Netflix unveild Songs From The Hole, a powerful music-driven documentary about redemption, healing, and the journey of an incarcerated artist.
Netflix is set to debut a deeply personal and innovative documentary, Songs From the Hole, on August 13, 2025. Directed by Contessa Gayles and written in collaboration with incarcerated musician James “JJ’88” Jacobs, the film blends storytelling, music, and raw emotion to deliver a unique documentary visual album rooted in trauma, healing, and redemption.
Songs From the Hole explores JJ’88’s life after taking a life at the age of 15—only to lose his brother to violence just three days later. Now serving a double-life sentence, JJ’88 reflects on his painful past and his path toward healing through narration, lyrical journal entries, and original songs written and performed from behind bars.
The film showcases a groundbreaking creative process. Gayles—known for The Feminist on Cellblock Y, Founder Girls, and The Debutantes—worked closely with JJ’88 and producer richie reseda to weave together interviews, dreamlike sequences, spiritual imagery, and non-fiction storytelling. The result is an emotionally gripping tapestry that captures both lived reality and imagined memory.
Adding to the emotional weight of the film is the original Songs From the Hole EP, also releasing on August 13. Featuring 13 tracks, the EP was written and recorded by JJ’88 during his incarceration, with his original vocals preserved. The songs were later reproduced by reseda, Dylan Wiggins, and Tairiq & Garfield Bright III of Twiin Towers.
Earlier this week, JJ’88 dropped the EP’s lead single “Here Now,” a soulful track created during his visit to the Santa Cruz redwoods, just miles from the prison where he first recorded the album. “It’s a declaration of my arrival to the free world and my music dreams,” JJ’88 shared. The boom-bap infused single was produced by Tariq Bright and Garfield Bright and sets the tone for a record steeped in vulnerability, truth, and transformation.
Songs From the Hole is produced by Cocomotion Pictures and Question Culture, with production credits including David Felix Sutcliffe, richie reseda, and Contessa Gayles, and executive producers Jenny Raskin, Lauren Haber, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Regina K. Scully, Meadow Fund, and dream hampton.
The film and EP stand as an unforgettable testament to one man’s fight to reclaim his narrative through art—and the universal power of storytelling to inspire healing.
Add Songs From the Hole to your Netflix “My List” and stream it beginning August 13.