Lauryn Hill has turned to the Internet once again to express her thoughts.  After sharing her support for Nicki Minaj following her Summer Jam cancellation, the former Fugees member is addressing tax evasion reports.

Earlier this week, TMZ reported that Hill had failed to file federal tax returns in 2005, 2006, and 2007 when she earned more than $1.8 million.  She is being charged with three counts of misdemeanor failure to file taxes and could face up to one year in prison for each count and $300,000 in fines.

But Ms. Hill is firing back.  In a lengthy letter posted on her Tumblr page, the 37-year-old singer claims to have removed herself and her family from society during those three years in order to “keep them safe, healthy, and free from danger.”  Read her explanation 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 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, safety and 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.

Go to http://mslaurynhill.tumblr.com/ to read the rest of the letter.

Twitter is your up close and personal front row seat to all the celebrity drama and beef, that just so happens to be on a social networking site.  Wale went emo over a Tweet from journalist Amanda Diva Seales and got up in her face about it.  It all started when Amanda Tweeted

Next thing you know there’s a flurry of Tweets from Amanda explaining what happened next,

“I keep being told to “not sweat” that @Wale came in my face trying to fight me ovr a tweet. Y in hip hop do we excuse such behavior? Were I to get an apology then perhaps. But it shld be known that dude is completely out of line with women on a regular basis. Folks say “we expect that from him”. But what does that mean? It’s ok bcuz we all kno of the regularity of such behavior? In hip hop women r always expected to “be cool” abt completely out of line behavior from our male counterparts. No dice. At some point, in an intrvw, some1 will ask 4 the whole @wale “tweet fight” story & I’ll gladly tell it. Bcuz it’s part of a bigger issue…”

Wale never addressed the issued directly but Tweeted certain people were trying to use him to get attention.  Wale and Amanda both later deleted their Tweets.

The night before Whitney Houston died she and X-Factor contestant Stacey Francis got into an altercation at a pre-pre Grammy party allegedly over Ray J.  Now that Stacy is promoting her new single, a remake of Prince’s Purple Rain, the question has come up again and Stacey addresses the incident once and for all.

Stacey tells Sister 2 Sister,

It’s something I don’t need to really discuss anymore. I don’t want to stir up her fans; we need to let her rest….I am an old family friend of Ray J and have known him for 15 years. Ray J came in and hugged me and it became a misunderstanding…Ray J and I have spoken and I wanted to make sure he was OK…He’s a very strong man, a good guy and his relationship with God has gotten stronger since….I have this gift that I really want to share with this world…No one will really understand what happened and I just hope that I don’t have to talk about it the rest of my career. Whitney told me God is a God of second chances.”