I subscribe to the WXPN World Cafe podcast and just finished listening to the one about John Forte. Like their other shows, they intersperse interviews between songs that the artist performs live. This one was particularly fascinating because John has quite the story to tell, which he does in equal measures of eloquence and wit in the interview.
To sum up: boy from Brooklyn raised by single mom gets scholarship to Exeter. Gets into music/A&R. Ends up producing & rapping on Fugees' The Score multi-platinum record. Makes lots of money. Spends it. Dropped by label. Gets into drug dealing to earn money. Gets caught, sentenced to 14 years. Sentence commuted by Pres Bush thanks to Carly Simon & Orrin Hatch. Now performing music, teaching & working with prisoners' charities.
I remember hearing about Pres. Bush commuting his sentence and thinking that it wasn't right for someone to not pay their dues because of their celebrity. I was wrong. Taught me a lesson of not judging without knowing the facts. There is no doubt about his guild however he's certainly contributing a lot more to society outside of prison than locked up. I hope he continues to make great music.
Pretty wild story right? He was in the class above me at Exeter. Didn't know him really but he was clearly talented and I'm not surprised he found success in music. I was certainly shocked when I heard about his prison sentence, and his commutation.
Posted by: twitter.com/PierreSmack | December 23, 2009 at 01:22 PM