Lauryn Hill is to face sentencing today (May 6) for tax evasion charges, but she has managed to pay off the staggering amount of debt she owed the IRS on Sunday with no help from her new single “Neurotic Society.”
It has certainly been a rough time in Lauryn’s life but paying off the over $900,000 debt might give her her first big break.
Hill’s attorney expects that the courts will give her a pretty lenient sentencing since she did finally pay off the money in full.
“Ms Hill has not only now fully paid prior to sentencing her taxes, which are part of her criminal restitution, but she has additionally fully paid her federal and state personal taxes for the entire period under examination through 2009,” said Nathan Hochman, the former Fugees member’s attorney.
She was given another opportunity to pay off the large debt back in April, but fell short of coming up with the money she promised. While she hoped to pay of a majority of the debt, in April she was only able to hand over $50,000 (she was expected to pay off more than $500,000).
It wasn’t long before rumors were sparked that Hill was being forced to sign a deal with Sony in order to pay off the debt and possibly prevent going to jail for her debt.
After finally paying off the large debt, her attorney revealed that she actually didn’t use any revenue from the new song to pay it off. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the song would have brought in enough revenue for her to do so even if she wanted to.
Hill took to Tumblr to share her new song, ‘Neurotic Society,’ only to disappoint many fans and still have to find other means to pay off the IRS debt.
At the end of the day, we all know that in addition to having a wonderful voice it is Lauryn’s lyrics that keep us captivated. It is all a part of the complete package that she always offers, but “Neurotic Society” features Hill speeding her way through every verse and rhyme in a way that you can barely understand what she is saying.
If you ask Hill, she will more than likely say that the song is a simple result of poor time management since she was literally forced to release the song at the last minute.
“Here’s a link to a piece that I was ‘required’ to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline. I love being able to reach people directly, but in an ideal scenario, I would not have to rush the release of new music… but the message is still there,” Hill wrote on Tumblr along with providing a link to the new song.
To be honest, we figured the “rush” part was only in reference to the production of the song but it seems like somebody threw her in the booth and gave her 30 seconds to make her way through a series of verses that would usually take five minutes.
We’re just keeping our fingers crossed that Hill will be here to stay and the courts will go easy on her.
