Great things come out of the Chi-town hustle.
Grammy-nominated rapper and Chicago native Vic Mensa has reportedly joined forces with his friend and fellow rapper Hundred Round Kado to launch Books Before Bars, a program to send books to incarcerated people in Illinois jails to liberate them.
As reported by BLACK ENTERPRISE, Mensa jumped into the cannabis business earlier this year when he launched his company 93 Boyz, the first Black-owned cannabis company in Illinois.
Books Before Bars is reportedly the first program under Mensa’s 93 Boyz. According to the company’s Instagram, books sent to the incarcerated are selected from a reading list curated by 93 Boyz.
“The goal of Books Before Bars is to bring liberation and freedom to people who are incarcerated through literature because I believe strongly that when you change your inner reality, you begin to influence your external reality,” Mensa shared in a recent interview.
Books Before Bars was inspired by the years Mensa spent sending his friends literature while they were incarcerated
. Hundred Round Kado was included in that list of friends, and Mensa reportedly sent over 40 books to the rapper for nine months.“As I was in the free world, just trying to find some mental freedom and I’m reading these books, Kado was in the opposite,” Mensa said.
“He’s locked down but we’re both coming to some realizations at the same time through the same set of books. I just thought it was really profound to see how at the same time I was making this radical shift in my energy out here.”
Hundred Round Kado discussed his transformation in the interview, sharing that reading led him to become a businessman. The rapper shared that he found new business ventures beyond music, including owning a barbershop, hair salon, clothing store, studio, and art gallery.
“I attached myself to businesses that have more human interaction where I’m actually helping…My partner is really the reason I got into the business aspect of life and being a Black man,” Hundred Round Kado said.
“And just trying to make sure I have something to keep me going. Seeing Vic with SaveMoneySaveLife made me want to go and start my own nonprofit. I’ve been mentoring kids and whatever I learn I just pass it over right then and there.”
If you have loved ones incarcerated, Vic Mensa encourages you to send information to booksbeforebars@93boyz.com.