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From the Cold Jaws of Prison

Soul Rock from the Rock
From the Cold Jaws of Prison "What you will hear on this recording is a cry of a people for justice and human dignity. You don’t know what freedom is unless you’ve experienced the chains from which to break free." The poems and music presented on this album were written and compiled by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated African Americans held in three prisons in the New York system—Attica, Rikers Island, and the Tombs. Their work speaks not only of the conditions faced in prison but to the broader African American experience outside prison walls.
*Content Advisory: The liner notes to this album include language that dehumanizes incarcerated musicians. Smithsonian Folkways has updated our descriptions of albums recorded in prisons to avoid frameworks that wholly attach artists’ identities to their experience in prison. This album is a historical document of not only the stories of its performers, but of the racism of the prison system and the music industry at that moment.
For our policy on controversial recordings, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Track Listing

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101
Soul Rock from the Rock
03:09
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102
Soul Rock from the Rock, Obawayo
02:45
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103
Soul Rock from the Rock, Obawayo
03:37
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104
Soul Rock from the Rock, Obawayo
06:51
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105
Soul Rock from the Rock, Obawayo, Ronnie Reed
03:22
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201
Soul Rock from the Rock, Ronnie Reed
08:04
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202
Soul Rock from the Rock, Russell Mayberry, Jesse Mayberry
04:10
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203
Soul Rock from the Rock
04:37
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204
Soul Rock from the Rock
03:47