X-Raided: “When Rappers Go to Jail”

I find it interesting that everyone finds it so shocking that most if not all famous people are placed in segregated housing when they get locked up. Even here in prison, when the Rolling Stone with Lil Wayne on the cover came out saying that he would be in protective custody at Riker’s Island, I […]

I find it interesting that everyone finds it so shocking that most if not all famous people are placed in segregated housing when they get locked up. Even here in prison, when the Rolling Stone with Lil Wayne on the cover came out saying that he would be in protective custody at Riker’s Island, I heard grumbles like, “He talks all that blood s### but he’s in PC.” What does everyone expect Lil Wayne to do? This is a guy who can’t even walk through a mall without security just because of too much love and too much hate. A famous person can’t walk through a club or any other public place where they may be recognized. Why would anyone think that doesn’t apply to famous people in prison?The purpose of trying to get rich is to improve your life and the lives of the people you love. You don’t get money then stay in the hood. You move somewhere better, more peaceful, ASAP. That goes for all people but especially the famous. LeBron James moved out of the projects when he got paid, he didn’t fix it up and stay. Famous people cannot allow themselves to be accessible to everybody. That’s just a fact. Now imagine if 100% of the population were criminals, ranging from kidnappers, extortionists, killers, thieves, etc. Gangsta rapper or not, that’s just asking for trouble. The famous guy either has to build a crew or try to go it alone but that means fighting and catching more time, possibly being labeled a troublemaker by the staff. That creates even more problems. You end up on 24 hour lockdown with no phone access or contact visits, all for trying to prove how tough you are to some nobodies. What good is the respect of someone whose respect is worthless? They’re going to hate anyway just because they’re broke and you’re not. Inmates try to recruit you into their cliques. They ask you to buy dope for them or help them get it in. They try to get you to use dope so they can get in your pocket. You’re constantly dealing with some type of hustle. It gets old fast. Then you have haters, who can be staff, inmate, or visitor, but the worst are the wannabe rappers. It’s like American Idol when they really believe they’re good but they’re garbage. They get mad at the judges for not picking them! Man, I have dudes trying to rap for me at 6:30 a.m. on the way to breakfast. Practiced all night then walks up and starts rapping. I get that on the yard, dayroom, visiting, everywhere, across racial lines, gang lines, even staff sometimes just f#####’ around. I end up having to be an a###### about my space. That just breeds more hate. “He thinks he’s too good to listen to me rap.” I explained it to a friend of mine like this: When I can just say hello, sign something, boom five minutes, cool; but if I give up 30 minute chunks of time because a guy wants to rap and tell me his life story, if I do that ten times a day it adds up to 5 hours of my life I can never get back. The fans are cool. They say hello, I sign something, they bounce. But the obsessed guys, wannabe rappers, and haters never bounce. They just try to get closer and closer.Rappers go to segregated housing to do their time in peace and go home. They lie out of fear of judgment but in reality everyone should understand. Being famous, you’re segregated even on the streets. If you have to use security in public you’ll need it in prison, too. If your name is hot for fame and money, you’ll need security anywhere you go. Quit hatin’. We don’t need to lose Lil Wayne, Gucci, Lil Boosie, or whoever else in prison just so you can say they’re hard. That’s b#######. I know all the little rappers with no names who have been in prison will try to say they weren’t segregated but that’s probably because they were level one or two, on the softest yards in the state. Level 3 and 4 is a different ballgame. You got a baller cat, famous, locked up with hopeless fools doing life without the possibility of parole, starving. Next thing you know, you’re in a riot fighting a clown with a knife, mad because you won’t help him be a rapper. That’s what I just went through on a segregated yard, so just imagine general population.”X-Raided is currently serving 31 years in prison for taking part in a deadly gang related shooting in 1992 that left one woman dead.