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Is there political power in a rap video?

Days after former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s youngest son, Jonas Kilpatrick, produced an emotional music video, entitled “Too Much Time,” which calls for Kilpatrick’s discharge from prison, Kilpatrick was abruptly transferred to a low-security federal prison in New Jersey this week.

Kilpatrick was transferred after more than four years from a medium-security prison in Oklahoma to the low-security prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Kilpatrick is serving 28 years in federal prison for crimes that included racketeering and mail fraud. He is scheduled to be released in 2037 — 19 years from now. He’ll be 67 years old when he walks out of prison.

Jonas, who goes by the name JoJo tha DoughBoi in the video, raps while standing in front of U.S. Supreme Court, which rejected Kilpatrick’s request for liberation.

“It’s too much time/ there was no crime … 28 year injustice/ black fathers sit in cells while their family out on crutches/ rig the system/ and they wonder why we holdin’ grudges,”  Kilpatrick raps while wearing a #freekwame shirt.

The rap video is a noble effort by Jonas to bring his father home sooner than later.

Perhaps Jonas’ passionate video persuaded prison officials to move Kilpatrick to a low-security prison where life behind bars might be a bit easier? The was no immediate explanation from prison officials for why Kilpatrick was moved, so perhaps the timing of Kilpatrick’s transfer and Jonas’ rap video was simply a coincidence.

A columnist for The Detroit News even speculated that Kilpatrick could be pardoned by President Donald Trump.

“I understand what my position as mayor meant to our community, and I know my reckless behavior disappointed people and, quite honestly, ripped apart a lot of people. My family and people’s hopes were ripped apart,” Kilpatrick told me in 2010. “I want people to know how sorry I am for letting them down.”

Maybe Kilpatrick is finally getting the break Jonas and his family is hoping for.

What do you think?

PHOTO: freekwameproject.com

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