— At 15, he took a life. Three days later, his brother’s life was taken. A moving chronicle of forgiveness, family, and the transformative power of art, SONGS FROM THE HOLE weaves music and mixed-media storytelling into an innovative documentary visual album arriving on Netflix on August 13th.
Through clear-eyed narration and lyrical journal entries, incarcerated musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs reveals his innermost struggles as a person who has both committed and experienced violent harm. While serving a double-life prison sentence, he searches for healing and peace as he comes of age in this documentary-musical odyssey composed behind bars.
In a unique creative process director Contessa Gayles (The Feminist on Cellblock Y, Founder Girls, The Debutantes) collaborated with protagonist/writer JJ’88 and producer/music producer Richie Reseda to interweave the collective storytelling of the film’s non-fiction participants, with imagined memories, dreams and spiritual dialogues set to JJ’88’s original music. The result is a powerful mix of truth-telling and dreaming that reveal the potential for healing and liberation within us all.
Director: Contessa Gayles
Songs Written and Performed by: JJ’88
Writers: JJ’88, Contessa Gayles
Producers: Contessa Gayles, Richie Reseda, David Felix Sutcliffe
Co-Producer: JJ’88
Executive Producers: Jenny Raskin, Lauren Haber, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Regina K. Scully, Meadow Fund, Dream Hampton
Production Companies: Cocomotion Pictures and Question Culture
About the Songs From The Hole EP:
Songs from the Hole EP is a 13 track melodic testament to survival and transformation releasing alongside the Netflix Original Film of the same title on August 13, 2025.
Originally written and recorded by JJ’88 in prison while serving a life sentence that began at age 15, it was later reproduced by Richie Reseda, Dylan Wiggins, and Tairiq Bright & Garfield Bright III of Twiin Towers, keeping the original prison vocals. The EP is executive produced by Richie Reseda, JJ’88 and Rahael Asfaw for Question Culture. Gritty and vulnerable, the EP is a real-life hood-healing story — one that can only be told by someone who lived it.
Stay tuned for more news on the upcoming film.