Netflix Debuts Trailer For
SONGS FROM THE HOLE
Earlier in the week, JJ’88 shared the lead single from the film’s accompanying Songs from the Hole EP release, titled “Here Now.” A smooth, introspective cut, the new single finds 88 waxing poetic atop breezy boom-bap production, courtesy of Tariq and Garfield Bright of Twiin Towers. “I was reflecting on my journey when I wrote ‘Here Now,'” says 88. “I was in the Santa Cruz redwood forests, a few miles from the prison where I made “Songs from the Hole”. It’s a declaration of my arrival to the free world and my music dreams.”
Originally written and recorded by JJ’88 in prison while serving a life sentence that began at age 15, it was later reproduced by richie reseda, Dylan Wiggins and Tairiq Bright & Garfield Bright III of Twiin Towers, keeping the original prison vocals. Gritty and vulnerable, the EP is a real-life hood-healing story—one that can only be told by someone who lived it.
Synopsis:
At 15, he took a life. Three days later, his brother’s life was taken. A moving chronicle of forgiveness, family, and the transformative power of art, SONGS FROM THE HOLE weaves music and mixed-media storytelling into an innovative documentary visual album.
Through clear-eyed narration and lyrical journal entries, incarcerated musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs reveals his innermost struggles as a person who has both committed and experienced violent harm. While serving a double-life prison sentence, he searches for healing and peace as he comes of age in this documentary-musical odyssey composed behind bars.
In a unique creative process director Contessa Gayles (The Feminist on Cellblock Y, Founder Girls, The Debutantes) collaborated with protagonist/writer JJ’88 and producer/music producer richie reseda to interweave the collective storytelling of the film’s non-fiction participants, with imagined memories, dreams and spiritual dialogues set to JJ’88’s original music. The result is a powerful mix of truth-telling and dreaming that reveal the potential for healing and liberation within us all.
Director: Contessa Gayles
Songs Written and Performed by: JJ’88
Writers: JJ’88, Contessa Gayles
Producers: Contessa Gayles, richie reseda, David Felix Sutcliffe
Co-Producer: JJ’88
Executive Producers: Jenny Raskin, Lauren Haber, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Regina K. Scully, Meadow Fund, dream hampton
Production Companies: Cocomotion Pictures and Question Culture
Watch the trailer below.
Stream “Here Now“: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/jj88/here-now
Pre-save the Songs from the Hole EP here: http://www.questionculture.shop/
Follow JJ’88 on Instagram [HERE]
“Here Now” single artwork
Posted by Mahalia Saint-Eloi.
