San Quentin inmates packed into the prison’s Protestant Chapel on a recent December night for an intimate concert put on by musical artist Butterscotch.
Butterscotch took the stage, guitar in hand, to play a five-song set. She earned several standing ovations for her performance, which showcased her jazzy voice. But the music didn’t stop there – she beat boxed and harmonized to create a full-blown one-woman show. Some 350 inmates attended the concert.
“I want to spread my music anywhere I can — take people on a music journey,” said Butterscotch Clinton after the performance.
Butterscotch was inspired to perform inside the prison after seeing a documentary about The Last Mile, an entrepreneur training program for incarcerated men. She reached out to Chris Redlitz, the program’s founder, and they decided to organize a concert.
“It’s great so many people have come and volunteered to give back,” Redlitz said. “It’s easy when the guys (in TLM) are so motivated.”
Redlitz said that Butterscotch is not the only musical artist to show interest in visiting San Quentin. MC Hammer visited the prison again not long after she performed.
Butterscotch gained national fame as a finalist on America’s Got Talent. She won third place with her uncanny ability to simultaneously beat box, sing and play a musical instrument, blending jazz, R&B and hip-hop into ear candy.
She flew up from Los Angeles to perform the concert that was organized as a reward for the prison’s coding class. The students recently put on Demo Day, where they showed off the projects they had built to demonstrate programming skills to the potential employers and the community members in the audience.
Incarcerated Grammy nominee and Swedish rapper/producer David Jassy and TLM member James “JC” Cavitt opened the show with a short set and also performed with Butterscotch.
“I felt like it was a travel back into time,” said Jassy. “I had fun.”
Cavitt started with the spoken word piece, Why the Cage Bird Screams, with Jassy strumming the guitar.
“I scream because it took only one bad…and tragic decision… To be considered at 17 unredeemable…” he said. “I scream because society’s answer to the problem was a cage.”
Then Butterscotch took the stage.
“I just want to take it slow; we ain’t got nowhere to go,” she sang. “I just want to give you a chance for you to see a melody with perfect harmony.”
Cavitt and Jassy then joined her onstage to sing Freedom, a track written by Jassy with only a few minutes to prepare before the show.
“I live in a world that kills people to teach people who kill people not to kill people,” spoke Cavitt.
“He opened up the mood and brought everybody in with his message of freedom, and it fit perfectly because it brought that blend of conscious spoken word, neo-soul and hip hop,” said Jassy.
The concert ended with a Jassy and Butterscotch beat boxing duet to his song, All of a Sudden.
“She was cool, and we synchronized even though we had no time to practice,” said Jassy.
The crowd expressed their appreciation.
“I’m 36, and this is my first time attending a real concert,” said Emile DeWeaver, who is incarcerated for a crime he committed at 18. “You just helped me cross it off my bucket list.”
