Even into 1999, she remained hard at work, when she began planning a gospel opera for the Michigan Opera Theatre. Franklin also dealt with legal troubles in 1999, as she owed over a million dollars to various organizations. She paid off the largest of the debts, but remained very guarded with her money, prefering to handle all of her own finances. Franklin continued to record music, signing a three-album contract with Arista in 1996 for an estimated $10 million, reported J.R. Reynolds in Billboard. In 1998, she released A Rose Is Still a Rose, her first full-length album in seven years. All-star producers Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Sean "Puffy" Combs were on board, as well as Lauryn Hill, who worked with the hip-hop group the Fugees. When Christopher John Farley in Time remarked that some fans may be surprised to hear Franklin doing hip-hop songs on the release, she answered, "I'm a very versatile vocalist. That's what I think a singer should be. Whatever it is, I can sing it.".