Before Books Before Bars, Mensa was already active in mailing books to his friends including fellow rapper Hundred Round Kado. For nine months, he sent close to 40 books. The selection featured “The Game of Life and How to Play It” by Florence Scovel Shinn.

Although the two friends were in two different physical spaces, they were both on a journey of shifting from negative to positive mindsets.

“As I was in the free world, just trying to find some mental freedom and I’m reading these books, Kado was in the opposite,” Mensa said. “He’s locked down but we’re both coming to some realizations at the same time through the same set of books. I just thought it was really profound to see how at the same time I was making this radical shift in my energy out here.”

Books Before Bars

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