‘Songs From The Hole’ Review: A Hip-Hop Autobiography From Both Sides Of Prison Walls [SXSW]

Music, by and large, can be seen as autobiographical; it’s far from uncommon for songwriters not to draw from any number of personal experiences encompassing, say, the lows of heartbreak and loss to life’s triumphs, all of which and more could easily reside within the average person as distant memories but attain a sort of immortality once this narrative is set to music. It could be as trivial a moment as anything the average member of society undergoes with every passing day or something so defining it can’t help but warrant a transformation into song, and when the medium of video uses said music, does it change yet again? “Songs From The Hole” takes a straightforward approach to a sadly familiar, real-life tale, but enough distinctiveness makes its way to the screen that sets it apart from its visual music counterparts. READ MORE: SXSW 2024 Preview: 21 Films & Shows To Watch To call this a traditional documentary would hardly be accurate; instead, director Contessa Gayles utilizes interviews interspersed with reenactments set to music to tell the story of James “JJ’88” Jacobs, who in 2004 at the age of 15 was convicted of murder at around the same time his...