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[READ: Singer Lauryn Hill Faces Jail Time for Tax Evasion...]
Ms. Hill fires back at the accusations that she owes at least 3 years worth of federal taxes with a lengthy letter posted online.
The 37-year-old former Fugee claims that she removed herself and her family from society during that three year period in order to “keep them safe, healthy, and free from danger.”
Yesterday, one of my twitter followers (@Crockettll) hilariously tweeted “She don’t pay taxes in her world aka Mars!” and according to Lauryn’s long drawn out explanation, it looks like he was right!
Read all the sordid details that Lauryn Hill wants you to know about her tax situation below…
For the past several years, I have remained what others would consider underground. I did this in order to build a community of people, like-minded in their desire for freedom and the right to pursue their goals and lives without being manipulated and controlled by a media protected military industrial complex with a completely different agenda. Having put the lives and needs of other people before my own for multiple years, and having made hundreds of millions of dollars for certain institutions, under complex and sometimes severe circumstances, I began to require growth and more equitable treatment, but was met with resistance. I entered into my craft full of optimism (which I still possess), but immediately saw the suppressive force with which the system attempts to maintain it’s control over a given paradigm. I’ve seen people promote addiction, use sabotage, black listing, media bullying and any other coercion technique they could, to prevent artists from knowing their true value, or exercising their full power. These devices of control, no matter how well intentioned (or not), can have a devastating outcome on the lives of people, especially creative types who must grow and exist within a certain environment and according to a certain pace, in order to live and create optimally.
I kept my life relatively simple, even after huge successes, but it became increasingly obvious that certain indulgences and privileges were expected to come at the expense of my free soul, free mind, and therefore my health and integrity.
So I left a more mainstream and public life, in order to wean both myself, and my family, away from a lifestyle that required distortion and compromise as a means for maintaining it. During this critical healing time, there were very few people accessible to me who had not already been seduced or affected by this machine, and therefore who could be trusted to not try and influence or coerce me back into a dynamic of compromise. Individual growth was expected to take place unnaturally, or stagnated outright, subject to marketing and politics.
Addressing critical issues like pop culture cannibalism or its manipulation of the young at the expense of everything, was frowned upon and discouraged by limiting funding, or denying it outright. When one has a prolific creative output like I did/do, and is then forced to stop, the effects can be dangerous both emotionally and psychologically, both for the artist and those in need of that resource. It was critically important that I find a suitable pathway within which to exist, without being distorted or economically strong-armed.
During this period of crisis, much was said about me, both slanted and inaccurate, by those who had become dependent on my creative force, yet unwilling to fully acknowledge the importance of my contribution, nor compensate me equitably for it. This was done in an effort to smear my public image, in order to directly affect my ability to earn independently of this system. It took a long time to locate and nurture a community of people strong enough to resist the incredibly unhealthy tide, and more importantly see through it. If I had not been able to make contact with, and establish this community, my life, safety and freedom, would have been directly affected as well as the lives, safety and freedom of my family. Failure to create a non toxic, non exploitative environment was not an option. (via Lauryn’s Tumblr)
What do you think of Lauryn Hill’s wordy explanation?
If you read every word of that diatribe, you’re about as coo-coo for co-co puffs as she is…
FULL PHOTO GALLERY
um…Imma pass on any Marley d*cks they ish make ya CRAAAA_ZY.
I hope she take her meds before she see the judge…or she will be joining, Wesley.
WHAT THE HELL
I see no reference to tax evasion. I see an explanation of why she left the corrupt music industry. She refused to promote what they wanted, they stifled her creativity by pulling financial backing, she lost her mind, and the same "fans" who benefited from the knowledge she dropped turned on her. Had she not taken a step back, she would still be in that horrible place. thats what i read. *shrug*
This is no excuse for tax evasion, but i havent walked in her shoes so i cant judge. We tend to fear what we dont understand, or call it crazy.
And where exactly did she spend the money?
I agree c2tha.. the chick who writes this blog is coo-coo.. Lauryn’s message was "girl you know you betta watch out" uplifting her listeners. The "industry" thrives on calling folks bitches, expoiting women in videos, and chicks jumping over tables and throwing bottles like hooligans.. these artists get funded and their shows get renewed.. while people who try to send a positive message, gets their funding pulled. I don’t blame Lauryn for retreating and maintaining her integrity. We were not there at the business meetings where they maybe asked her to tone down her message. We were not there when they said oh yes look at all those grammys.. we can make lots of money off of you now.. Maybe you should show a little stomach or show more skin.. Come on now.. Lauryn decided to get out before she sold her soul.. good for her..
