Authorities reportedly raided Tory Lanez’s cell to remove anything he was using to record music in prison. The incarcerated rapper/singer began releasing singles billed as “Prison Tapes” in the summer.
“After about 20-something to 30-something f###-ups and mistakes, me and my engineer have finally figured out how to record music over the jail phone and still keep the quality as professional as I had it on the street,” he announced in July. “It’s over. I done cracked the f###### code, man. This means that not even these prison walls can stop me from dropping new music. It’s crazy!”
Listeners marveled at the sound quality of Lanez’s “Prison Tapes.” “Basement,” his latest release in the series, dropped on August 30.
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.
Lanez, whose real name is Daystar Peterson, accomplished more than recording new music while behind bars. The high school dropout resumed his studies in prison.
“I’m great” Lanez told streamer Adin Ross in August. “I know that a lot of people sometimes when they hear prison or they hear somebody’s down, they think n####’s in the corner somewhere bawling his eyes out … A n#### just graduated high school, enrolled in college. Never thought I’d do that. But I’m taking this moment and I’m taking advantage over everything that’s good. I’m a f###### high school dropout that just graduated high school. That s### matters to me. So, it’s the small things that just have me feeling good about life right now.”
Lanez is serving his sentence at the California Correctional Institution. He is eligible for parole in 2029, per California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation records.