Lauryn Hill usually shies from the spotlight when she's not onstage, but the former Fugees star is one of the most dynamic artists of the past quarter-century for a reason: she's a beast at the writing table, in the studio and when she steps up to the mic.

Last year, the 39-year-old filmed Live from the Brooklyn Bowl during her first tour since being released from prison in 2013 (Hill served three months behind bars at the Federal Correctional Institute of Danbury, Connecticut, for tax evasion).

Now, she's back with a set of six shows in Washington, D.C. and New York. But don't expect her to spend much time with the media.

"I don't schmooze, I don't shoot the s--t," Hill told Noisey from prison roughly one and a half years ago. "I'm highly intuitive, and can smell bulls--t a mile away. It's highly uncomfortable for me to be about. You don't see me out. I can't be around nonsense."

The Noisey "interview" was really just a documentation of life in a female prison, and Hill didn't speak much about herself. But she did compare her plight to the other women around her.

"As a kid, I didn't realize being able to write a hit song was a rare gift," Hill said. "It was so natural you just assume everyone has that ability. And these women I've met have abilities like being able to see patterns, like in the stock market, and some men saw that and they exploited them."

She felt especially strongly about an "excessively detached" United States justice system.

"We're talking about the impact, in real lives, of the criminalization of addiction, the criminalization of mental illness, even the criminalization of abuse victims," she said. "I mean, really? You can't see this person is clearly a victim?"

Now a free woman, Hill is bringing her acoustic show — and possibly her political messages — to fans in the Eastern time zone. Check out the dates below (via Rap-Up):

02/13 - Washington, DC @ Howard Theatre
02/14 - Washington, DC @ Howard Theatre
02/17 - Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
02/20 - New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
02/23 - New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
02/25 - New York, NY @ Blue Note (two shows)

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