Jail Time Records

My father is an artist so I grew up surrounded by art and being encouraged from a very young age to express myself visually. As a child and then a teenager I already knew I wanted to be an artist and painting was my medium. At art school I started to experiment also with photography and video, and at 24 years old I started working on social art projects while in South America. I think that being aware of the privilege I had in being exposed to art from a very young age and being always and unconditionally supported to do so made me want to share this experience with people that have not received that support either from their families or from their surroundings, or have never been given the tools and means to go forwards with their creative passions. I also believe that the strongest and most urgent messages come from the most marginalised parts of society, from those who fall between the nets of society and are often its victims. So when I came across a collective La meute des penseurs inside the Central prison of Douala it seemed like the most necessary thing to do, to help them get their voices heard. Music was so powerful in that context, and they were so talented that I felt I just needed to make this get out and I decided to create a recording studio. As well as leading the creative direction of the project together with our producer and co-founder Vidou H, I am responsible for the visual side of Jail Time Records, so all the photography and the video direction.

I met Vidou H as soon as the recording studio was ready in prison, and we didn’t have anyone to run it. Another inmate introduced me to Vidou H who is a producer and sound engineer and was incarcerated with his two brothers. We immediately connected and I straight away gave him the keys to the studio, the following months he spent day and night recording all kinds of musicians and produced some amazing stuff. That’s how we developed the idea of running the project as a music label. Since being acquitted and released from jail three years ago we have kept working together side by side.

The project has a very big impact on the life of prisoners, both during their incarceration as well as once they leave prison. Firstly it gives them means to express themselves and find a voice, it gives them an activity to focus on and feel passionate about and a reason to keep believing that their future might hold new and unexpected experiences and success. Music also unites people, we work with artists from all backgrounds, all walks of life, ethnic groups and beliefs. Music and art is an instrument to get to know oneself better, shed light on parts of ourselves and our character that might actually be detrimental to ourselves and others. Some of the artists we work with are very talented and have a high industry standard, and could realistically have careers in music and that's where we try and push them. Often what they really need is someone to help them believe in themselves. The project also has an impact on how society perceives incarceration, so it helps with reinsertion on many different levels.

Definitely. This year we are already committed to building a recording studio inside the central prison of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, and in a new prison that has just been built in Ngoma, Cameroon. We want to share this opportunity with as many people as possible and amplify its impact internationally. We believe our mission can be part of a change within how we think of the justice system.

Limited resources, limited staff, at times also managing some of the artists, some of them have problems of drug addiction and can therefore be quite difficult. We definitely need a lot of patience.

During a dance event I had organised, a few guys got hold of the mic that was used by the MC of the event and started performing some tracks. It was really powerful and amazing. Some time later I remembered the name of one of them and I asked to see him, that experience had stayed in my mind and I was still thinking about it. When I met up with him he told me that they were a collective and were organising a rap concert in the prison. He invited me to join them in their daily rehearsal in the death sentence quarter. I started going and decided that we had to record an album, and therefore would need a recording studio, and that is how it all started. I think the first time I saw them perform I saw immediately what potential they had and how powerful their music was, and that is what inspired me to continue.

Yes, just like in everyday life. The environment is quite tough and intense in the prison, with many people trying to intimidate you just for fun so it is important to put boundaries and always have a strong stance, and not react to the continuous provocations one receives. At the same time with our artists we have a very strong and intimate relationship, it feels much like a family, although there can often be tensions arising between them.

Jail Time Records message is one of deep positivity and belief, that in whatever dreadful situation you find yourself in life there is always space for change, for some sort of beauty, a redemptive act. There is a very strong spiritual component in the work all members of Jail Time Records collective do. Prison is a kind of human purgatory, and music is lived by many of our artists as a means of searching for peace with themselves, with the harsh surroundings. Few other experiences in life are so extreme, and this is felt in the urgency of their music. In this perspective music also appears as a form of spiritual evasion, a force capable of projecting those who have been deprived of their physical freedom beyond the perimeter of their confinement.
Although the most important activity of Jail Time Records in terms of impact on the life on prisoners is to give them access to the instruments to create music while in prison and once outside prison, it is also through the reaction and support of the public that their work feels validated and appreciated.Therefore we really hope for people all over the world to show love and support the music and work of our artists and share it beyond.
Jail Time Records is also a registered charity in constant need of funds and support, so all donations and volunteer work are big contributions to the cause.

