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Vice Blog

BARS BEHIND BARS

Last night, Kiss FM's Logan Sama played some brand new Crazy Titch songs, which were recorded while the grime MC is serving a life sentence for murder. There's something compelling about music recorded behind bars. It's often filled with hopelessness, and might be more influenced by roast beef day in the cafeteria than what's happening in popular culture. We've listed some of our favorite songs recorded by people in prison below.

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Crazy Titch - "Do Some Work"

Titch, who has been separated from the outside world since 2006, is basically a grime time capsule. He's been in safe keeping for the last four years and is totally oblivious to the fact that most of his once-talented old pals are now making trance-pop and doing their best Drake impressions, so he's just carried on where he left off. He's pretty much the only good thing from grime's heyday that remains.

Lady Sovereign - "Random" (remix featuring Riko)

Obviously Lady Sovereign is a top-drawer cretin but she really landed on her three-striped hooves when she got Roll Deep's Riko to drop some verses down the blower from HMP on this Menta remix of her song.

Usher - "Confessions Part 2" (remix featuring Shyne, Jermaine Dupri, Twista, and Kanye West)

I'm not the biggest Shyne fan, but this has to be the most perfect rap verse ever recorded over the phone from jail. Firstly, the song is about confessions--which has plenty of poignancy in itself--but add the fact that his screwed vocals make him sound like he's on heroin, and you get this tragic image of him pouring his heart out over the phone in a drug-induced stupor.

Supa Nate on Outkast's "Nathaniel"

No idea what he did, but Konkrete's Supa Nate was clearly thrown in jail on some straight bullshit. And the punk-ass COs are on his dick. Shocker.

Bobby Beausoleil - Lucifer Rising OST

Bobby was closely affiliated with Charles Manson and was sent to prison for killing his music teacher, but, like all truly committed musicians, he carried on in the pen where he wrote and recorded the soundtrack to Kenneth Anger's stoner-film-fest fave,

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Lucifer Rising

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Burzum - "Moti Ragnarokum"

Varg Vikernes killed his Mayhem bandmate, and, while incarcerated, turned his brutal one-man black metal project, Burzum, into a synthy,

Lord of the Rings

score-esque pan-pipe brainfart. He is out now and thankfully left the Casio in prison. The song above is pretty good though. ROCKY MCBAYLEY