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Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill was sentenced Monday to three months in prison and an additional three months in home confinement for failing to pay taxes on about $1 million in earnings.
Hill, a 37-year-old South Orange resident, pleaded guilty last year in the case. READ FULL STORY »
Lauryn Hill says she has signed with Sony to pay her overdue taxes.
Hill pleaded guilty last year to not paying federal taxes on $1.8 million earned from 2005 to 2007. The 37-year-old posted on her Tumblr blog late Thursday that she “signed a new record deal, and that I did this to pay taxes.” READ FULL STORY »
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After pleading guilty to tax evasion last June, multiple Grammy winner and former Fugee Lauryn Hill is making one last ditch effort to avoid jail time.
In advance of her scheduled sentencing this Monday, April 22, Hill filed legal documents requesting that her sentence be limited to probation, as it would make it easier for her to pay back the bill she owes for the three years—2005, 2006, and 2007—she did not file taxes.
Over those three years, Hill earned a reported $1.8 million, but the documents explain she did not pay the IRS because she “withdrew from society at large due to what she perceived as manipulation and very real threats to herself and her family.”
Hill made similar statements in a blog post when the charges were first brought against her, adding that she had largely disappeared from public view because of the “climate of hostility, false entitlement, manipulation, racial prejudice, sexism and ageism” in popular culture. READ FULL STORY »
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Good news, fans of Nastradamus and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: The biggest tour of 1999 has finally arrived!
In all seriousness, October 6 marks the kick-off of an historic trek. The “Life Is Good/Black Rage” tour features co-headliners Nas (he of the recently-released tenth solo album Life is Good) and Lauryn Hill (she of the forthcoming single “Black Rage,” multiple horror stories in the new Wyclef memoir, and quite a big tax bill).
Nas kicks the tour off by himself but will be joined by Hill for 10 shows, starting with a stop in Dallas on October 29. The whole thing ends on December 31 with a Nas solo show on New Year’s Even at New York’s legendary Radio City Music Hall.
Of course, perhaps the bigger story here is the fact that Hill is promising a new single. READ FULL STORY »
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The most well-dressed folks on New York City’s Governors Island last Saturday looked the bummiest. On the balmy last Saturday of the summer, cutoff shorts, tank tops, dirty sneakers and worn-in sandals were among the best things to be wearing for the daylong hip-hop festival that is Rock the Bells.
Elaborate outfits highlighted by fresh tennis shoes, high heels (wedges, too) or anything that gave off a vibe of effort earned more laughs than sartorial appreciation at rap’s lone major fair.
I mean really, how can you appreciate grimy sets from Wu Tang Clan members, Slaughterhouse, and Mobb Deep when you look so, so clean?
Not I, Mixers. In beat up five-year-old Air Jordans, a star spangled tank top (it was Labor Day weekend!), and a pair of shorts, I came to sweat. And from 2pm to midnight, that’s exactly what I did.
My day began with Black Star. The duo featuring Brooklyn rhymers Talib Kweli and Mos Def performed cuts from their 1998 album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. They also broke away to perform solo hits. Kweli did his uplifting “Get By.” While Mos, dressed like a substitute teacher in his tie and short sleeve white shirt tucked into his jeans, broke out “Umi Says.”
Things continued with Erykah Badu, who ran through 1997’s Baduizm. Eclectically clad in a fedora, blazer, and pants tucked into her knee-high gold boots, she killed with her mellow “On & On.” Between singing and crowd cruising, she even showed off her production chops by hopping on MPC drum pad for some quick beats.
Next up was Lauryn Hill. Surprisingly, she was bumped out of her headlining slot in favor of hometown favorite Nas. Still, she performed as if she was the night’s main draw. The theme of this year’s festival was that each act select one of their several albums to play. The decision was easy for Hill, who notoriously only has one solo studio album.
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Last night the lineup for hip-hop’s premiere festival, Rock the Bells, hit the Internet. Once again, Lauryn Hill and Nas will hit the stage. And there’s a familiar twist: instead of performing a catalog-spanning slew of songs, they and several other icons will perform classic albums in their entirety.
