The Atlantic has a great article about America and its system in general, seen through the eyes of incarcerated rappers. Drakeo the Ruler has managed to record an album while in prison, although he has been kept in solitary confinement for months - “It’s like they keep tryna silence me ... That’s what all these protests are about, too”. L.A. rapper 03 Greedo, currently serving a 20-year sentence on drug-trafficking and weapons-possession charges, has recorded an album just before he had to go to prison - “Honestly, I could be a whole ’nother artist if I was from somewhere nicer”. BL Shirelle grew up surrounded by drug usage and crime, and she ended up in prison at age 18 - “they knew I was coming; my bed was prepared way before the act was even done”.

On June 19 - or Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States - Die Jim Crow, the first nonprofit record label for formerly or currently incarcerated musicians in America, released its first full-length album, Shirelle’s 'Assata Troi'. Shirelle, 32, was incarcerated twice, but now she holds the position of deputy director of Die Jim Crow, trying to look back on her life so far - “this album really is about coming of age, but not of age 21, more like of age 28, where you’re just starting to realize certain things”, as she's told the LA Times. Die Jim Crow was founded in 2013 by Fury Young, an artist and activist, who took to Kickstarter to raise funds for a one-off record featuring incarcerated artists, generating nearly $20,000.