Getty Images

Lauryn Hill is one of my favorite musical artist ever. I had been waiting on an album for years after The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. That CD was everything to me. I listened to the Grammy Award  winning artist on a regular basis and still do now. In recent news, Lauryn Hill could be facing jail time for not paying her taxes in 2005,2006, and 2007. Lauryn took to her blog on Tumblr to express herself to her fans. Read below:

“For the past several years, I have remained what others would consider
underground. I did this in order to build a community of people, like-minded in
their desire for freedom and the  right to pursue their goals and lives without being manipulated and
controlled  by a media protected military industrial complex with a completely
different  agenda. Having put the lives and needs of other people before my own
for  multiple years, and having made hundreds of millions of dollars  for certain institutions, under complex and
sometimes severe circumstances, I  began to require growth and more equitable, and treatment
but was met with resistance. I entered into my  craft full of optimism (which I still possess), but immediately
saw the  suppressive force with which the system attempts to maintain it’s
control over a  given paradigm. I’ve seen people promote addiction, use sabotage, black listing,
media bullying and any other coercion technique they  could, to prevent artists
from knowing their true value, or exercising their  full power. These devices of
control, no matter how well intentioned (or not),  can have a devastating
outcome on the lives of people, especially creative types  who must grow and
exist within a certain environment and according to a certain  pace, in order to
live and create optimally.

I kept my life relatively simple, even after huge successes, but it became
increasingly obvious that certain indulgences and privileges were expected to
come at the expense of my free soul, free mind, and therefore my health and
integrity. So I left a more mainstream and public  life, in order to wean both
myself, and my family, away from a lifestyle that  required distortion and
compromise as a means for maintaining it. During this  critical healing time,
there were very few people accessible to me who had not  already been seduced or
affected by this machine, and therefore who could be  trusted to not try and
influence or coerce me back into a dynamic of compromise.  Individual growth was
expected to take place unnaturally, or stagnated outright,  subject to marketing
and politics. Addressing critical issues like pop culture  cannibalism or its
manipulation of the young at the expense of everything, was  frowned upon and
discouraged by limiting funding, or denying it outright. When one has
a prolific  creative output like I did/do, and is then forced to stop, the
effects can be  dangerous both emotionally and psychologically, both for the
artist and those in  need of that resource. It was critically important that I
find a suitable  pathway within which to exist, without being distorted or
economically  strong-armed.

During this period of crisis, much was said about me, both slanted and
inaccurate, by those who had become dependent on my creative force, yet
unwilling to fully acknowledge the importance of my contribution, nor
compensate  me equitably for it. This was done in an effort to smear my public
image, in  order to directly affect my ability to earn independently of
this system. It took a long time to  locate and nurture a community of people
strong enough to resist the incredibly  unhealthy tide, and more importantly see
through it. If I had not been able to  make contact with, and establish this
community, my life, safetyand freedom,  would have been directly affected as
well as the lives, safety and freedom of my  family. Failure to create a non toxic,
non exploitative environment was not an  option.

As my potential to work, and therefore earn freely, was being threatened, I did
whatever needed to be done in order to insulate my
family from the climate of hostility, false entitlement, manipulation, racial
prejudice, sexism and ageism that I was surrounded by. This was absolutely
critical while trying to find and establish a new and very necessary community
of healthy people, and also heal and detoxify myself and my family while
raising  my young children.

There were no exotic trips, no fleet of cars, just an all out war
for safety, integrity, wholeness and health, without mistreatment denial, and/or
exploitation. In order to liberate myself from those who found it ok to oppose
my wholeness, free speech and integral growth by inflicting different forms of
punitive action against it, I used my resources to sustain our safety and survival
until I was able to restore my ability to earn outside of it!

When artists experience danger and crisis under the effects of this kind of
insidious manipulation, everyone easily accepts that there was something either
dysfunctional or defective with the artist, rather than look at, and fully
examine, the system and its means and policies of exploiting/’doing business’.
Not only is this unrealistic, it is very dark in its motivation, conveniently
targeting the object of their hero worship by removing any evidence that they
‘needed’ or celebrated this very same resource just years, months or moments
before. Since those who believe they need a hero/celebrity outnumber the actual
heroes/celebrities, people feel safe and comfortably justified in numbers,
committing egregious crimes in the name of the greater social ego. Ironically
diminishing their own true hero-celebrity nature in the process.

It was this schism and the hypocrisy, violence and social cannibalism it
enabled, that I wanted and needed to be freed from, not from art or music, but
the suppression/repression and reduction of that art and music to a bottom line
alone, without regard for anything else. Over-commercialization and its
resulting restrictions and limitations can be very damaging and distorting to
the inherent nature of the individual. I Love making art, I Love making music,
these are as natural and necessary  for me almost as breathing or talking.
To be denied the right to pursue it  according to my ability, as well as be properly
acknowledged and compensated for  it, in an attempt to control, is manipulation directed
at my most basic rights!  These forms of expression, along with others, effectively
comprise my free  speech! Defending, preserving, and protecting these rights are
critically  important, especially in a paradigm where veiled racism, sexism,
ageism,  nepotism, and deliberate economic control are still blatant
realities!!!

Learning from the past, insulating friends and family from the influence of
external manipulation and corruption, is far more important to me than being
misunderstood for a season! I did not deliberately abandon my fans, nor did I
deliberately abandon any responsibilities, but I did however put my
safety, health and freedom and the freedom, safety and health of my
family first over all other material concerns! I also embraced my right to
resist a system intentionally opposing my right to whole and integral
survival.

I conveyed all of this when questioned as to why I did not file taxes during
this time period. Obviously, the danger I faced was not accepted as reasonable
grounds for deferring my tax payments, as authorities, who despite being told
all of this, still chose to pursue action against me, as opposed to finding an
alternative solution.

My intention has always been to get this situation rectified. When I was
working consistently without being affected by the interferences mentioned
above, I filed and paid my taxes. This only stopped when it was necessary to
withdraw from society, in order to guarantee the safety and well-being of
myself  and my family.

As this, and other areas of issue are resolved and set straight, I am able to
get back to doing what I should be doing, the way it should be done. This is
part of that process. To those supporters who were told that I abandoned them,
that is untrue. I abandoned greed, corruption, and compromise, never you, and
never the artistic gifts and abilities that sustained me.”

Via Lauryn Hill Tumblr http://mslaurynhill.tumblr.com/

Join the conversation on Twitter @unveildgossip for your celebrity news, updates, fashion trends, and more.