Lil Boosie spoke to XXL exclusively from inside the walls of the notorious Angola prison in Louisiana.

Fighting a charge of murder in the first degree and a possibility of facing the death penalty, Boosie voiced his frustrations about being locked up.

“Some days I’m maintaining, but I’m missing my family and the life I had out there,” Boosie told XXL. “My first seven months I was in population, but since June I’ve been on 23-hour lockdown.”

“They said they’re trying to protect me because of who I am,” he continued. “They got people get stabbed here, killed here. Pretty rough people here. A lot of rats here, snitches."

Making matters tougher, the imprisoned rapper is being linked to five murders by East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore.

“[I'm here] ’cause of the songs I made, before I was indicted, about the police in Baton Rouge and what’s going on here,” he said. “There’s a lot with our record label, that the system don’t like… They took my hard drive out of my house after I got arrested. I have albums for days in there. They still haven’t returned it. They’ve had it for damn near a year now. I need that music.”

The rapper behind the 2007 hit  “Wipe Me Down” is keeping hope that he could taste freedom soon. And if he’s able to, he plans on changing his life.

“I’m leaving Louisiana the first day I get out of prison,” Boosie said. “I’m a major target down here. I’ll thank God for everything and get back to the money.” —Ben Westhoff

Stay tuned for our exclusive full-length interview interview with Lil Boosie in XXL's forthcoming July/August issue.

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