Things seem to be looking up for Ms. Hill.
Lauryn Hill made headlines lately for owing the IRS upwards of $1.8 million in back taxes.
After pleading guilty to tax evasion for the years between 2005 and 2007, Lauryn Hill has worked out a deal with the judge, and surprisingly, a new deal with record label Sony.
Lauryn's presiding judge scolded the "When It Hurts So Bad" singer for making "no effort" to pay her taxes back, but showed some leniency by postponing her sentencing until May 6.
In return, the judge has now given Lauryn Hill a May 3rd restitution date, where she is expected to pay back $650,000 in owed taxes by using some of her Sony advance money.
Read more
The first solo album by the Fugees' most distinctive voice quickly wipes away the pretensions of so many current hip-hoppers' discs. It does so by both engaging their widescreen ethos--"To Zion," with its martial drums and gospel choir, is as epic a production as has been heard in 1998's pop music--and speaking the plain truth. Reminiscent in its scope of nothing so much as Aretha's early-'70s Spirit in the Dark and Young, Gifted and Black, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill also easily earns its late-'90s place next to Erykah Badu's Baduizm. Even more personal, if hardly any more political, than cohort Wyclef Jean's Carnival, Miseducation focuses equally on her life (especially the birth of her child) and social concerns about the present and future. Its often quiet surface, if anything, lends intensity. "Everything you drop is so tired," she scolds artistically dead-ended rappers on "Superstar"; if more artists shared her vision, occasional eccentricities and bottom-line talent, she wouldn't have to complain. --Rickey Wright
Their remake of "Killing Me Softly" was the hit, but that's only the beginning of the story. A hip-hop trio whose talents reach out into the world of the pop song (Wyclef Jean is a fine guitar player, and Lauryn Hill's a heck of a singer), the Fugees are also all distinctive, inventive rappers--you find yourself waiting for each of them to take the next verse in turn. The beats are the familiar crossed-armed boom-bip, but the group's understated grooves and subtle effects lie low in the mix. Aside from two kicky covers of classics (the other is Marley's "No Woman, No Cry"), The Score's focus is on the stars' rhyming with the free-form grace of performance poets and showing that they've thought deeply about the issues they raise. --Douglas Wolk
No comments:
Post a Comment