Over the years, hip hop has had its struggles with the penitentiary system. Whether it be trying to support an old friend that’s locked up or trying to avoid jail time while engaging illegal activity, much of artist’s content focuses on the jail and prison. And because there is such a strong connection to “correctional” facilities (which in this case, it’s not a good thing), it should come as no surprise that a number of rappers have had to do their own bids at one time or another (2010 was an extremely bad year).

Many rappers will use these stints to bolster their street cred while others may use it simply as an example of what not to and a encourage people to chose an alternate route. However, one thing I think we can take away from the many incarcerations of rappers is something that a lot of people have known for a long time: the prison system doesn’t work! A simple examination of the music proves this point, and I will use two examples (I’m sure there are plenty more) within this blog.

First, one very obvious display of the failure of “correctional” facilities is Tupac. We all know the story of how Pac got locked up on a [alleged] sexual assault charge. Over the course of his career, Tupac made a lot of changes in terms of his style; graduating from a revolutionary Black Panther to a gangsta rapper. Yet, I think we would all agree that the most controversial, out-spoken, and most “thugged out” Tupac we saw came after he got released from prison, releasing the now classic and infamous “All Eyez On Me”. Not only does much of the music in terms of content and style allude to this fact, but Tupac himself acknowledges it when, toward the end of “No More Pain” (from All Eyez On Me), he says, “Prison ain’t changed me, ni**a. It made me worse.” That is a powerful statement. The one place that is supposed to reform, in reality (in far too many cases), makes a lot people’s outlook on life “worse.” Not to mention that many people think Tupac was innocent, which means he may not have truly needed any reform to begin with, yet he came out “worse” than he went in. I wonder how many innocent brothers (or sisters) have been locked up for something they didn’t do, yet when they get out, their entire perception of life, interactions, and survival has caused them to, in some ways, become the very thing they were locked up for.

Another example we have is Slick Rick. You all know his woes with being locked up and threatening of deportation back to England. Well, I found many of the songs on his album The Art Of Storytelling (which was released after he was) much different from the ones that initially made him one of the most loveable figure in hip hop on The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick. How could you go from all the fun and encouraging songs like “Children’s Story”, “Mona Lisa”, “Teenage Love”, etc. to songs like “Kill Ni**az” and “Adults Only”? You could tell that Rick’s style had definitely changed, and while there were still a few good cuts on the album, he definitely wasn’t the same person we had gotten to know with his first album. It’s my guess that while spending time in the slammer, Rick had to take on a much more “macho” persona, which then carried over into his music.

Go back and think about other artists that have been locked up. Have they truly changed? Did they stay stuck in their ways? Did they get worse? My guess is for them, along with countless others in society, it is one of the two latter questions. But now that we recognize it, what can we do about it? Just trying to avoid the pen isn’t good enough. With so many artists familiar with jail and prison and having the understanding of things that could benefit people inside, my guess would be that some of them would get involved with or create some legitimate reform programs to get these people back on their feet. Everybody is deserving of a second chance and having paid your debt to society, you should be able to come out a better person with a new mission and outlook on life. The hip hop generation, having so much experience with jail/prison, is the perfect culture to help try to genuinely give people locked up a push in the right direction and make for a better future.

Let me know what you think about hip hop's representation of how the penitentiary system has failed. What are other examples you can think of? Who has actually "learned the error of their ways"? Leave your comments below and you can always send an e-mail at straightouttahiphop@gmail.com.

Peace.