Meet B. Alexis, an inmate serving a 30-year sentence for murder who is making unofficial history as the first woman to release a full-length album from behind bars. She released her “9th and Gasoline” album and “Black Barbie” single on Freer Records.
Freer Records, a label that works with “prison-impacted” musicians, and Alexis have chosen to keep her real name and the location of her incarceration private to avoid potential retaliation from prison staff against inmates who make music.
Unlike others who have filmed videos on contraband cellphones and faced consequences, she has avoided that route, hoping her work can speak for itself without adding to the sentence she’s already serving.
“I think the pros are well worth any risks,” Alexis told The Marshall Project in a message relayed by her label. “Anything I endeavor to do concerning my music is out of integrity, so the risks or consequences don’t bother me.”
Alexis is one of a select group of artists involved in Freer Records’ bold initiative to amplify incarcerated voices through its “Die Jim Crow” movement, the label’s original name. Based in New York, Freer is currently the only label dedicated to working in prisons, collaborating with artists in Colorado, California, and an undisclosed third state.
BL Shirelle, the label’s co-executive director and producer of “9th and Gasoline,” said she had to learn how to navigate negotiations with correctional facilities to bring in recording equipment.
”They might put you in the gym or the janitors’ closet,” she said. “We build pretty impressive soundproof studios out of PVC pipe and old blankets.”
It was in 2019, when Freer—a nonprofit—was granted permission to hold auditions at Alexis’ facility, that the team was captivated by her undeniable talent and story. Alexis was only 17 when she shot and killed a woman four years after being forced into sex work at age 13, a lifestyle she raps about in her music.
”Women often glorify prostitution in music, but she wrote about genuinely trying to survive off her body, and it stuck with me for weeks,” Shirelle said. “She uses everything as a teachable moment and doesn’t feel sorry for herself.”
On the album, released in February 2026, Alexis confronts her past and personal trauma, from watching her son Ja’mir grow up behind prison walls to ultimately losing him to an unsolved homicide, while also offering messages of hope and healing.
On the lead single “Black Barbie,” she delivers a deeply introspective performance, seemingly speaking to a version of herself: “I see the hurt and pain you try to hide behind your eyes,” she raps.
To promote the track, the label used a Barbie doll from the year Alexis was born, creating a video where the doll breaks free from its packaging, sheds its clothes, and dances in liberation—only to be handcuffed and placed back inside.
”When I wrote ‘Black Barbie,’ I was in a place of feeling inadequate, like I could not measure up to the expectations of those around me,” Alexis shared. “I started thinking about the young women in my ‘hood who I thought had it all. I realized I really wasn’t too different from them. We all were trying to fake it ’til we made it.”
Despite Alexis’ face appearing on the album cover, she has not faced any retaliation from her facility, and both she and herhope it remains that way.
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