Lauryn Hill working on new music, disputes eviction reports

Lauryn Hill does indeed have a record deal, she said Thursday on Tumblr, alleging inaccuracies in previous reporting on her deal with Sony.

“Yes, I have recently entered into an agreement with Sony Worldwide Entertainment, to launch a new label, on which my new music will be released. And yes, I am working on new music.”

In court proceedings Monday related to Hill’s tax-evasion case, it was revealed by the prosecution that the former Fugee had inked a deal to receive $1 million for recording five songs, plus more cash if she completed a new album, according to the Newark Star-Ledger. Hill’s sentencing in the case -- she pleaded guilty last summer to three misdemeanor counts of tax fraud -- was delayed by two weeks to give her a final chance to pay restitution to the tune of $504,000, the balance of her $554,000 criminal liability.

She faces a potential sentence of 24 to 30 months or 30 to 36 months behind bars, depending on whether she owes less or more than $1 million in civil liability, a matter that was in dispute.

Hill’s attorney said she was planning to pay off the criminal liability with a $650,000 loan secured by two properties she owns, the Star-Ledger reported.

But Ms. Lauryn Hill being Ms. Lauryn Hill, her message didn’t stop with word of the deal and new tunes.

“Only a completely complicated set of traps, manipulations, and inequitable business arrangements could put someone who has accomplished the things that I have, financially in need of anything,” she wrote after describing a 10-plus-year battle that’s an “old conflict between art and commerce.”

“I am one artist who finds value in openly discussing the dynamics within this industry that force artists to compromise or distort themselves and what they do, rather than allowing them to make the music that people need. There are volumes that could (and will) be said.” Read her entire, summary-defying statement here.

Hill also took to Tumblr earlier this week to dispute reports that she had stopped paying rent and was facing eviction from the South Orange, N.J., mansion she’s been living in since 2009.

“I am not squatting, and I do not owe any money to my landlord,” she wrote. “I have always stayed current on rent. I was raised in South Orange, which is why these allegations are not only false, but insulting. I am in talks with the town about resolving an unrelated issue, regarding how I use my home to work on my music, which has nothing to do with my financial obligations.”

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