Ooookay.
This is what I’m tired of..Lauryn Hill being in the news for bullish when she could have come out with 3 plant. cd’s by now..C’mon Lauryn!
Well the IRS will re-deposit her ass and she will pay.
hella funny!!!!
ಠ_ಠ ?
lawd, i can imagine that the entertainment industry isn’t for everyone. there is a control mechanism to it as dave chappelle described but as long as you exist in the matrix you have to play the game to a certain extent and evading taxes is not the way to make your declaration against the recording industry. smh
Cray!
I don’t know if Lauryn Hill answered the question of why she don’t feel she owes Uncle Sam in this letter, but she did shed some light on why she disappeared off the music scene suddenly and for a long while. She really was an intelligent being who could have done a lot for the humanity of other disenfranchised people all over the world with her passion for justice and uplifting future generations.
I believe she was perceived as a threat, but instead of killing her they just slipped a "MICKY" in one of her herbal remedies,passed her off to the Marley’s and labeled her as a crazy person. What a loss of talent,but she is still a poet through confusion of words!
When will these black folks learn the importance of rendering unto Ceasar what is his, SMH!!! Wesley Snipes, Ron Isley now Lauryn
love her no matter what…..
Well there’s nothing like a few years in jail to bring you back to society.
I can see her new album now…’The Incarceration Years’. It will be hailed as her best work EVER. Or it could just be called ‘I Cray, Cray ‘and panned by critics and even her fans. We will see how this works out.
Lol… lauryn tell Wesley Snipes I said hi.
I understand every word she has written and agree that she did the right thing to remove herself from an industry that is soul crushing. Creativity is not encouraged in our world because creativity involves thinking outside the box, being an individual. Lauren is smart enough to have figured out the awful game and decided she wasn’t going to play. Good for her.
She aint that crazy. Yes, pay your taxes but live your life to be free and protect your fam from the madness. Her kids seem to be well adjusted.
Lauryn smoking that LOUD lol craycray
o_O
Sounds like Lauryn’s been having tea parties with Prince. Wish her the best.
tell the whole story if you’re gonna tell it. you are just another catalyst misleading people into corruption and false reality.
the only important issue that could possibly be written about by your ignorance-driven blog and you take half of the facts out. she explained herself after the portion that was posted.
we need to start doing more research about our people, our envoironment and what we read…
obviously this woman just gets all her facts from twitter.
maybe if she was wearing some expensive shoes and instagramed her new weave and weight loss pics after eating herself into a oblivion due to low self-esteem, then maybe you would have had something good to say..
i have tried to read and support your blog as a member of the black community willfully sharing your opinion about Atlanta information/tea, but the LEAST you can do is tell the whole story about a person as great as this woman.
you’d do it for Bob Whitfield and the rest of the no names you are so dearly close to. smh.
#dobetter.
Okay so………why didn’t she pay her taxes. I missed that part in all the rambling.
Most of you commenting are a bunch of dumbfuccs who must be in love with the system. I guess ya’ll like that gravy from the public school cafeteria too, huh? Government cheese anyone? Yessa massa, I lovs me some 9 to 5 work and some good ole eurocentric history and science, yessa. Like I said, dumbfuccs.
Lauryn Hill shouldn’t pay a damn dime. All she has to do is renounce her citizenship and become a sovereign citizen. If I know that then I’m sure she does.
also why are you only posting pics of Lauryn Hill looking crazy? Are we trying to control peoples opinions on her or what? I hope "Straight from the A" isn’t supposed to be alternative media. This is everything but alternative. This is definitely mainstream backed. Only mainstream spews negativity about Lauryn Hill because she’s always exposing the corruption in it.
Why is Ms. Hill being touted as crazy? I understand every word that she has written. I also think that she is alluding to some conspiracy to destroy her and the tax evasion charges just might be one of them. Do we really know?
Jenelle, Lauryn knows she is a citizen in this country,the USA, and she must pay taxes regardless of the corruption and trifings things going on in this world.Jesus even said render to Caesar what is Caesars
(money) and give God what is his: your life. I pray that Lauryn gets her stuff together because she will be made an example out of just like the others…she got too many children for this mess.
Also, she knows the industry is evil, why keep fooling with them, if you know who they serve.Leave them alone for good and be done with it.Just a thought.
