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‘Songs from the Hole’: The story behind JJ’88’s documentary and visual album
Actors gaze up to the sky during JJ’88’s “ROOT” in the hip-hop artist and former inmate’s documentary and visual album Songs from the Hole. Before the song starts, protagonist and producer James “JJ’88” Jacobs describes meditating on his and others’ redemption while incarcerated and in solitary confinement.
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“‘I’m dangerous,’ they said.”
Through tears over the phone, James Jacobs, the hip-hop artist who goes by the stage name of JJ’88, tells his father that the hearing to reduce his sentence was denied. In April 2004, a 15-year-old Jacobs shot and killed an 18-year-old at a party in Bellflower, Calif. At the time he received the letter rejecting his request for a resentencing in 2020, he had lived more years in prison than outside of it.
“They don’t believe me. They don’t believe who I am,” he continues. “They said that all the work that I’m doing, my art and my advocacy work … they said that it’s not real. They say I am a clear and present threat to the community.”
In 2020, Jacobs was denied a hearing to reduce his prison sentence. His father, pictured here, grapples with the news while trying to comfort his son.
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As his father tries to comfort him, an automated voice cuts in: “You have 60 seconds remaining.”
Filmmaker and director Contessa Gayles was in the room with Jacobs’ father as he received that call.
“I remember, too, after that moment, obviously being incredibly concerned for you and your well-being,” Gayles tells Jacobs during an interview with NPR, “but I hesitated, for a long time, to ask you if you wanted to continue with the film. … I just was too afraid for your answer.”
The pair had been working with Jacobs’ producer on a documentary and visual album together. But he said he did want to continue.
“I’ve seen hard moments in film before, I’ve seen hard moments talked about in music — really hard moments — and this was one of the hardest moments in my life,” Jacobs says. “I love [Shakespeare’s] Titus Andronicus — it’s a tragic story, and I remember reading that and I was, like, ‘this is art too’ — it doesn’t always have to be this fairytale Disney ending that I was used to, as a kid and as a fan of films. Some stories end in, ‘this guy found spiritual enlightenment but died in prison.’ That’s the wisdom of the world, I guess. That’s the wisdom of our universe. I couldn’t argue with it, so I was comfortable [with continuing the film].”
Actor Miles Lassiter, as “kid James,” wears antlers in Songs from the Hole. Jacobs says it’s the image he’s asked about most often. “These antlers, along with being [for the song] ‘Most Hunted,’ are very gun-hunting, violent-culture — the experience, as a Black man, was that [Black men] were being hunted like deer, like buck in this country. And early references of Black men in this country — we were called Bucks. And so I thought — we [Jacobs and Gayles] thought — it was fitting … that this character represented the coming-of-age through antlers and the symbolism of being hunted with antlers on his head.”
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Songs from the Hole follows Jacobs’ story as he reflects on his coming-of-age within California’s state prison system, finds healing in an unlikely place and contemplates forgiveness. After meeting and befriending Gayles when she was on assignment for CNN at California’s Correctional Training Facility, commonly known as Soledad State Prison, in 2017, Jacobs and his producer, Richie Reseda, reached out with an ambitious idea: to direct and bring to life the visual album that Jacobs had written entirely from solitary confinement. The request reached Gayles at an important moment of her career: when she was ready to pursue independent filmmaking.
Gayles says she was inspired, during the making of Songs from the Hole, by the 2014 film Boyhood. “I was just thinking about representations that we have of white childhood and the plethora that exists of those depictions, and that often, with storytelling around Black people — Black young people — it’s very limited in scope. And so I was just meditating on, ‘[Richard] Linklater spent 12 years making [Boyhood] about white childhood,’ and I was just saying in my head, ‘we deserve to have as much space to be as indulgent and wide-ranging with how we tell the stories of Black childhood.’”
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Reneasha Jacobs holds a photograph of her and James’ older brother, Victor Benjamin. Benjamin was shot and killed on April 19, 2004.
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Actors reenact a memory from Jacobs’ childhood in Songs from the Hole. In the film, Jacobs says, “Memories are crucial in maintaining your sanity in prison. I remember — maybe accurately or inaccurately — but I remember things from my childhood and relive them, sitting on that bunk, and it reminds me that I was a person and I am a person before being incarcerated.”
