A HIP HOP RESPONSE TO MASS INCARCERATION

Granting the Marlon Williams education scholarship to formerly incarcerated teens

Velvet DMC Dinner Jacket

Celebrity rhymes addressing mass incarceration infused into a fashion line

DMC from RUN-DMC

Mass incarceration is a drastic situation Rehabilitation should be laced with education

The time don’t fit the crime that some of these young men are facing Damnation over probation a proclamation of this nation The darker pigmentation thrown in cells no time a wasting They herd em in like cattle In and out the police station The only chance to save em is the right representation Fix the flaws in all these laws It must be done no hesitation Mass incarceration we must stop this operation A change is gonna come and it must be our creation All people of this nation We need all participation The equal designation of the proper investigation We have grown impatient It’s time to stop this operation It’s dominations present and it’s all throughout this nation The evil legal system really needs a renovation.... The complete annihilation of this mass incarceration!

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-DMC

Supaman

Peace to all my people around the world across the block/ (Apsáalooke language) "My name is "Good Fortune on Mother Earth" reporting live from the universe/ it's the First Nations emcee/ you could do the search/who's been through the worse/surviving genocide/fighting for a better life/they try to set aside/the true history/and keep us mystical/ they say they founded this country on biblical principals?/ It's so cynical/but I'm an analyst/ it's murderous/they refer to us as merciless/ indian savages/ now that's written in the declaration of independence, that's no kidding/hey/open up your heart and let love lead the way/light your path with the words that I speak today/let the lessons flow/arrive and bless ya soul/systematic racism/alive, intentional/ know better do better is the motto/ it's that good medicine, a hard pill to swallow

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-Supaman

Dead Prez

Broken families everywhere

The court system is foul and they just don’t care

Fathers locked up mama trying to raise boys

By herself in the hood she ain’t got no choice

Now the child gotta do time away from his dad

Ain’t did no crime but he’s dealing with this growing up fatherless It’s like a solar eclipse

But if you never had one you don’t know what you missed

It’s like being half an orphan half an abortion

The state playing God back and forth in the quart room

Give a man life in the box and you sentence a child to far worse a life without his pops

It’s designed to break up the family like rocks

And you wonder why the people affected hate cops

Because you know how they target the men out in the streets

They starve you and make it illegal to try and eat

It’s a trap

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-Dead Prez

Tek from Smif N Wesson

7 by 12 undo bowels of hell, living in my mind. Cause I’m off from the world. I ain’t got a lot of space. But I got a lot of time. Eye 4 an eye, I’m the reason justice blind. But I had to do it, can’t be looking soft. Damn how I look, I’m all the way up north. I do push ups in da AM. Push ups in da PM. In between this I make salaat, praying 4 freedom. I see my arms gettin swollen, chest gettin bigger. Back gettin work, I’m getting brolic on these Neguses. Forever on my 7, miss my family super facts. They got the same time I got, in this super max.

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-Tek

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Freedom Williams
C+C Music Factory

Within the criminal justice (jail bars) There's none is just us (black youth) and just this ( money) Raised fist I f'd up and praised this (diamond) Raised this (gun ) blast 2 and made this In (dead man) Grade 5th NEVER made it to grade 6th  Made this (prison) the place where I laid this (a human body) But I ain't never had no chance since the aim is (high) Getting money cause I got no loot And they since gotta fill beds wit the got damned youth (black kids) It’s the truth I never had a shot to shoot  Straight to depths all hell it’s the Got damned truth  Did 2 in Coxsackie 3 in Elmira Downstate Clinton and Green Haven  It wasn’t me it’s the system not behaving  I'm just saying they coming at you straight like that And from the things I seen they hope that you can't fight back So if you get out they scheming so you get right back Right back ECHO

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- Freedom Williams

Dinco-Leaders of the New School

Let's prevent and reinvent man's descent into this stent Stop blocking the blood and bring back family meaning what it's meant Home is a house not a box with a vent it's fireplaces staircases and knowledge of building kid's tents Kids need Corrections tested from school lessons moms and dads will give them chosen better suggestions That's where the time is better off being spent Fair is fair how much can one race bare when it's bent Backs broke from waking up and being sent incarcerated mass-produced makes little sense Reset the patterns to set a new confident Reliable resource to reasonable confinement

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- Dinco