Tory Lanez Claims “Prison Tapes” Raid Was About His Legal Advocacy For Inmates—Not Music

Tory Lanez is speaking out following news of the raid he was recently targeted by after announcing his Prison Tapes series.

In a lengthy statement he shared on his Instagram profile Tuesday (September 11), Tory addressed the raid that occurred in his cell and provided more context on his purpose-driven mission associated with his Prison Tapes series. In addition to claiming the powers that be were behind the raid, Lanez revealed the major component of legal advocacy for inmates that his project was helping him establish from behind bars.

“The rumors are true,” Tory Lanez wrote in part. “The ‘Prison Tapes’ will be discontinued until further notice however, I think it’s important that my fans know the truth about the crooked ass s### that’s really going on here.

My cell was not rated and trash because I learned how to record myself in prison or because I created the prison tapes, I was shut down because the ‘HIGHER UPS’ figured out what I was really doing with the prison tapes, and how many inmates were being helped in a life-changing way because of them.”

Lanez then explained how his fellow inmates inspired his decision to develop the Prison Tapes.

“Since the first day I was incarcerated all I’ve seen is Black and other minorities receive the most cruel, illegal and unfair punishment/treatment for so many nights,” he wrote. “I asked God to reveal his purpose in making me go through the ills of the prison system. I was shown that purpose.

“I was placed in jail to suffer to feel and to witness firsthand the pain and oppression being inflicted upon the young Black and Brown men and women of my generation. I knew I had to change this injustice. So, I made it plan that when I got to prison, I would figure out a way to record music and put all the proceeds towards the legal representation of my fellow inmates, giving them a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go home to their families on appeal and resentencing.”

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Tory Lanez then revealed the immense impact his Prison Tapes releases, such as his “Cell 245” single, have had since he began releasing music a part of the projects earlier this year.

“Although the “HIGHER UPS” have stopped the ‘Prison Tapes’ temporarily they were too late to stop my overall plan,” he wrote. “Since the month of July, I’ve afforded legal representation for 472 inmates and actively reopened 476 cases. With the help of the legal firm ‘UNITE THE PEOPLE,’ so many inmates will be returned to their families and loved ones.

Lanez concluded with one final note that carried a sinister premonition of his.

“I’m naming this ‘The Hands of God’ project,” he said of his initiative spearheaded by the Prison Tapes. “Lastly, they know I’m a threat and they didn’t want me saying or doing this so if anything happens to me, just know I went out in a blaze of glory trying to revolutionize the end of a mass incarceration era on our people.”

Lanez is currently incarcerated at North Kern State Prison in Delano, California, where his fellow rap counterpart Blueface is serving his four-year sentence for a probation violation.

Last year, a California judge sentenced Lanez to 10 years in prison for the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion. He was convicted of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, illegal possession of a firearm and negligent discharge of a gun for shooting the victim in 2022.

Read Tory’s full statement below.