Lauryn Hill

"Consumerism"

BY Josiah HughesPublished Oct 4, 2013

Hip-hop icon Lauryn Hill signed a new record deal to pay her back taxes, but it wasn't enough to keep her out of prison. Now, the night before she's released, she's shared a new song.

"Consumerism" sees Hill spitting fast raps atop a sped-up psych beat. It's mostly a combination of "isms", and it becomes overwhelming in scope as it plays on.

The artist shared the following statement to coincide with 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 it's level.

Check out "Consumerism" below.

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