Waterbury native Yung Gap sat down with Striped magazine to discuss prison reform, his case, and new music he’s working on while behind bars. In 2018 Gap was arrested for a pending criminal charge and sent to New Haven CC where he is awaiting trial. Because of COVID-19, his trial has been delayed, but he’s confident of his innocence and his codefendant already had his charges dropped. Gap said he’ll be out soon, and until then he’s filling notebooks with new music while he’s locked up.
Gap’s music documents his life as a misguided teen being raised in a rough neighborhood and forced to grow up fast. You can follow his songs chronologically, starting with his detailed account of his experience raising a daughter behind bars at Manson Youth Institute at 16 years old in “Left MYI”. He recounts feelings of betrayal by the criminal justice system after they assigned him a “special” Public Defender, a title that convinced McDaniel’s family they were in good hands to beat the charge. “We didn’t know any better,” he said. He incorporates a lot of his time in prison in his music. His song “Bid Conversations 2” opens with the recorded message from the prison telephone system Securus that inmate family members hear when they receive a phone call from prison. His story is genuine, and it exposes the deep socio economic problems that lurk behind street violence.
In 2017, Gap started blowing up in the local hip hop scene. He released “Ball Drop,” “Bid conversations” part 1 and 2, and “Left MYI (Meek Mill cover),” which collectively earned over 200k views. On YouTube, his music videos have seen tremendous success with “Trip to the bank,” “960 Story,” “Hard Times” and “Fed Watching (ft. AlbeeAl)” reaching over 1 million views collectively.
Although Gap only started blowing up in 2017, he’s had an interest in music since he was a child from watching his father enjoy the same type of music he’d later produce. “My dad growing up, he was into music heavy I used to see him rapping. I was always into music as a youngan, I had freestyles out when I was 6, 7 years old.” Gap told Striped.
His music tells the story of his life, which has been riddled with hardships and run ins with the law. When he was 15, he spent several months at Manson Youth Institute (MYI), then at 16 he spent 3 years at MYI where he earned his GED. As a young man facing a harsh penal system, Gap grew up fast and often had to fend for himself “I had to figure it out but I didn’t get the proper guidance I needed, I had a kid and stuff so I was trying to learn how to be a man from Manson youth.” Gap said. Gap got a public defender for his 3-year bid who urged him to take a plea instead of fighting the case. “When I was 16 I didn’t know better, my family didn’t know better, we got a special PD and she was saying she’d beat it for me. I was like yeah lets go to trial, she was like yeah take the deal. She made me feel like I wasn’t gunna get a win, so I just took it I didn’t know no better.” Public defenders are often underpaid and overworked, with some of them making minimum wage in counties across America. In Connecticut, the lowest salaries of PD’s have been reported at 15$/hr, and they’re tasked with handling hundreds of cases. Their personal stake in beating cases is low, which is why they often push for deals instead of fighting for the rights of their clients.
The experience inspired Gap to write “Left MYI” which uses Meek Mill’s beat from “Left Hollywood.” In “Left MYI” Gap tells his authentic story of being locked up and the emotional and physical hardships that came with it. He talks about the effects that prison has had on his daughter in the lyrics: “I done did so many bids my daughter thinks that’s where I live…I’m gunna change her life, show her rags to riches…sat me down for 3 years but I ain’t never giving up.” Gap says his inspiration is drawn directly from his life. “My inspiration for my music is my life. All the pain, from 23 I done been through a lot. I had a lot of lonely nights in the cell. I had to stand up and man up and my music I hear beats and they be crying to me and my heart be crying and I just put it on the pad when I started delivering it. It all came into perspective and they was fucking with it. I been rapping for a while they aint take it serious at first in the basement.” Behind bars, Gap is still writing his story. “I’ll fill a whole composition book and throw it out because I know I’ll write some more I’m a machine with it. I’m working on projects from here. I still got shit going on, I ain’t gunna let it stop me I’m to the moon with it.”
Gap is no stranger to the system and had some grievances to air about how prisons don’t rehabilitate inmates. “It’s fucked up man.” Gap said, “Like right now what I’m going through, they don’t do any rehabilitation, we ain’t got no programs we don’t go to church we’re just sitting around. They ain’t putting anything in place for us to be better. If someone goes home, what are they gunna do? they aint learn shit in jail. You can’t touch your girlfriend; you can’t see your family. This ain’t life.” Gap believes that allowing inmates more time to spend with their loved ones would make jail a little more fair “I’m not gunna say I got answers but I know from my experience if I was able to earn a day with my kids some in person or with my shorty a little something that humanizes the situation that would be good for people, we gunna do our time but aint really nothing you earning you aint got no goals you got nothing in here to look forward to, some different programs, basketball, intermural. “
Gap is spending time in New Haven CC, where only a few years ago Rob Talbot, a 33-year-old man suffering from mental and physical health issues, was killed after officers tackled him to the floor for not complying while in the shower. But Gap said he’s being treated better in New Haven compared to other prisons like Northern, a place that received a lot of complaints from inmates. “In New Haven my experience been better than Northern, that place wasn’t right. Walker wasn’t right. Here they’re a little better. They’re just Robocops. Most of the time the lieutenants are straight with us.”
Gap believes that his charges were motivated by police profiling. Gaining notoriety in hip hop has made him the target of police investigations. “I had terrible experiences with the police, just off the fact of my music getting bigger, I was expressing myself, they had a profile against me, if they see me out some where they’ll be like yo Gap, basically profiling me like he might have a weapon. To me that’s normal I expect that.” Additionally, the police listed Gap as a prime target in Waterbury. Gap commented “who do they think I am, America’s most wanted?” When he saw his name at the top of a police briefing, he was floored. “I feel like they been intentional in making me the face, making me the example, but I know for a fact I’ve been a target even when they had my first arrest they was showing the police briefing and my picture at the top, like damn who the hell do they think I am, I could be they’re son and I didn’t get why I was at the top of the board. I just try to share my story, give people my pain. I was always expressing myself in my music telling stories it was like a gift and a curse but I can’t say this situation aint come out of the music.”
After unsavory run ins with the police, and a recent arrest where his name was cleared, Gap has lost faith in the system “Instead of a thorough investigation, you guilty until proven innocent. When I first got arrested they charged me with a shooting I never even walked out the courthouse. They charged me first then checked the cameras later and dropped the charges, why didn’t they check them first? If that camera wasn’t in there to show I left the court house I’d be charged with that today. I’m confident that I’m innocent, but I’m not confident in the system. I’m tryna put hope in the system, but I don’t wanna think they’ll convict an innocent man but I’ve seen em do it before.”
Gap had a message for inmates who are going through the same struggles he is now:
I be having my days cuz I know how much potential I got but I tell myself imma get myself that greatest result by staying humble. When the light come at the end of the tunnel I’mma laugh it off once that bag comes.”
stripedmag.wordpress.com 
Thank u for sharing my sons story . His pain is real and his story is realer . Its also shines a light on the broken system . I am so proud of him and pray they stop using him a the poster child for gang violence because of his music and local rise as a rap artist . I pray that he says strong and have a fair trial
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