Getting Down in Lock Down
Hip Hop in the Elmwood Correctional Facility
Story by Amadaeus AKA Justin Collins
Art by Santos Shelton

If you want hard-nosed hip hop, your best bet might be going to the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, California as a felon. Here in "Lock Down" we get down. And I'm not talking melee.

The hip hop scene that goes down in the exercise yard during shakedowns is unique to lock down. Hip hop brings inmates together and brings to the surface the harsh conditions. Here, we got MCs spitting flows, late night breaker battles and graff writers doing pencil bombs. Everyone brings something to the table, even the OG Pimp from Fillmoâ that only speaks in pimp rhyme code.

Shakedowns happen after clothing exchange, when we trade our jail uniforms in for new ones. They'll say, "I want 10 full bags of clothes or I'm wrecking the house." If COs demands aren't met we can look forward to three hours in the bitter cold wearing only the green jail briefs until they find something to justify their search.

Sometimes we are out there with just our bedsheets. The 60 or so inmates are all herded out to the grey dusk skied courtyard. After the door slams there is silence. This is when the freestyle session begins.

You would think dozens of suspected felons in a darkened exercise yard would be unappealing or even intimidating, especially since our unit, M2-C (lockdown), is known as the F*^% up unit. Different parts of the jail have reputations. The farm (minimum camp), where most inmates are, are mostly winos, junkies, chronic traffic offenders and so on. Certain units like M2-C, hold known fighters, gangsters and hustlas. This is where I find my peers.

Once outside, the different groups spread out. The "Paisanos" (recently arrived Mexicans) find a space of wall and sit down. "Woods" (non racist whites) gather in a circle take out extra space off to the side. The Asians (mostly Vietnamese) post up and start gambling. The Pacific Islanders (Samoans and Tongans) do their own thing or join the brothers circle. "Afrikans" (Bay Area Brothers) get the area around the fire door. The "Homeboys"(Nortenos) are so deep they border all the other groups.

Soon after the moments of self-organization, all the homies from different groups get to chopping it up about what contraband might be found in today's search. The Samoan homie Carlos (C-los) rolls up to the fire door and starts the knock, banging out beats. The sounds fill the dimly lit courtyard. Beats starts knocking, heads start noddin'â and the area around the fire door becomes a battleground of speed, ideas and credibility. Once a sick flow starts every one takes notice.

In this moment there is unity of all different groups, all rivalries and differences are forgotten in an uproar of laughter and props. Even OGs that don't like rap will notice an ill verse. People who don't like each other, or even got funk, got to give respect.

Elmwood Hip Hop has many diverse styles. You got the "Oakland Hustla Drawl" with a lot of old school "Ritchie Rich" and "DruDown" flavor. The 415 Frisco cats got a more gritty, intellectual, "RBL Posse," "Mystic Journeymen" feel. P.A. cats also hold it down with a rap-style centered on the harsh reality of the East Palo Alto's mean streets in the spirit of X-Raided and Too Short.

If you got love in your heart, boom in your voice and anger in your spirit, the music comes natural. The music breaks down barriers of division and ignorance. The subject matter often refers to social and political issues such as the C.O.'s, corrupt cops, and D.A.'s that locked them up.

Even after the shakedowns, the hip hop continues through late night B-boy battles. After the CO's stop paying attention, crowds gather in the hallways. The cheering and props have to stay to a minimum. The one time we got caught the CO's came in expecting a fight. The CO did not believe the truth, so a couple homies did head spins and had a quick square off. It was the first time the house didn't get shut down for after hours movement.

Through hip hop, here in lockdown, supposedly dangerous felons manage to stay sucker free and not set trip. The scene is 100% more positive than any downtown San Jose hip hop event I've ever seen. This is the spirit of Elmwood hip hop.