Hey, Ari Shapiro here. It's Sunday, which means we have a bonus episode for you.

It's a story about Mac Fips, the New Orleans rapper and one-time star on Masterpiece No Limit

Records, who wound up as a convicted felon for a crime he says he didn't commit.

NPR's podcast, Louder Than a Riot, unraveled that story last year. They investigated how

Mac's lyrics were used to prosecute him, despite a lack of physical evidence,

and the fact that someone else confessed to the crime. Well, now there's a new twist.

After serving 21 years and one day, Mac's case went before the Louisiana Clemencey Board,

and his hip-hop career was essentially put on trial again.

The hosts of Louder Than a Riot, Sydney Madden, and Rodney Carmichael take it from here.

Heds Up Before We Begin. This podcast is explicit.

Hey y'all, it's Rodney. And Sydney. And we're back for a special episode of Louder Than a Riot

to catch you up on the case of McKinley Mac Fips, one of the artists we profiled in Season 1 of

Our Show, who spent the last 21 years incarcerated. Mac was an artist on the No Limit label when he

was convicted of manslaughter and connection to a nightclub shooting back in 2000. The crime,

he, and many others say he didn't commit. But you got to know Mac's story in order to understand

why his conviction was so tragic. And it all starts with Mac as a hip-hop prodigy grown up in New Orleans.

He was always like the best freestyle in the city. Mac was kind of like New Orleans version of

Nas. It's flowed the intelligence that he had behind his ride. You know what I'm saying? Like

it was very thoughtful, it was very profound. And the next thing we know, Mac get inside

a No Limit. Mac was probably one of the best artists ever came to No Limit.

He was talking about murder, murder, kill, kill, like do like what you're doing.

We did a few shows at the club where Sadie's at. He was getting later in the night. People were

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