Tory Lanez is speaking out amid the news he has to unceremoniously end his Prison Tapes series, and blames the situation on a larger conspiracy.
As previously reported by TMZ, the singer/rapper’s studio equipment was seized by prison guards during a raid of his cell block at the California Correctional Institution, where he’s serving a 10-year sentence for shooting Megan Thee Stallion.
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The news was confirmed by Ceasar McDowell, CEO of Unite the People and chief deputy on Tory’s legal team, who was informed by prison officials that inmates are strictly forbidden from having recording devices for various reasons.
Lanez launched Prison Tapes in July and released nine songs that were recorded behind bars, along with several other previously unreleased tracks from his Lost Tapes and Twitch Tapes series.
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Taking to Instagram to speak out on Tuesday (September 10), Tory said that he feels he was shut down because prison officials knew he was helping other inmates obtain a path to freedom.
“The rumors are true. The Prison Tapes will be discontinued until further notice,” he began. “However, I think it’s important that my fans know the truth about the crooked ass shit that’s really going on here. My cell was not raided and trashed 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.
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“Since the first day I was incarcerated, all I’ve seen is blacks and other minorities receive the most cruel, illegal, and unfair punishment/treatment. For so many nights, I asked God to reveal his purpose in making me go through the ills of the prison system. I was later 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 a 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. Although the ‘HIGHER UPS’ have stopped The Prison Tapes temporarily, they were too late to stop my overall plan. Since the month of July, I’ve afforded legal representation for 472 inmates and actively reopened 476 cases.”
He concluded: “With the help of legal firm ‘UNITE THE PEOPLE,’ so many inmates will be returned to their families and loved ones. I’m naming this ‘The Hands of God Project.’ Lastly, they know I’m a threat and they don’t want me saying or doing this so if ANYTHING happens to me, just know I went out in the blaze of glory trying to revolutionize the end of a mass incarceration era on our people.”
When announcing the weekly series, Tory Lanez said he had figured out a way to record music in prison while achieving the same high-quality sound as a professional studio.
“After about 20-something to 30-something fuck-ups and mistakes, me and my engineer have finally figure out how to record music over the jail phone and still keep the quality as professional as I had it on the street,” he said in a recorded phone call posted on Instagram.
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“It’s over. I done cracked the fucking code, man. This means that not even these prison walls can stop me from dropping new music. It’s crazy! That being said, I’m about to start dropping hot heaps of coal on y’all head top. I’m dropping the all new ‘Free Tory’ playlist — it’s gon’ be updated every week with new music that I’m recording from prison in real time.”
He added: “This is the first of its kind and although God has already shown me that this moment is only temporary, it speaks testimony to the fact that no matter where they put me they can’t lock down my spirit, my ambition, my soul my passion nor my destiny!”
