“Anger, frustration...
hope?” shrugs Joseph Appiah. “When you’re in prison, making music can sometimes be the only way to release the uncomfortable feelings you’ve learned to lock away.” An open-faced, articulate man of 30, Appiah – who now raps, acts and models under the name Cleeshay – was released from prison in December 2022 after serving a 12-year stretch for the controversial crime of murder by “joint enterprise”.
This November he’ll join a group of ex-prisoners performing at “PROGRESS: A night of words, music and culture” at BeauBeau’s independent café in London. The event is organised by Switchback: a charity dedicated to “helping young men build stable, independent futures”. Leaning forward, hands on knees, at Switchback’s London HQ, Appiah tells me he wrote to Switchback from his cell seeking a mentor to help him navigate life beyond the prison system.
The crime that landed him in jail took place back in May 2010, when he was just 15 years old. He was convicted at 16, so has done most of his growing up on the inside. “I didn’t have the kind of background you’d expect from a guy who’s spent so much time in prison,” he says.
“I have supportive, hardworking parents. I passed the 11-plus exam and went to grammar school in Kent. We went on holiday two or three times a year.
..” Appiah rocks his chair back against the wall and throws up his palms.
He tells me his Ghanaian dad worked as a housing officer for Lewisham Council.
