Penitentiary Chances (Deluxe Edition)

Album Review

Since he got hit with a life sentence, C-Murder's prison albums have run the gamut from fascinating (2005's The Truest $#!@ I Ever Said) to forgettable (2009's Calliope Click). In 2014, he and fellow inmate Boosie Badazz dropped the mixtape track "Came2DaCan," a vicious, hooky attack on Master P and others who allegedly turn their backs on any incarcerated friends. Now 2016 finds Boosie on a roll with numerous conceptual releases, including this collaborative album with C-Murder, where "In the Pen" acts as "Came2DaCan"'s dire sequel. It's a monster highlight, but the key cut has to be the riveting "Dear Supreme Court," where C-Murder pleads to have his case reconsidered while giving the listener an insanely infectious song to boot. Later there's Snoop Dogg's appearance and clever cuts like "Miller Time," and while the Louisiana State Penitentiary investigates how these tapes made it out of the pen, there's still the bitter aftertaste that as C-Murder claims he's innocent in his compelling style, it doesn't change the fact that someone murdered the 16-year-old victim, Steve Thomas.