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![Actor Myles Lassiter portrays young Jacobs lying in the bed of a pickup truck, holding a toy gun, during the song, "Most Hunted." Jacobs says the visual was important to him because "in the song itself, I mentioned ... a couple of references to 'Friday,' one of them being during the hook, 'the government launched four drones. Still, I need a Glock to walk Smoke home. I'm not a man with it. I'm a man without it.' And those lines kind of hint toward quotes from the film 'Friday,' which is where Craig [played by Ice Cube] is in the room with his father. He just discovered that his father just discovered that he owns a gun. And [his dad] says, "Back in my day, we would use these," [referencing his fists]. Are you a man or are you not?" And [Craig] says, 'I'm a man without it. I'm a man without this gun.' And I knew when I first saw that, that I was like, 'I'm a man without a gun, but in this world, they don't see a man unless I have a gun."](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3840x2076+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F73%2Fbf%2F5306a1244a41b25fddca6158fdfd%2Fsfth-most-hunted-truck-bed.jpg)
Actor Myles Lassiter portrays a young Jacobs lying in the bed of a pickup truck, holding a toy gun, during the song, “Most Hunted.” Jacobs says the visual was important to him because “in the song itself, I mentioned … a couple of references to ‘Friday,’ one of them being during the hook, ‘the government launched four drones. Still, I need a Glock to walk Smoke home. I’m not a man with it. I’m a man without it.’ And those lines kind of hint toward quotes from the film ‘Friday,’ which is where Craig [played by Ice Cube] is in the room with his father. He just discovered that his father just discovered that he owns a gun. And [his dad] says, ‘Back in my day, we would use these [referencing his fists]. Are you a man or are you not?’ And [Craig] says, ‘I’m a man without it. I’m a man without this gun.’ And I knew when I first saw that, that I was like, ‘I’m a man without a gun, but in this world, they don’t see a man unless I have a gun.’”
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Throughout its production, the visual album quickly evolved into a documentary, heavily inspired by Beyoncé’s Lemonade. Where Beyoncé added poetic interludes between songs, in Songs from the Hole, the audience learns about Jacobs’ story and how his music spiritually liberates him while simultaneously being among the reasons officials cited for not considering his request for resentencing.
Gayles uses messages Jacobs wrote while in solitary to portray his vision for the album. When asked about the decision, Galyes says, “We really made use of 88’s handwriting because it was so much a part of his process.” She said she also felt “it would be more impactful to have the audience experience 88 in a similar manner to his loved ones … which is primarily over phone calls and letters.”
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Reneasha Jacobs, James’ older sister, holds an old photograph of herself and her two brothers from when they were kids. James shot and killed someone on April 16, 2004. Three days later, their older brother was murdered.
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The film relies heavily on Jacobs’ letters and recorded phone calls, through which he, Gayles and Reseda talk about the album’s production. The letters consist of scripts, shot lists and lyrics. Through the calls, Jacobs serves as the film’s narrator, speaking about his life and the symbolism of the imagery he’d dreamt up in solitary. The film explores cultural themes that touch on Black boyhood, familial relationships, growing up in the church, crime, forgiveness and redemption.
Actor Devonte Hoy depicts Jacobs forgiving the man who murdered his brother. In the film, Jacobs says, “Tears start coming down my face. And I said, ‘Man, you killed my brother.’ And the first thing out of his mouth was, ‘I’m sorry for what I took from you, bro.’ … And I just told him, ‘Man, I forgive you. If you want my forgiveness, you have it.’ And I got up and left.”
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Jacobs was released in 2022, after serving 18 years in prison.
Now, with the film streaming on Netflix and the team holding screenings in prisons across the country, Jacobs says he hopes the parole board commissioners who kept him locked up think differently about him if they see the film.
“If only you understood me, you’d see my humanity,” he says in the film.
“I would absolutely love to show this film to the commissioners that told me I was a danger to society,” he told NPR. “I would love it. I can’t wait to catch word that they watched it so that I can see — let’s talk again; I don’t even have to go to board, but I would love to talk to you now.”
Hoy depicts an older Jacobs talking to his father through glass during a visitation. In the film, Jacobs says he had just finished writing two verses of his song “Steel Grave,” and rapped both verses over the phone for his dad. When he finished, Jacobs says his father asked him, “What happens to the character? You just described he was in this dark world. Does he ever come out?”
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Songs from the Hole is currently streaming on Netflix. Find more of JJ’88’s work at linktr.ee/jj_eightyeight and on Instagram, at @jj_eightyeight, and more of Contessa’s work on her website, ContessaGayles.com, or on Instagram, at @contessagayles.
President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
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BOSTON — A federal judge has halted efforts by the Trump administration to collect data that proves higher education institutions aren’t considering race in admissions.
The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in Boston on Friday granting the preliminary injunction follows a lawsuit filed earlier this month by a coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general. It will only apply to public universities in plaintiffs
The federal judge said the federal government likely has the authority to collect the data, but the demand was rolled out to universities in a “rushed and chaotic” manner.
“The 120-day deadline imposed by the President led directly to the failure of NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) to engage meaningfully with the institutions during the notice-and-comment process to address the multitude of problems presented by the new requirements,” Saylor wrote.
President Donald Trump ordered the data collection in August after he raised concerns that colleges and universities were using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which he views as illegal discrimination.
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges could still consider how race has shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays.
The states argue the data collection risks invading student privacy and leading to baseless investigations of colleges and universities. They also argued that universities have not been given enough time to collect the data.
“The data has been sought in such a hasty and irresponsible way that it will create problems for universities,” a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Michelle Pascucci, told the court, adding that the effort seem was aimed at uncovering unlawful practices.
