Vic Mensa, Lauren Jauregui, Aloe Blacc and more lent their voices to Defund The Sheriff (The Album), a music compilation linked to the campaign to disburse the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and allocate those funds to other local resources.
JusticeLA, #SchoolsNotPrisons, Question Culture and Reform LA Jails produced Defund The SheriffWhat a criminal justice speaker and musician Mike de la Rocha and previously incarcerated CEO of Culture de Question Richie Reseda Produced by the executive. The 17-track LP comes on time with local campaigns to invest in alternatives to incarceration, as Los Angeles County pushes to build two new jails with a $ 3.5 billion budget, so these artists are pushing to scrap the project. with yours.
“The divided United States penitentiary industrial complex is one of the biggest stains that has stained the bloody flag that is America,” Mensa said in the press release. “The sheriff is little more than the militarized arm of this oppressive system; it is our duty as revolutionaries to challenge and dismantle white supremacy to the greatest extent possible within our lives, by all necessary means.”
Mensa and Jauregui appear on the first song “The Greatest Prison System on Earth” along with Reseda, while the Chicago-born rapper jumps on three more songs. Blacc appears on two separate occasions on the list under his alias Avery Blackman for “Black is Beautiful” and as part of the hip-hop group Emanon with producer Exile for “Shine Your Light”.
“This album is an expression of that vision put into music. Our goal is to spark listeners’ imagination to the truth and get them to act,” he said. Ivette Ale, Main Organizer of JusticeLA, at launch. “Music will support our upcoming campaigns to disburse the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, stop the use of taxpayer dollars to pay Sheriff’s claims, and invest those dollars in alternatives to incarceration and community care.”
When popular culture and politics meet, these 20 artists and four organizations turn to members of Los Angeles County to redirect the billions of dollars channeled into how people have been watched to find solutions that show how it should be done. caring for people, such as affordable and accessible housing. mental health care and access to education. Last month, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to de-finance the sheriff’s department at $ 145.4 million.
But for 88, a currently jailed artist who sings “Kings In Chains” on the album, tells his story behind bars.
“I am currently serving 40 years double the life of Los Angeles County sentenced me at 15. I have been incarcerated for 17 years,” he said in the statement. “It’s up to artists like me to use art to tell the truth, to use art for abolition. I have first-hand experience with the Los Angeles County Police and they don’t have a good record with people of color.”
Listen to Defund The Sheriff (The Album) down.
