WELCOME OUR NEWEST BOARD MEMBER… COACH ROC 🏀🎵🍇
Longtime FREER affiliate Raphael “Coach Roc” Jefferson joins our Board of Directors! BL Shirelle sat down with Roc to get to know more about his foundation Rich Roots, his passions, and what he brings to the table as a board member here at FREER Records!
Coach Roc & his dog Monstar.
Roc Rilla - “Better Way”
BL Shirelle: Share with the people who our newest board member is!
Roc: The newest board member for FREER Records is me — Coach Raphael Jefferson, formerly known as Roc Rilla. It's been an exciting few years collaborating and working with the brand, but to now sit on the board and be able to make decisions and add input… it's humbling, and I'm really grateful to be at the table. I have a lot to offer — me formerly being incarcerated, I fight hard for this population, and I couldn't think of a better space to do it in.
BL Shirelle: Straight out the gate — what’s your biggest critique of FREER Records right now? What do you want to come in and help us with?
Roc: My biggest critique straight out the gate is the digital presence. Digital footprints and social media presence are major. It's the population that we're actually trying to engage — there’s a whole world of people in New York City who don’t know about FREER Records. More awareness would bring credibility and manpower to the brand. This is how you do it: you cross borders, you cross communities. What I bring and what my team brings — we already have our finger on that pulse. My critique is definitely more awareness of what the program really is and what it offers.
Coach Roc in the studio.
Roc & 2 of his 6 siblings. (Top Left)
Roc’s Children’s Book “Little Roc’s Life Lessons”.
BL Shirelle: Agreed. Can you give me your background — where you’re from, time you did, how you spent your time while you were down?
Roc: I was born in Brooklyn, moved to the South Bronx at five after a house fire — Ghost Town, 166th & Washington Ave. Oldest of six or seven kids, so the house was always crowded. As a teenager, it wasn’t fun being in the house, so I jumped off the porch early. I always had leadership skills — I wasn’t following anybody. I was the leader of a little junkyard gang, just a bunch of boys that followed me around.
We did wild stuff. Somebody showed me how to make homemade bombs with Drano, so of course I showed my crew. We’d run the streets, playing with matches, doing dumb things kids with no supervision do. It started small — robbing the Chinese man, the pizza guy — then it grew. We started hitting grocery stores. The crimes kept elevating until my last heist: an armed robbery with hostages right in the heart of Manhattan. High profile. Nobody got hurt, thank God, but it got me seven years.
I did about two and a half years fighting the case on Rikers Island and five up north in the max. I came home August 1, 2019. Day one, I was brought to Exodus Transitional Community — and honestly, that saved me. I didn’t have those weeks or months of being lost out here. I walked right into a space full of credible mentors. My CEO had done 12 years in prison. My boss was system-impacted. So I couldn’t use the “nobody understands me” excuse. That environment grounded me.
Working with Exodus gave me a ton of training. They sent me back to college. I got cleared to work in Rikers with the same population I’d just left. That was surreal. Two years later, after being a credible messenger and peace broker for Exodus, I filed my paperwork and created Rich Roots, Rich Fruits.
Here’s why: Exodus wasn’t built for children. If you were 12 or 13 with nowhere to go, you couldn’t just walk in. But I had those kids with me anyway — 12-year-olds running around that building. I sat in evaluation meetings. I almost lost my job more than once. But I knew they needed a safe space. So I said, “You know what? I’m gonna create Rich Roots.” We originally started in the park.
(Rich Roots, Rich Fruits is Roc’s foundation. Their mission is to create transformative educational experiences that inspire creativity, foster community connections, and empower the next generation of leaders.)
Coach Roc & his Ghostown Spartans.
“It’s easier to be a podcaster than it is to be a foot soldier.”
Coach Roc
Roc: In 2023, I resigned from Exodus. I became a NY Department of Education vendor, and a principal hit me up out of the blue, saw me on the list, and offered me a $20,000 independent contract to bring my program into the school. I was floored. Since then, it’s been this independent tunnel — building our network and expanding our impact.
Now it’s wraparound services: mentorship, healing circles, workforce development, year-round programming — not just summer ball. Two days ago, I got approved to be a vendor for special-needs kids too. That’s new territory for me, but they need movement and community just as much as anybody. And that brings us to the present day.
BL Shirelle: You’re also an artist. Can you speak to the power of music for the incarcerated, and why this work is necessary?
Roc: I know it may sound cliché, but music is the universal language of the world. It gives you an open canvas to express yourself — it was my first outlet. I wasn't telling people what I was going through, but if you listened to my music, you knew. It’s the same way today with kids. If I put them in the booth, I get their whole life in two and a half minutes. I encourage them to write it out. This opportunity with FREER Records allows me to express that again. I wanted to build a brand that brings it full circle — closing out with songs that have meaning and substance.
BL Shirelle: In the social justice lane — are you an abolitionist? Reformer? Do you consider any sections of the movement drastically different from others? Where do you stand?
Roc: I’d call it like 70/30 when it comes to abolition and justice reform. Some people need rehabilitation and therapy, but some people — it’s like, you gotta sit down, bro. If you’re raping and mutilating children, you deserve prison. I know that prison took the air out of me in a good way. Corrections are supposed to correct. So yeah, we need to make the system better, but I don’t think we need to erase it. There should be more check-ins, maybe a review every 90 days. Maybe no hard sentencing guidelines — everything should be case by case.
I do feel like a lot of people in our industry get paid just to talk. It’s easier to be a podcaster than it is to be a foot soldier. A lot of folks who’ve never been in our predicament act like their knowledge supersedes ours. I just had a nephew that did a year — came back a whole Christian. Sometimes you have to have things removed to see the value. Prison does that in a weird way. It’s what you make it. It’s a feed system — and it can change your life if you know how to play it. For the ones who can go there, take that discipline, and come out sharper, I feel like it’s necessary sometimes.
BL Shirelle: Do you have any upcoming projects or events to share?
Roc: I’m working on a black tie event for the release of the children's book. We have a big basketball tournament on December 13. Thanksgiving is my third annual Community Takeover — 125th and Lexington Avenue. Our goal is to feed at least 500 people. We shut the whole block down. And of course, on Christmas we’ve got the annual toy drive. That’s pretty much it for my next 90 days.
BL Shirelle: That’s heavy. Thank you very much, Roc. Welcome aboard!
Rich Roots, Rich Fruits next event!