As it turns out, it wasn’t Lauryn Hill’s final hour after all. The singer was set to be sentenced earlier this week for failing to pay back taxes but her sentencing has been postponed for two weeks in order to make restitution.
Hill was initially charged with failing to file three years’ worth of tax returns. She eventually pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion for failing to file tax returns for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. The plea agreement meant that Hill would avoid the publicity of a trial, something that was clearly important to her. She had, immediately after the original charges were filed, posted a lengthy public response on Tumblr, saying that she had gone “underground” in order to live without “being manipulated and controlled by a media protected military-industrial complex with a completely different agenda.”
Hill first made headlines as part of the hip hop group, the Fugees, which also boasted Wyclef Jean and rapper Pras Michel. The group’s second album, The Score, went multi-platinum, won a Grammy (in 1997) and was included on Rolling Stone‘s Top 500 Albums of All Time.
Hill launched a successful solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, in 1998. The album was critically acclaimed, earning Hill five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. She followed up in 1999 by writing and producing a track for Carlos Santana’s Supernatural, earning another Grammy.
After those successes, Hill dropped out of public view for a few years. She reappeared in 2002 with a solo album, MTV Unplugged No. 2.0. The album received mixed reviews and sold a fraction of the copies of Miseducation. She did not release a subsequent solo album but made occasional public appearances at events like the Coachella Valley Music Festival in 2011 and a surprise appearance with The Roots in Philadelphia on July 4, 2012. In the fall of 2012, she announced that she would be touring with Nas on the “Life Is Good/Black Rage” tour with stops in a number of major cities. According to Hill, the tour took its name from Nas’ album, Life Is Good, and her song, “Black Rage,” about the derivative effects of racial inequity and abuse.
Those appearances and tours have earned Hill a considerable amount of money. She reportedly earned $1.8 million between 2005 and 2007, according to the government, though Hill disputes those figures. Despite allegations of financial difficulties, which Hill denies, she was able to post bail in 2012 and promised, at the time, to make restitution of about $554,000 before her sentencing though she has only paid about $50,000. As a result, U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo pushed off Hill’s sentencing for two more weeks but not before offering harsh words. She noted that Hill was “not someone who stands before the court penniless” and chastised the singer for making “no effort here to pay these taxes.”
Hill’s new sentencing date is May 3. She could face a sentence range of between 24 to 30 months or between 30 to 36 months, depending on the final numbers, including interest and civil penalty (the exact figures are still in dispute). Hill’s attorney is expected to ask for probation, rather than prison, as a nod to Hill’s six children who range in age from 1 to 15.
