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 ...

From the moment that “Songs From the Hole” begins, it’s evident that it’s no ordinary film. The first voice you hear is Jacobs’, carried over the static of a jailhouse phone call as he describes the ...

Stay on top of what’s happening in the Bay Area with essential Bay Area news stories, sent to your inbox every weekday. The Bay Bay Area-raised host Ericka Cruz Guevarra brings you context and ...

Cast: Kellie Evans, Devonte Hoy, Myles Lassiter, James “JJ’88” Jacobs, Victor Benjamin, William Jacobs Jr., Janine Jacobs, Reneasha Jacobs, Jacqueline Williams ...

"'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 "Songs From the Hole," James "JJ '88" Jacobs (portrayed above by Devonte Hoy) chronicles the struggles that led to his incarceration with a staggering visual hip-hop album composed behind bars.