Former No Limit Records rapper Mac walked out of prison a free man after two decades behind bars.
Mac, real name McKinley Phipps Jr., was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 30 years in prison in the shooting death of 19-year-old Barron Victor Jr.
Mac insisted he was innocent of murder, and in 2015, five witnesses to the shooting claimed they had been coerced into naming him as the shooter at the time by investigating officers.
Mac was finally granted clemency in April, allowing him to argue his case for freedom before members of a state parole board, and on Tuesday, June 22, they voted in his favor.
He was released on parole on Tuesday night, and must now abide by a curfew, avoiding establishments where alcohol is served, and meeting weekly with his parole officer.
Mac, who is set to start working as a painter for a friend’s construction business, has also been ordered to perform six hours of community service a month with at-risk youth, according to NOLA.com.
Mac was a protege of hip-hop veteran Master P in the late 1990s, and is best known for his album, Shell Shocked, which hit number 11 on Billboard 200 chart.
He went on to drop World War III, his final album for No Limit Records before his 2000 arrest.
Rapper Killer Mike called in to WSB Radio’s “Word On the Street” on Wednesday night to celebrate Mac’s release. He shared that prosecutors used Mac’s rap lyrics to convict him.
Mike compared Mac’s legal situation to artists in other music genres, including Johhny Cash and Bob Marley, who sing about killing people, but whose lyrics weren’t used against them.
“If we let this stand, what you’re going to see is that tool is going to be used to wipe out an entire potential generation of [artists] out of our community,” Mike said in 2017.
Mike said he is donating money to Mac to help him get acclimated to the outside world after spending two decades behind bars. Mike also called on other rappers to donate to Mac.
