J. Cole took a small break from his 4 Your Eyez Only tour to pay a visit to some inmates of San Quentin State Prison on Tuesday (Aug. 1).
San Quentin State Prison is one of the most famous prisons in the entire country. While there, the rapper spent time with inmates who were serving life sentences. Dreamville Records president Ibrahim Hamad and Dreamville's head of art direction, Felton Brown, also went with Cole. They later spoke about the powerful experience on social media.
"We got the opportunity to spend the day at San Quentin State Prison talking and meeting inmates who will never see the outside again," Hamad said on IG. "That experience was a life changing experience and wish I had the ability to put that in a caption but that wouldn't be doing it justice." See his photos of the visit below.
Brown said in his post: "One of the most moving moments since this new journey. Spent a day with some brothers whose stories go unheard behind the wall. Learned a lot, so much work to be done. This system will try to not give you a voice but we're listening." See that below.
Cole has always been vocal about the problem of mass incarceration. He's rapped about it on a number of 4 Your Eyez Only songs, including the title track. “I dedicate these words to you and all the other children/Affected by the mass incarceration in this nation/That sent your pops to prison when he needed education,” he raps. Cole has even been coming out onstage on his tour dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, while being escorted by men dressed as cops, as another way to protest overpopulated prisons in this country. Shoutout to Cole for using his voice to stand for something meaningful.
Photo: Getty Images