Consumerism
Lauryn Hill; streaming here
Lauryn Hill busted out of prison late last week, rhymes blazin'.
The tax-evading, rap-parading, social-crusading former Fugee no longer kills softly with her words. Instead, on her new single Consumerism, she speed-rhymes a flow of "isms" with a ferociousness that John Lennon could only imagine: European fetishism, sexism, dishpan Afroism, racism, neo-McCarthyism and "egotism, egotism, egotism, egotism, egotism, egotism, egotism, egotism, egotism – egotism."
The beat rocks freaky and rat-a-tat, and a flute floats free like a butterfly. It's a brutal spew for the ages – "Consumerism is running through him like a tumour in him" – and the chorus's chant sweetly predicts self-destruction.
Hill's three-month stint in the slammer did nothing to pacify her. This rehabilitation will not be televised.