Plies has welcomed his brother home after a three-year bid in a Florida jail.
Ronell “Big Gates” Levatte left a correctional facility on April 9 and was reunited with his younger brother and loved ones.
“I thank everybody that continued to support not only me, but my situation. I thank everybody that continued to pray for my situation with my brother,”
Plies told MTV.com.
Levatte was sentenced to jail because he had some involvement in a 2006 shooting at a Gainesville, Florida club.
Through his music, Plies has addressed his brother and other jailed citizens in songs such as “100 Years” and “2nd Chance,” which can be heard on his new album Da Realist.
“I think it’s important,” he said about addressing the prison system and its inequities. “[Me and my brother] talked a long time yesterday and, like I said, it’s so many more people,” Plies said. “He gave it to me in the simplest form possible. He said, ‘Behind that wall, there’s more people who are suffering, struggling, disappointed, sincerely hurting.’ People will never understand it unless you are a part of that system.”
In related news, a report by the Washington Post has revealed that the incarceration rates for African Americans has hit its lowest point in 20 years since the “War On Drugs” started in the 1980’s.