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Every year we celebrate Black History Month on our National Prison Radio show Free Flow by hosting a freestyle rap challenge. This October, we’re asking for ‘bars’ on this year’s Black History Month theme: ‘Reclaiming Narratives’ from people both inside prison, and people on the outside.
Free Flow is our award-winning show hosted by the poet, author and broadcaster Lady Unchained in partnership with the literacy charity, the Shannon Trust. It is the instrumental show where Lady Unchained “plays the beat twice, so you can get your bars right.“
She plays instrumentals to National Prison Radio listeners, encouraging them to write and perform lyrics along to the music. Listeners then call National Prison Radio’s freephone voicemail to record their bars, and Lady Unchained gives feedback and encouragement.
We do this in the hope that it will encourage people to pick up a pen and use the power of creativity to get through the daily challenges of being in prison, and get their emotions out in a healthy way, just like Lady Unchained did whilst she was serving her sentence back in 2008.
Writing completely changed Lady Unchained’s life whilst she was inside and since her release she’s continued to utilise it as a tool to cope through life’s toughest journey’s.
She hopes that people in jail will be able to find their voice through writing. An example of this is Darren, Free Flow inspired him to write 130 poems whilst inside. You can read all about Darren’s story here.
Last year we followed the Black History Month theme of ‘Saluting our Sisters‘ with the help of Lauryn Hill and Ali from National Prison Radio’s Porridge Show. You can listen to Ali’s freestyle below:
This year we are asking YOU to reclaim narratives through your bars and we chose to use Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ instrumental.
This year’s Black History Month theme is about taking ownership of the stories that define Black people’s culture, contributions, and identity. It is a chance for Black communities across the UK to reclaim their stories and how their history is told, as for far too long it has been narrated by others, leading to distorted portrayals that fail to capture the full breadth and depth of Black people’s experiences.
To enter into this Freestyle Challenge, rap over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ instrumental and send it to the Free Flow Instagram page, which can be found here.
At the end of the month Lady Unchained and producer Arthur will make one giant Black History Month freestyle that Free Flow can play on National Prison Radio to those still inside, to inspire them.
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National Prison Radio is the world’s first national radio station for people in prison. It’s available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on in-cell TV.
Free Flow is our rap instrumental show. We play the beats, listeners write the words and award-winning poet and presenter Lady Unchained gives her feedback. Delivered in partnership with the Shannon Trust. Free Flow broadcasts every Saturday at 17:00, Monday at 21:00 and Wednesday at 8:00 on National Prison Radio and reaches over 80,000 people behind bars across England and Wales.
National Prison Radio was founded by the Prison Radio Association – a registered charity. Shows like Free Flow help people to cope with life inside prison and thrive on release. If you would like to support our work, and enhance the futures of people in prison across the UK you can make a donation at prison.radio/donate.