Tory Lanez’s groundbreaking “Prison Tapes” series took a severe blow after a raid at the California Correctional Institution. The prison authorities, for an alleged breach of regulations barring inmates from owning recording gadgets, seized all music production tools belonging to Lanez.
The raid effectively marked the end of Lanez’s singular ability to produce and publish music from behind bars. Before the confiscation, the rapper had been generating headlines with his surprisingly professional tracks such as “Basement” and “Appellate Court,” which he recorded with the help of a technique that included the prison’s phone system.
It not only takes a toll on his continuous work for the “Prison Tapes” but may also potentially hamper Lanez’s ongoing music career. The legal team is yet to receive further information whether he will face additional consequences in lieu of this raid action. While Lanez had finally started gathering momentum with his prison-recorded music, this may narrow his scope of releasing new music anytime soon.
These setbacks don’t appear to stop his work from reaching the fans. Lanez recently reached over a billion streams on the single “The Color Violet.” While serving his time, high-profile artists, including Drake, have shown constant and relentless support: sticking by him through his case.
This raid has consequences further-reaching than affecting Lanez’s immediate ability to record. This throws into jeopardy the viability of musical projects he will be taking on during his time in prison-perhaps signaling the end of his “Prison Tapes” series, as it were. The question that lingers with fans and supporters alike now is whether that is really it or whether he will find a way to keep the music going, even while serving time.
