Starang Wondah from OGC’s, Fab 5 and BCC has always been a fan favorite. I frequently get questions from the public about where he’s been and what he’s been up to. As few may know, Starang has been serving an 18-month prison sentence in upstate PA for illegal drug possession. So, more importantly than when he will be releasing new music is when he will be released. While I won’t dive into the specifics of his case, Starang maintains his innocence and looks forward to appealing the charges when he comes home in mid August. At his request, we’ve managed to keep the situation under the radar for sometime. However, as he’s nearing the end of his sentence he’s agreed to let everyone know he’s doing ok.
I’ve always liked Starang. Not only as an artist, with his witty word play, clever punch lines and easy going flow, but equally for his friendship. Over the years we’ve spent countless nights in the studio, at hotels, or on tour busses having intense Madden battles, talking sports and girls, cracking jokes and just hanging out. For that, I genuinely have missed him and despite where I was headed, I was looking forward to my visit.
Starang has a verse in Boot Camp Clik’s song ‘Here We Come’ which candidly states ‘Dru Ha is my favorite White Boy…’ While it’s a line he borrowed from 50 referencing EM, I’ve always felt the words were sincere from him. It never was black and white for Starang. He knows and accepts my background (suburbs of NY, White Plains) as I do his (Brownsville, Brooklyn). Aside from a visit to Rikers Island juvenile ward for a BCC jailhouse sponsored performance, my experience with jails and jail visits has been limited. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.
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My visit was pre-cleared with the prison for 9AM Sunday morning, so I decided to head out on Saturday afternoon and make a night out of it. I drove west on route 80 for the 2.5-hour trip from NYC to just outside Hunlock Creek, PA. While driving and listening to rough mixes of Pete Rock and Smif N Wessun’s Monumental album, I took in the beauty of the landscape and found myself actually enjoying the ride. My mind drifted to Starang and how he must have felt when he was bussed to the facility. I would later learn that his transfer from county jail to state prison was in the midst of a winter blizzard. He was uncertain of where he was going or if they would even make it safely, quite a nerve-racking experience. The thought alone made me value my simple car ride to see him.
I researched a hotel I could find in the area with the shortest driving distance to the prison. The hotel room, while renovated, was small and smelled more like a nursing home than a 4-Star resort. Hard for me to justify complaining when what was now going through my mind was the jail where Starang was sleeping, just a short 15-minutes away.
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On Sunday morning I grabbed a quick breakfast and started my drive to the prison. The route to the penitentiary was surrounded with plush grass fields and trees budding their spring leaves in an array of
