Rapper Da Brat says she learned of Michael Jackson’s death while behind bars, a moment that triggered intense emotion and frustration. She spoke candidly in an Instagram reel about the impact the news had on her.
“I couldn’t. I felt like I wanted to say goodbye and at least be at the funeral,” she said in the video, voice shaking with emotion. She added that she couldn’t believe he was gone.
Da Brat — whose real name is Shawntae Harris — served time in prison following a 2007 assault conviction. She was incarcerated during the summer of 2009, when Jackson died at age 50. News of his death caught her off guard.
Harris recalled that upon hearing the news, anger started to build inside her. “I about whooped that b***h a**,” she said, referring to the frustration boiling over. “Got sent to the hole.” She described how grief racily collided with the constraints of prison life.
Family and fellow inmates helped ground her. “My family’s there,” she said. “Usher saying, ‘Yeah,’” she recalled, a nod to comforting words from friends who understood her bond with Jackson. In the reel, she shared how hearing Usher’s voice reminded her of having a connection to the late star.
Even in confinement, she said, she felt compelled to express her mourning. “I felt like I wanted to say goodbye,” she repeated. That longing echoed what many felt around the world when Jackson passed: a desire to honor an artistic legend.