Lauryn, of course, will perform The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. While Nas will drop gems from his debut set, Illmatic. Wu-Tang Clan members Raekwon and Ghostface will run through Only Built for Cuban Linx. And Mobb Deep plans to crank out The Infamous.
Tickets for the shows go on sale June 4. Read after the jump for a list of some of the headliners, dates, and venue locations.
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Jimmy Fallon is giving viewers two more reasons to lose a little sleep in honor of Bob Marley.
Last week, EW’s Music Mix announced that Late Night With Jimmy Fallon would spend this week paying tribute to Marley, with each of the week’s musical guests performing a classic cut by the reggae legend. Ziggy Marley, Chris Cornell, Jennifer Hudson, Jakob Dylan and Lenny Kravitz were already signed on for the salute (which kicks off tonight with Ziggy), and now the show has announced that Keith Richards and Lauryn Hill will both be joining in the fun. READ FULL STORY »
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Lauryn Hill’s latest tour, Moving Target, finally made its way to Los Angeles on Monday night, following a weekend appearance at the Coachella Festival in Palm Springs.
The singer hit up downtown’s Club Nokia for a healthy dose of songs pulled from several realms of her musical history, including her time with the Fugees, her Grammy-winning album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and even a little tribute to Bob Marley. [Note: The photo shown here isn't of Hill on Monday evening, because press photos were not made available.]
Hill opened her concert—which, despite reports of extreme tardiness in the past, started only about 20 minutes after the scheduled time—by declaring to the crowd: “If it’s okay with you, we’d like to do some classic music.” And classic music she certainly did, launching with her Miseducation hit “Everything Is Everything,” before rolling into Refugee Camp All-Stars’ “Sweetest Thing” and weaving back to Miseducation with “Lost Ones.”
But to be honest, her use of term “classic” should be interpreted loosely, especially when you consider how Hill, wearing an oversized dress and suit jacket, performed the songs. While she certainly sang the lyrics to the aforementioned tunes, they were only recognizable as the songs we’re familiar with at certain, fleeting points. Not that that’s a bad thing—Hill’s voice is still deep and luscious as it ever was but anyone hoping for a tour through the recorded versions of her songs will be sorely disappointed.
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Lauryn Hill isn’t letting the not-so-flattering reviews of her recent shows stop her from giving it another go. After taking about a month off from her last stint on the road–one plagued with reports of her extreme tardiness (which she kind of apologized for) and sets featuring off-putting renditions of fan favorites, Hill’s has announced 12 dates for her Moving Target tour at intimate locations throughout the South and on the West coast.
In fairness to the former Fugees singer, there were a few positive reviews of her concerts. The Village Voice made a point to mention that once you get over the fact that she’s not going to perform her hits as you remember them, and that your evening might extend into the wee hours of the next morning, Lauryn’s pretty awesome.
Check out the dates and tour stop locations after the jump.
Image Credit: Vallery Jean/FilmMagic.com Lauryn Hill, who’d already been performing a few intimate concerts, announced that she’ll be taking her show on tour beginning next week. In a release, Hill expressed enthusiasm for the relatively small venues, enabling her “to see her loyal supporters up close and personal again.” Hill is expected to play reworked versions of the songs from her Grammy-winning album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
12/27 — New York, N.Y. @ Highline Ballroom
12/28 — Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
1/1 — New York, N.Y. @ Bowery Ballroom
1/3 — New York, N.Y. @The Blue Note
1/4 — New York, N.Y. @ The Blue Note
1/5 — New York, N.Y. @ The Blue Note
1/8 — Charlotte, N.C. @ Amos’ Southend
1/9 — Asheville, N.C. @ The Orange Peel
1/12 — Charleston, S.C. @ The Music Farm
1/14 — Atlanta, Ga. @ Centerstage
1/16 — St. Louis, Mo. @ The Pageant
1/18 — Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue
1/20 — Chicago, Ill. @ House of Blues
1/22 — Toronto, Ont. @ Sound Academy
1/23 — Montreal, Quebec @ Metropolis
1/29 — Atlantic City, N.J. @ House of Blues
2/4 — Montclair, N.J. @ The Wellmont Theatre
