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NEWS : STORIES
The nonprofit advocacy group Rap Coalition is dedicated to supporting hip-hop artists, producers and DJs in many ways -- offering legal help in negotiating contracts, setting up health insurance and educating up-and-coming artists about the ins
Its latest project, however, extends support to rappers who aren't going to appear behind a mic anytime soon -- namely, those who currently are incarcerated. Rap Coalition founder Wendy Day announced this week that the group is starting a program encouraging fans to write to incarcerated rappers Lil' Shawn and Keith Murray to show them they haven't been forgotten. Letters can be sent to either artist at the Rap Coalition's online site at RapHipHop@aol.com, while books or magazines can be sent to the artists in care of the Rap Coalition, 67 Vestry Street, #2D, New York, NY 10013. "I was talking to Lil' Shawn, and in his voice I could just hear a sadness and frustration about his situation," Day said. "He was about to put out an album on Elektra, but he was sentenced to 70 months. He sounded worried that people would forget about him, which is what inspired us to start this project." Lil' Shawn (born Shawn Wilkins), perhaps best known for his 1997 hit, "Dom P," was sentenced in September to a 70-month term in a Virginia federal prison. Day did not know what the charges were and representatives for Elektra did not return calls for comment. Murray, meanwhile, is serving a three-year sentence at the Hartford Correctional Center in Connecticut for assaulting a teen-age fan with a stool during a 1995 bar brawl. He began serving his sentence in October after spending a month on the lam. During that time he allegedly was recording material for three albums and getting his business affairs in order before entering prison. "It's interesting to me that this is the most controversial project [the Rap Coalition] has worked on," Day said. "I sent out about 1,000 e-mails and I got back a lot of feedback that was like, 'F--- them.' That wasn't the kind of thing I was expecting to hear." Representatives for Jive Records, Murray's label, had no comment on the Rap Coalition's letter-writing campaign. Murray's next album, It's a Beautiful Thing, is due in stores Jan. 12. While Murray and Lil' Shawn are the subjects of this current campaign, Day also is working on helping other jailed rappers. She is trying to get in touch with rapper Capone, who is doing time in New York due to parole violations. According to Priscilla Pletcher-Wilcox, founder of PrisonPenPals.com, a website that offers listings of prisoners looking for pen pals in the outside world, it can be difficult for artists such as Murray and Lil' Shawn -- who are used to the constant attention of fans and business associates -- to adjust to life behind bars. "The isolation has got to be the worst of it for them," Pletcher-Wilcox said. "People go from having it all to basically being locked in a box for 22 hours a day, usually with a stranger. It doesn't make for pleasant living." By writing a letter, Pletcher-Wilcox continued, fans can help prisoners keep their sanity. "It connects them to a way of life they used to know," she said. "It doesn't matter if it is a letter from a fan or a close friend -- it is still a connection to the outside world." The Rap Coalition's campaign also allows people to make cash donations, which Day says will be evenly divided between Murray and Lil' Shawn and be forwarded to their commissary accounts. Interested parties should call Day directly at (212) 625-3422. According to Pletcher-Wilcox, commissary accounts are like bank accounts for inmates. They are used to purchase such items as coffee, cigarettes, stamps, shampoo and toothpaste. "The commissary is basically like the company store," Pletcher-Wilcox explained. "It's where prisoners go to buy essentials that people on the outside usually think [the prisoners] get for free."
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