I am always bothered when ignorant people make comments about a person’s mental health (i.e., Coo-coo for cocopuffs). I am especially annoyed when Black/AA mock someone’s mental health disorder. Some of us will say anything for a dollar. No one wants to be mentally ill, correct? I have a very close friend with Bi-polar Disorder. We (she, her husband and I) attended a Black Psychologists Conference on Mental Health Disorders. One thing that struck me profoundly is when the keynote speaker stated that it is believed among Black mental health professionals, that the reason mental health disorders are so prevalent in the Black/AA community is because many of us have been reproducing along our blood lines…unknowingly. The keynote speaker further stated that it was one of the unspoken legacies of slavery. He also said that this belief would never been written or stated publicly outside of the conference. In closing, I must say this: In the future, when one of us(you or me) decide to mock mental illness, keep in mind that we never know how we or our children will be affected because of the legacy of slavery and mental illness. Enough said.
Rose, those are generational curses that have followed families for decades, even thousands of years. I know this is not popular within the scholarly community, but there is nothing but one thing that can break those curses that have been passed down through the generations.The psychologist were not successfull in keeping the secrets of slavery, because here you have let it be known.Inter-breeding was a common practice among the slave holding south… didn’t they know it would destroy the genepool and corrupt the mental facalties of the slave populace?Yes, they probably knew, but didn’t care because you would be easier to control with ignorant music and stupid hairstyles/trends of all sortsExample:see present day black america is filled with the remnants of our slave past.The Blood is the only cure.
Mr. IRS man don’t give a damn about our DNA. He wants money period. Anyone been noticing how he’s goin’ in on wealthy Blacks? Especially athletes and musicians. They’ll be able to balance the budget in ten years at this pace.Mary J. didn’t wait for them to tack on that interest,paid in full.I guess they’ve got their eyes on Oprah next.
Well if she feel as though she shouldn’t pay taxes then she should give back the money she made during concerts. You same people siding with her are the same people who pay taxes, so why is she excempt? No one told her to be a musician, she could’ve been a teacher, politician, a writer… she chose that life get over it. Those who feel they shouldn’t pay taxes shouldn’t use services that my tax $ pay for. Ie 911, public school, food stamps… if she doesn’t pay the bright side is whatever state she lives kn the people who do pay taxes will be paying for her three hots & a cot and you all will complain about that too. Thank you ga tax payers for paying my college tuition.
She’s been hanging w/the Marleys TOO LONG!!
as I started to read this mess all I kept hearing was that dern comemercial "I’m coo coo for coco pops" Like WTH she is DIFFERENT and not in a normal way. I understand needing space heck we need space from artists too (ahem, Beyonce ijs) but she is loose to think she is exempt from paying the government. Wesley needs to be her pen pal she is going to be singing her arse off in the big house for sure better practice those lyrics. I have to agree with some that MARLEY D#%k ain’t no joke!!! They need to market that mess!
Great writing and punctuation and all that. But the fact remains, if one is a wage earner in this country, taxes must be paid…And that’s the end of that!!!
People tend to criticize things they do not understand. She’s not crazy. Sooner than later people will understand that Lauryn and David Chapelle have the right idea. Fighting a much bigger battle than "taxes." This "machine" she speaks of reigns, but only for so long.
Man o man, sounds like Angela Davis. Girl
will have plenty of time to continue this kind
of diatribe while she’s inside doing time.
Next time, she should just pay the taxes,
so she can continue to enjoy her
FREEDOM OF SPEECH after she gets out.
You people can’t read. She DOES address the tax evasion issue. Logically speaking if she withdrew from performing and was blacklisted from what work did she do that the taxes can be collected.
She states here "discouraged by limiting funding" and "an effort to smear my public image, in order to directly affect my ability to earn independently of this system"
So if she wasn’t working how are these taxes she didn’t pay generated? From thin air???
I used to love H.E.R, but she has really lost her mind. Now she sound like those pyramid niggas out in Edenton,GA. I knew that Marley weed was eventually gonna fuck her shit up. Just go completely off the deep end and finish off your mind with them bath salts.
Whoever wrote the ending tagline is as coo coo as they are accusing anyone else of being. Don’t post a "diatribe" and then fault us for reading it. It baffles me how you new age negros trust everything and everybody and when some MAKES SENSE you call it a diatribe. You will be ruined for you lack of knowledge and your intellectual inferiority or intolerance to read past less than 200 characters. It was not that long, and it MADE PERFECT SENSE. Anyone as influential as she was going into the waters she was delving into is "DANGEROUS"for the industry and they WILL blackball you. It wasn’t so long ago it was THE NORM to do this to "revolutionary" artist. Yall so quick to call someone crazy when most of you including the site owner could be a straw away for a house full of crazy yourself. Learn to pray for ppl instead of spray(talk mess) for ppl , it goes a LOT further.