JT is reflecting on one of the darkest times of her life. During her appearance on the “Abolition X” podcast, the rapper talked to Richie Resheda, Indigo Mateo and Vic Mensa about her time in prison and the ways she’s grown since being in the pen.

“I feel like I got better. Going to prison and coming out gave me more edge in my music when I rap and in my voice. It did put a lot of fear in me too. It put a lot of anxiety in me. It changed me completely,” JT explained. “My whole life, I have always been painted as a rebellious person and to the point where I started to believe it. If you always tell me that I’m the problem, I’m going to believe that I’m the problem, so now that I’m the problem, I’m going to be the problem.”

JT spent over a year in a Florida prison on credit card fraud charges before being released in 2019. While in jail, she said she felt disconnected from the outside world but received some encouragement from a fellow inmate. Nowadays, she’s back at work at City Girls’ partner, Yung Miami, putting on for the women in rap.

With experiences in jail and on the Coachella stage, JT believes that Black people aren’t celebrated or allowed to be proud of their highest points. “People are more in-tuned with people who are down and out, than people who are up,” she said on the podcast. “They don’t know how to celebrate Black people when they are up.”

“They are only relatable to Black people when they are down, in fucked up situations,” she went on. “As soon as you get your first sense of confidence, they like, ‘Who the fuck you think you are?’”

Listen to JT’s full interview below.