Corey Miller a.k.a. rapper C-Murder has been back in the limelight recently due to new music he’s released—and the exact conditions under how that music is being recorded.
Miler’s new song “Dear Supreme Court” seems to include lyrics that talk about his recent appeal denial, in addition to a music video accompanying the song, all while being locked up in prison.
Currently an inmate at Angola Prison in Louisiana, reports of an investigation by government officials as to how this new material was being made began to surface, as the creation of recorded music and videos inside prison facilities is strictly prohibited.
With a new collaborative album, Penitentiary Chances, with the recently freed Boosie Badazz set to be released on April 15 (which will be made available on J-Pay so inmates can stream a copy for themselves), C-Murder and his team wanted to set the record straight in regards to how, when, and why the music was made and is being released.
In an exclusive interview with The Source, we spoke to C-Murder’s trusted friend and producer of this new music, MoneyBeats, about how the album came to be and why he’s chosen now to make some noise.
How did the new record and new album come to be?
When we linked up with C, we started doing a lot of things while on house arrest. He had a lot of allegations against him and he kind of already knew what was going on. He decided to put it into his music. It was more of a ‘just in case,’ more of a prediction of what may happen with his conviction. He said if he does go this route, he was going to put the music out and call it Penitentiary Chances. It was amazing, he came up with this whole album. He’s a genius, a mastermind when it comes to his art and his craft and his music. He poured his heart out to the album. He wanted to get Boosie involved because he was going through the same thing at the same time. We had to catch Boosie when he got in so we could make it work. We worked on a lot more music when he was on house arrest outside of what’s on Penitentiary Chances so there’s even more to come.
Give us a little bit of timeline as far as the music making. People seem to be confused of when music was made, versus when it actually came out. Was all of this music made while C-Murder was out on house arrest?
It was around 2008, 2009, prior to his conviction. We started on it and worked on it all the way up until he got convicted and then couldn’t do anymore with his vocals. We took vocals where we could and put it together; that’s what we do as producers. We had C’s vocals from before we even met him and some old music that we used. He knew the music needed to be made. We took previously recorded stuff, pieced it together and polished it. That’s why it took so long to get the music out. It took Boosie getting out for us to complete the album and make it work. You can tell by the quality that it ain’t a jail record.
People are gonna say what they say. We still deal with the rumors of C having been murdered in prison. On the internet, people keep putting things out there. People are going to say what they’re going to say.
Another element of confusion about the music being released now is the fact that there is a music video to accompany the songs. A lot of people are wondering how that could be made when C is currently in jail. Was that previously recorded material also?
The video was actually done recently. He’s not even in the video, some people may think it’s him, but it’s not. It’s an actor playing him, that’s why we really don’t show the face shots, you just get glimpses of the back of a head. He wasn’t able to be present because he’s currently in Angola.
The news headlines say government officials are looking into how and when this music and these videos were made. Is that true? Is there really an investigation or is that just word on the street?
It’s never gotten back to me in that kind of way. No one has showed up at my house asking me about it. It could possibly get to that point if they’re really trying to hate. The cool thing is we’re in the clear, we know when we recorded it and where we recorded it. I have the files with the dates on it and everything. It all works out. We’re all watching this unfold but we know what’s true. The more they try to dig into the case is better for us because we know he’s innocent. They need to look into his case more so he can get out. It looks like they took some he said, she said and ran with it. He shouldn’t be there in the first place.
So you think this potential probe could even help his case in the long run?
Yeah. A lot of people speak on his case just because of his name. They act like they know what they’re talking about but they never looked into it. They say, “Oh, hey killed somebody” but they don’t know anything. If they look deeper they’ll see things don’t add up.
Do you guys keep in touch with him on a regular basis about music and keep him posted on new developments?
We keep in touch with him as much as he can and make things happen. Even if it’s not about the rap, we keep in touch. He’s the homie. We talk to his family. I keep in touch with his manager as well. Sometimes he’ll relay a message from C to me. We always keep in touch with him about everything.
Do you think you’ll release more of the previously recorded songs out? We know you’re hoping he can get out of prison to make some more, but in the meantime, will you release the unheard material?
I’m currently working on his next project right now. We have a lot of songs. I have the hard drives and everything from C where we can put songs together. Even it’s something where it’s a matter of remixes. He has a lot of stuff where we could put out several albums.
What is one thing C-Murder wants the world to know?
One thing he wants the world to know is that he’s innocent and to keep on supporting. Stay “tru.” He takes his label TRU very seriously. If you’re TRU you know what it means, you’re gonna feel it. I can say Penitentiary Chances drops April 15, it’s going to be amazing. It’s the realist album of 2016. You can feel the emotion, you can feel the pain in it. A lot of music nowadays you don’t get that pain and emotion. Artists nowadays ain’t going through anything, they’re just doing it as an art and putting swag to it. C brings everything to it bringing the realness and emotion. Boosie did the same. Snoop did his thing too. We’re also presenting the new artists on the label on the record as well.
