion.
To help fans better understand her rapid-fire lyrics in the track, a message was posted by Hill on her Tumblr page, explaining the song’s concept and meaning.
“‘Consumerism’ is part of some material I was trying to finish before I had to come in,” she wrote. “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.” Her upcoming album Letters from Exile, she says includes “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.”
The former Fugees singer adds, “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.”
Fans can purchase “Consumerism” on iTunes now.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio
