About
The Prison Pose, also known as the Jail Pose, is a photo fad in which participants squat or kneel in front of the camera while wearing an intimidating facial expression. The fad inspired a variation known as the “rap squat,” in which the subject crouches with their hands folded in the prayer position.
Origin
According to an interview with Vice[6] contributor Bauce Sauce, the prison pose gained popularity among rappers for album art in the late 1980s. In 1989, rappers Jay-Z and Jaz-O were photographed in crouching positions on the album art for the single “Hawaiian Sophie” (shown below).
Spread
On May 10th, 2005, rapper 50 cent released the single “Just a Lil Bit” from his second studio album The Massacre, in which he is pictured posed in a rap squat (shown below).
On October 5th, 2007, Urban Dictionary[1] user Wizz kid submitted an entry for the term “prison pose,” defining it as a crouched pose used by members of prison gangs to “look tough.” On March 3rd, 2008, Gixxer Nation Forums[3] member Tilly started a “prison pose thread” urging other members to share photos of themselves in the crouched position. On December 16th, 2012, rapper Action Bronson posted a photograph of himself in a rap squat over a bathtub to his Instagram[4] feed, where it gained over 2,700 likes in the next two years (shown below).
On April 12th, 2013, Tumblr user mikejonesfl[5] highlighted several photographs of Action Bronson posed in crouched positions. On August 14th, the pop culture blog XXL[2] highlighted several prison pose examples in a slideshow. On October 27th, Twitter user @ernestbaker posted a screenshot of Bill Gates in the 2013 biographical drama film Jobs in what appears to be a rap squat.
watching Steve Jobs documentary and it appears Bill Gates pioneered rap squats pic.twitter.com/gNhRBZ33RB
— ernest baker (@ernestbaker) October 28, 2013
Notable Examples
As of June 2014, there are over 5,000 images tagged under #jailpose and 2,500 tagged under #prisonpose Instagram.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Urban Dictionary – prison pose
[2]XXL– Poses Every Rapper Must Master
[3]Gixxer Nation Forums – Prison Pose Thread
[4]Instagram – underwear squats
[5]Tumblr – mikejonesfl