The music video for “NYC’s Boldest” by Tay627, filmed at Rikers Island, sheds light on the ongoing issues within the American jailing complex. The video shows inmates being attacked, wielding homemade weapons, displaying head injuries, and engaging in activities such as purchasing weed from a makeshift dispensary using tape attached to a windowpane.
While the visual was released at the end of May, it gained renewed attention when Tony Yayo discussed it during his appearance on Drink Champs. Yayo highlighted the lack of control by the staff at Rikers Island, suggesting that the inmates themselves had a significant level of influence and control. He referenced scenes from the music video, where inmates appeared to operate a weed store and had access to knives. Yayo pointed out that these incidents were captured in the context of a music video but reflected real issues within the jail facility.
The recently released music video includes footage of Rikers Island’s floors being flooded, adding to the depiction of the challenging conditions within the facility. In 2021, New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, along with Representatives Jamaal Bowman, Jerry Nadler, and Nydia Velázquez, called for the closure of Rikers Island due to its inhumane conditions and what they described as a “gross mismanagement” of federal funds. Their call to action followed former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s prediction, made four years earlier, that Rikers Island would be shut down within a decade.
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