Beats from behind bars: an interview with activist Fury Young
Give a Beat is an LA-based nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness of America’s mass incarceration problem via the electronic music community. I often freelance for them, interviewing artists and activists they work with, producing audio pieces for Give a Beat’s blog space.
Artists record most songs within studio spaces; Fury Young records his material within cell walls. Collaborating with former and current incarcerated black Americans across the country, Young plans to release their recordings as an album, one which takes a long hard look at the racial disparities within our prison systems. Titled “Die Jim Crow,” the project includes the stories and struggles of dozens of incarcerated men and women through a variety of genres ranging from hip-hop to heavy metal.