Akbar Pray is a Newark native whose life spans the worlds of addiction, organized crime, and profound personal transformation. Known in his early years for his intelligence and ability to organize people, he became a major figure in the drug economy before being sentenced to life in federal prison. Inside, he rebuilt his purpose by teaching financial literacy, public speaking, and leadership to young incarcerated men while creating programs that spread across multiple facilities. Since coming home he has devoted his life to community work, mentorship, and challenging the systems that criminalize Black youth while advocating for real paths to redemption.

Killer Mike, Cutmaster Swiff, Bear, and Akbar Pray sit down for one of the most powerful conversations ever recorded on Conversate. Akbar walks the crew through his journey from growing up in the heroin era of Newark to becoming a major figure in organized crime, to finding purpose, leadership, and transformation through Islam, education, and community work. The episode dives into addiction, the Nation of Islam, organized crime, mass incarceration, the structure of power in American cities, and the real cost of leadership in the streets. Mike connects with Akbar on a deeply personal level as they compare childhoods shaped by drugs, literature, and the teachings of Black elders who gave them knowledge long before they understood it. The conversation becomes a masterclass in accountability, redemption, economics, and what it means to turn intelligence into leadership. This is an honest, layered, and generational talk about the streets, the system, the hustle, and the possibilities for Black men to rebuild instead of destroy.

Books explicitly mentioned in this episode.

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley The Godfather by Mario Puzo The New Ethnic Mobs by James O Finckenauer Death of the Game by Akbar Pray Daughter of a Junkie by Judge Terrinee Gundy 848 The Criminalization of America (Documentary)

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