Influential Prison Songs

Take at look at this list of influential songs about prison, law enforcement, crime, and poverty. These songs are written by a variety of musicians from a variety of music genres ranging from country music to rock to hip-hop and blues.

In no particular order:

I Fought the Law
The Clash – 1976
(first recorded in 1959 by Sonny Curtis and The Crickets)

99 Problems
Jay Z – 2003

Folsom Prison Blues
Johnny Cash – 1957

Hurricane
Bob Dylan – 1975

Locked Up
Akon – 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzYERFmGURg

Runnin (Dyin’ to live)
Tupac & Biggie

Take this Hammer (written of his experience escaping from a chain gang in Texas in 1915)
Leadbelly

Riot in cellblock #9
Wanda Jackson – 1961

Chain Gang
Sam Cooke – 1961

Angola Bound
Aaron Neville -2002
http://www.rhapsody.com/aaron-neville/20th-century-masters-the-millennium-collection/angola-bound/lyrics.html

Midnight Special (originally written and recorded by Leadbelly – performed here by folk legend Odetta Holmes)
Odetta Holmes

They Don’t Really Care about Us
Michael Jackson – 1996