Navigating Freedom is a podcast made by The Uncuffed Project. Think if Ear Hustle, This American Life, and Radiolab all got together to make a Piñata. Or whatever analogy you prefer, make a pizza?

The show focuses on the stories, lives, and event of people in and around California’s prisons and is made by a small team of producers on the inside and outside. Interviews, field pieces, music —sonically dense stories that cut through the fog and walls that separate us from each other. It’s a show about freedom, whatever that means.

This episode of Navigating Freedom profiles two sets of friendships.

The first is MC Hammer and Vincent ‘Paps’ Rones. When Hammer blew up he needed a friend to help him tour and stay sane. His buddy Vincent stepped up and went around the world with him but the fairy tale ended and Vincent landed in prison.

The second story is about two friends who came up in LA, made a lot of money, and fell from grace in two very different ways. They both went to prison but one got out while the other just can’t seem to pass parol.

https://www.theuncuffedproject.org/