‘Consumerism’ (which can be streamed at the bottom of this post, as well as on iTunes) apparently represents what was going on in Lauryn Hill’s mind while being locked up for tax evasion; it also represents her impending release from prison. To me, it representing the reality that we may never see Ms. Lauryn create anything close to her debut album……this song is mind-blowingly all over the place as far as her lyricism (the message seems strangely clear, though).

She also left a message about the track, which you can read below.

Available now on iTunes.

“Consumerism is part of some material I was trying to finish before I had to come in. We did our best to eek out a mix via verbal and emailed direction, thanks to the crew of surrogate ears on the other side. Letters From Exile is material written from a certain space, in a certain place. I felt the need to discuss the underlying socio-political, cultural paradigm as I saw it. I haven’t been able to watch the news too much recently, so I’m not hip on everything going on. But inspiration of this sort is a kind of news in and of itself, and often times contains an urgency that precedes what happens. I couldn’t imagine it not being relevant. Messages like these I imagine find their audience, or their audience finds them, like water seeking it’s level.”

– Ms. Lauryn Hill