Blab Entertainment
From San Quentin to Studio: Antwan "Banks" Williams Releases Tribute Album After Prison Release
When Antwan “Banks” Williams was paroled from San Quentin in 2019, he didn’t simply walk back into the music scene—he walked into a studio and into the heart of his father’s legacy.
The former inmate, who helped launch the Ear Hustle podcast while behind bars, has now dropped Chapter 36 the Tribute. The new rap record, which opens with the intimate track “Like Father Like Son,” was finished after his release and is a sonic homage to a father he had known only through a single letter during 13 years of incarceration.
Williams’s roots run deep in the Bay Area. In 2006, an armed‑robbery conviction sent him to San Quentin, where he teamed up with fellow inmate Earlonne Woods and artist Nigel Poor to create Ear Hustle—a podcast that used the prison’s own soundscape to give listeners a raw, immersive glimpse inside the facility. The show earned a Radiotopia Podquest award in 2016 and became the first podcast entirely produced from inside a correctional environment.
After his release, Williams kept making music, but he shifted from chasing a record deal to using songwriting as therapy. He once said, “I really, really wanted to be that artist who signed a record deal from prison,” a deal that never materialized. Woods later suggested that Williams’s uplifting style—contrasting the “gutter” aesthetic that dominates much of the genre—may have played a role.
His father, a pianist and guitarist who abandoned musical ambitions for a post‑office job, struggled with addiction and left a lasting impact on Williams. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, Williams recalled his father’s battle with substance abuse and the isolation that came with it. During his 13‑year stay behind bars, Williams received only one letter from his dad.
Reconnection came after his parole. The two listened together to Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire, a shared moment that inspired the soul‑and‑funk samples that define Chapter 36 the Tribute. Williams said, “I would close my eyes and try to tap into his energy.” The album is not a romanticized portrait; it confronts the complexity of their relationship and offers grace: “I don’t know everything that was put in front of him, what it’s like to be addicted. Who am I to shame him? I give my father grace.”
The single “Like Father Like Son” captures Williams’s grief and gratitude. While recording, he cried, and his four‑year‑old son comforted him with a hug—an act that helped Williams break a long‑standing cycle of emotional distance inherited from his own father.
Chapter 36 the Tribute fits into a larger trend that leverages creative tools to aid rehabilitation. Williams’s story shows how access to music‑production software and mentorship can offer inmates constructive outlets and a smoother path to reentry. The Ear Hustle podcast continues to thrive from San Quentin, remaining a platform for incarcerated voices.
The album is currently available through the newsletter Redemption Songs, which releases a new track each Sunday until September. No touring or additional releases have been announced.
The project underscores the transformative power of arts programs in correctional settings and the personal healing that can arise when former inmates are given the means to express themselves creatively.
The former inmate, who helped launch the Ear Hustle podcast while behind bars, has now dropped Chapter 36 the Tribute. The new rap record, which opens with the intimate track “Like Father Like Son,” was finished after his release and is a sonic homage to a father he had known only through a single letter during 13 years of incarceration.
Williams’s roots run deep in the Bay Area. In 2006, an armed‑robbery conviction sent him to San Quentin, where he teamed up with fellow inmate Earlonne Woods and artist Nigel Poor to create Ear Hustle—a podcast that used the prison’s own soundscape to give listeners a raw, immersive glimpse inside the facility. The show earned a Radiotopia Podquest award in 2016 and became the first podcast entirely produced from inside a correctional environment.
After his release, Williams kept making music, but he shifted from chasing a record deal to using songwriting as therapy. He once said, “I really, really wanted to be that artist who signed a record deal from prison,” a deal that never materialized. Woods later suggested that Williams’s uplifting style—contrasting the “gutter” aesthetic that dominates much of the genre—may have played a role.
His father, a pianist and guitarist who abandoned musical ambitions for a post‑office job, struggled with addiction and left a lasting impact on Williams. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, Williams recalled his father’s battle with substance abuse and the isolation that came with it. During his 13‑year stay behind bars, Williams received only one letter from his dad.
Reconnection came after his parole. The two listened together to Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire, a shared moment that inspired the soul‑and‑funk samples that define Chapter 36 the Tribute. Williams said, “I would close my eyes and try to tap into his energy.” The album is not a romanticized portrait; it confronts the complexity of their relationship and offers grace: “I don’t know everything that was put in front of him, what it’s like to be addicted. Who am I to shame him? I give my father grace.”
The single “Like Father Like Son” captures Williams’s grief and gratitude. While recording, he cried, and his four‑year‑old son comforted him with a hug—an act that helped Williams break a long‑standing cycle of emotional distance inherited from his own father.
Chapter 36 the Tribute fits into a larger trend that leverages creative tools to aid rehabilitation. Williams’s story shows how access to music‑production software and mentorship can offer inmates constructive outlets and a smoother path to reentry. The Ear Hustle podcast continues to thrive from San Quentin, remaining a platform for incarcerated voices.
The album is currently available through the newsletter Redemption Songs, which releases a new track each Sunday until September. No touring or additional releases have been announced.
The project underscores the transformative power of arts programs in correctional settings and the personal healing that can arise when former inmates are given the means to express themselves creatively.
