J. Cole has addressed the issue of mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex in his music and even doing so while in his 4 Your Eyez Only tour wearing mock prison garb. The North Carolina star and members of his Dreamville team made a recent visit to San Quentin State Prison in California to visit with inmates who will never see the other side of the wall again. Cole, Dreamville President Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad, and Dreamville’s Art Direction and Graphic Design chief Felton Brown posted photos to their respective social media accounts to capture the experience. It isn’t readily clear when this visit took place, but both Hamad and Brown posted their photos to Instagram on Tuesday (July 1). “We got the opportunity to spend the day at San Quentin State Prison talking and meeting inmates who will never see the outside again. 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,” Hamad wrote in the photo he posted. J. Cole wore an orange prison jumpsuit during tour stops last month, adding to the spectacle and themes present on his latest album, 4 Your Eyez Only. Information on why Cole and Dreamville were at the prison is scant at the moment, but it appears the visit is part of a larger mission for the rapper to connect his message with the music. Check out Ib Hamad’s photos below. Hit the flip to check out Felton Brown’s photos. — Photo: Instagram
