Three inmate bands filled the air with their unique music on a Saturday morning in San Quentin’s Lower Yard.
In the midst of tennis matches, basketball games and inmates observing the weekend, hundreds throughout the yard on Sept. 13 were listening to the hip-hop and rock sounds of Contagious, Morris & Mason and Human Condition.
“This was the first time that I actually stopped to watch a yard show,” said Quinton Walker, who has been at San Quentin for eight years. “I think the group Contagious is fantastic. David Jassy, the lead singer, is a true professional.”
Adding their own touch to the classic song “Oh Girl” by the Chi-Lites, Contagious brought a new level to live entertainment.
“The remix sounds good. They made it like an up-to-date version. It’s a 10,” said Charles “Pookie” Sylvester.
Raphaele Casale, an office technician in the warden’s office, is a San Quentin self-help sponsor. Casale sponsors the prison’s music bands as well as an at-risk youth program called SQUIRES.
“We live in a tense environment,” said Wilber “Rico” Rogers leader of New Syndicate of Funk, an inmate band that has previously played on the yard. “Our sponsor, Raphaele, has brought continuity to the whole program. She restructured the program so that we could bring live entertainment to the population.”
Casale said that the administration supports positive programs such as Arts-in-Corrections.
“Music is powerful inside the walls. It’s relaxing, brings community and it also helps the artists to get along,” Casale said. “How can you not support that?”
“Music soothes the savage beast,” Rogers said. “This is an opportunity for us to release it through music.”
While Richard “Richie” Morris of Morris & Mason was tuning his guitar, he talked about what music meant to him.
“It’s a connection that crosses all boundaries and barriers,” Morris said. Pointing to his skin, he said, “This doesn’t matter. I get to reach people where they’re at. We’ve all been told by society that we don’t have anything to offer. It’s not true; we all have gifts. If we have gifts, we have to give them away. That’s what my music is — a gift, and that’s demonstrated to me by the way people react to my music.”
In the song “Freedom” by Contagious, the hook resonated with the listeners as Jassy rapped, “I had a dream I could buy my way to freedom.” Another inmate commented that the other lyrics of the song were meaningful, specifically: “Music is really our rehabilitation; just feel good for a little bit. Spread love.”
When Contagious finished its final act, the men called out for an inmate favorite, “All of a Sudden.” Jassy said they’d perform the song with one condition: the audience sing along. The rousing interaction between performers and audience heightened the yard’s happy atmosphere.
Human Condition closed the show with a performance of original rock music.