The Education Department has defended the effort, arguing taxpayers deserve transparency on how money is spent at institutions that receive federal funding.
The administration’s policy echoes settlement agreements the government negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade-point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The schools also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public.
The National Center for Education Statistics is to collect the new data, including the race and sex of colleges’ applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said the data, which was originally due by March 18, must be disaggregated by race and sex and retroactively reported for the past seven years.
If colleges fail to submit timely, complete and accurate data, the administration has said McMahon can take action under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which outlines requirements for colleges receiving federal financial aid for students.
The Trump administration separately has sued Harvard University over similar data, saying it refused to provide admissions records the Justice Department demanded to ensure the school stopped using affirmative action. Harvard has said the university has been responding to the government’s requests and is in compliance with the high court ruling against affirmative action. On Monday, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights directed Harvard to comply with the data requests within 20 days for face referral to the U.S. Justice Department.
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David West raised four kids in Los Angeles working as a Hollywood cinematographer — no mean feat in such a pricey city. But a few years ago, his life took a hard turn.
“Everything went south. Divorce. My brother died,” he said. “My dog died.” On top of that, a string of clients who’d hired him for decades also passed away.
Before long, he’d burned through cash and damaged his credit. He moved to Fresno, Calif., and now, at 72, West is in a situation he never imagined at this stage of life but one that more and more older people are facing: renting a room in the home of a complete stranger.
“I tried to move, like, an apartment’s worth of stuff into a room,” he said with a laugh at how impossible it seemed. “You know, how do you do that? I still haven’t figured it out.”
West looked into a housing subsidy, but his income is just over the limit, so he’s grateful for the cost savings of a house share. His roommate, also an older man, covers Wi-Fi, utilities and cable. West volunteers his photography skills at the church where the man is involved and shares his Costco membership.
“It’s that give-and-take thing,” he said. “It’s trying to help each other out as much as possible.”
David West while working on a documentary in Brazil.
David West
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David West
Roommates are skewing older
The high cost of housing means more people are being priced out of not only owning a home but also renting alone. The share of adults 65 and over looking to rent with a roommate has tripled in the past decade, according to the listings site SpareRoom.
“They’re not the biggest group of roommates, but they’re by far the fastest growing,” said the site’s communications director, Matt Hutchinson.
SpareRoom finds that roommates in general are skewing older. Young people are living with their parents longer, unable to afford moving out or simply trying to save up. Meanwhile, more people in their 50s, 60s and older are unable to make it on their own.
“Maybe 10 years ago they’d have looked at a one-bed or a studio and thought, ‘Well, I’ll rent that,’” Hutchinson said. Now “they’re looking at prices and going, ‘There’s no way I could afford that.’”
Baby boomers have been aging as housing costs across the U.S. have spiked. In 2023, more than a third of households headed by adults 65 and over struggled to pay housing costs, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, and the share is even bigger for women living alone.
“Older adults are more likely to be housing-cost burdened than working-age adults, and that gets more severe with age,” said Jennifer Molinsky, who researches aging and housing at the center. “It’s climbed up the income scale. So more and more, you know, middle-income people are struggling with housing costs than ever before.”
Older adults are also more likely to face major life events that can lead to financial strain. Caezilia Loibl, chair of the Consumer Sciences Program at Ohio State University, has researched the financial toll of chronic disease and the loss of a spouse at an older age.
“The shock is enormous,” she said, “and we see it very clearly in our data how the debt burden goes up and financial vulnerability goes up.” People were more likely to fall behind in debt payments, for example, see their credit score drop, file for bankruptcy and face foreclosure.
The upside of learning to live with less
Darla Desautel at an arboretum in Arizona. She appreciates not only the cost savings of a shared rental but also the flexibility to move to other places when she wants.
Darla Desautel
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Darla Desautel
Saving money may be the top reason that more older people are house-sharing. But some see other benefits.
“Oh, I think it’s wonderful. Maybe more of the way people used to live,” said Darla Desautel, who’s 74 and has rented with roommates for years, though she’s currently house-sitting in Minnesota.
She loves the flexibility of not being tied down and being able to move where she wants, and she thinks not living alone is healthier. She got along especially well with one roommate who also was an older woman.
“We had a lot in common, and that’s pretty special when that works out,” she said.
To be sure, there can be annoyances. One place was kept too cold in winter and too hot in summer. There can be smelly cat litter boxes or a roommate who talks on speakerphone in a common area. “Noise is huge. A lot of people think they’re quiet when they’re really not,” she said.
If she could afford it, Desautel said, she would rent solo, though “with a short-term lease.” But that would eat up more than half her income. In addition to receiving Social Security, she still works occasionally as a leadership consultant and coach, and she is a licensed secondhand dealer selling “other people’s junk.”
Desautel is proud that she has learned to whittle down possessions and live with less. “Right now I can move across country with 10 boxes shipped USPS and take a plane,” she said.
For now, that’s her plan, driving this time, to continue her house-sitting gig in Arizona for the summer. And when that ends, she’ll find her next roommate.
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