FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wrongfully convicted artist EL BENTLY 448 to release his debut EP INNOCENT BORN GUILTY.
Die Jim Crow Records / June 26th 2023
“I have emerged from the tomb of prison with this message,” says Leon Benson aka EL BENTLY 448.
In 1999, as the world rushed towards a new millennium and Y2K, what many thought would be a global apocalypse, Leon Benson was facing his own personal calamity.
He was 22 years-old, and had just been sentenced to sixty years in the Indiana prison system for a murder he did not commit.
Now, twenty-five years later, EL BENTLY 448 shares his survivor’s journey on his groundbreaking album INNOCENT BORN GUILTY. On the date of the album’s release, true-crime podcast Suspect, the hit series with over 30 million downloads, will premier its third season on Amazon Music, entirely focused on Benson’s case.
In March 2023, EL BENTLY 448 was exonerated and released from prison after being wrongfully convicted of murder one, and serving twenty-five years. Ten of those years he spent in solitary confinement.
Leon's case was championed by The Racial Justice Clinic at the University of San Francisco and led by all-star attorney and author Lara Bazelon.
EL BENTLY 448 (center) on the day of his release with supporters and legal team. Photo: Fury Young for DJC Records.
The Indiana Department of Corrections denied Die Jim Crow access to record music with EL BENTLY 448 several times since the label and artist connected in 2014. So EL BENTLY 448 found a way to record without them while he was in prison. His covertly recorded vocals were taken by DJC and built into an astounding EP with additional production in the free world.
INNOCENT BORN GUILTY is an explosive Hip-Hop record full of poetry, philosophy, world history, and inspired by Black-led social justice movements. Musically, EL BENTLY 448 is a prophetic lyricist and uniquely emotional performer, capturing the radical energy of artists such as 2Pac or DMX.
This is in full evidence on EL BENTLY 448’s song “INNOCENT” which he wrote in 2012 while in solitary confinement.
He took a solitary cell meant for sensory deprivation, and transformed it into “a place I had to heal, learn, and grow.”
His song “MURDADAWORLD” is a look into the valleys of despair and anger that come with the heavy burden of being wrongfully convicted and having decades of your life taken away.
In many ways, EL BENTLY 448’s story is a classic American one. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, the rate of wrongful convictions in the U.S. is estimated to be somewhere between 2% and 10%. With a prison population of about 2.3 million, there could be anywhere between 46,000 to 230,000 innocent people incarcerated at any given time.
INNOCENT BORN GUILTY is a score for exoneration, a soundtrack for freedom fighters, and a call to action for those unjustly incarcerated.
EL BENTLY 448 also transcends his role as emcee and musician. He is a powerful public speaker, activist, poet and spiritual warrior, with a message both inspirational and inclusive.
EL BENTLY 448 says of his music and message, "This is for those of you who have been through hell and overcame it. We are the ones who have been tested by the trials of life. Our spirits are refined through our afflictions, struggles, and hardships.
Age, gender, race, religion, non-religion, and nationality does not matter compared to one's experiences, and the life lessons learned from them.”
Since his release, EL BENTLY 448 has spoken at the 2023 Innocence Conference and been featured on SiriusXM’s Clay Cane Show, The Streets Don’t Love You Back, and Shadowproof.
Upcoming Dates:
6/30 - Philly Release Party, Eastern State Penitentiary @ 8:30 P
7/1 - NYC Release Party, Footlight Presents @ 8:30P
INNOCENT BORN GUILTY. JUNE 26.
About Die Jim Crow Records
Die Jim Crow Records is the first record label in the United States for prison-impacted musicians. Its mission is to dismantle stereotypes around race and prison in America by amplifying their artists.
DJC has become an international movement with features in the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, BBC, Washington Post, Grammys.com, Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, WNYC, Philadelphia Inquirer, Interview Magazine, Colorado Public Radio, Arte TV France, KCRW, FLOOD Magazine and The Wire among many others.
DJC is supported by a wide network of donors, including Art for Justice, Robert & Maurine Rothschild Foundation, Ford Foundation, Wyomissing Family Foundation, New Music USA, Newport Folk Festival Foundation and Lucy Dacus, Resist, and independent listeners worldwide.