Jail Time, Vol.1 is our first album so it feels particularly special for us. It is the result of the sweat, love and tears, and many sleepless nights of many people. It actually mostly showcases the music of the first couple of years of our project; the newer music will be released in the second volume in 2023. It was important for us to give a voice to as many artists as possible, and to those that were there from the start.
It is a very varied album, with all kinds of genres of music, from hip hop to afro-house, world etc. It is a journey through the regions of Cameroon, as represented by the many languages the album is sung in. I think it can be appreciated by a very mixed public, so far it has been received with a lot of enthusiasm and we are really proud.

Most of the tracks of the album were recorded by Vidou H between 2019 and 2020, with a few exceptions of tracks added later. For a series of reasons it took very long to get the album out, so it feels really good that it is finally happening. Vidou H is the person behind the whole production of the album, although he let me choose the selection of tracks and do the skits; our way of working is a kind of creative fusion, I take part in the music process as much as he takes part in the video-making part and we always bounce ideas back and forth between each other. All together the album took about two years in the recording and production, and it was a very beautiful  and intense process because it was like building a journey through the universe of incarceration, of Cameroon, through so many moods, stories, characters and emotions.

Mostly each artist comes up with his own songs and lyrics, we give them a big catalogue of beats produced by Vidou H or they download them from the internet and then we produce an original one for them after. Sometimes we have very specific ideas for the artistic direction of a song and we give a specific beat to an artists and ask him to sing in a certain way, sometimes Vidou H writes parts of their songs, other times I also give very specific directions both to the producer and the artists, for example in our single Sa Ngando I asked Vidou H to create an amapiano sounding beat and chose Empereur to sing on it giving him some references from Naira Marley.

Jail Time Records work is also that of educating society on the need to break down the stigma tied to incarceration and that prison reforms are urgently needed worldwide. Extremely high recidivism rates in all countries show that the way we conceive and carry out justice is not effective, and rather than focusing on punitive systems we should be adopting and testing out rehabilitative ones. Art and creativity are definitely very useful tools to lower recidivism rates, as shown by many case studies around the world, including our own experience. Our message is one of tolerance, equality, non-judgment, positivity, and I hope our work can communicate that. Social media can have a large impact on spreading this message since they have such a wide reach, so again, I invite everyone to take action and share the world, the message and the work as much as possible.

I think collaborations with brands and creative platforms is essential for this kind of work, what we are trying to do is not only to promote the music and the message of the artists we work with but to promote a shared culture. Being a small, independent reality we don't have the means to promote our work on a large scale so the support of magazines, platforms and brands is essential.

We have two recording studios in Douala, one inside the prison and one outside. It is very important for us to involve other people and organisations in our project and work because we can reach more people, have more support and the prisoners themselves feel appreciated, validated and more confident if people and institutions from the outside show interest in them.

Moussinghi is a good example, he spent most of his youth in and out of prison, he was arrested five times for robbery and also armed robbery and was part of gang life. In 2018 he came back to prison for the last time and took part in the project. After receiving grace in 2020 he has been out of prison and has taken up music very seriously, has become very aware of the dangers of street life and and changed completely lifestyle, finding a normal job and using all his free time working on his music and talking to the youth around him  about his life experiences to guard them from making bad choices. Mostly we have had really few recidivism rates amongst the guys participating in the project, so I would say that is already a really good turnout!

Be courageous, continue following your passions and the dreams you are building and sharing with others, make art that touches people, that has a real impact and serves deeper scopes.