THERE is nothing like your freedom being taken away from you before you begin to appreciate how good life is and that is what rapper, Yaw Nanna, found out when he had to spend 10 years in the Nsawam Prison.

While he was getting ready to make a grand entrance into the music scene, he was arrested for drugs possession and thrown into jail in 2008 where he said he learnt lessons that had changed him for the better.

“I used to look down on people but after my sentence, I have learnt to accommodate almost everyone that comes my way.

“The people I used to hang out with and I thought were my friends never paid me a visit while I was in prison but those I hardly spoke to rather came through,” he stated.

He echoed some of the harrowing stories that others who had been behind bars had experienced saying he had to adjust when he got used to his reality.

“Some of the food we ate were nothing to write home about but I had to adjust and come to terms with the fact that I was going to stay there for 10 years.

“For example, I never used the washroom for almost a week when I first entered because it was nasty but as time passed by, it became very normal to me,” he revealed.

One of Yaw Nanna’s worst nightmares in prison was waking up to see an inmate lying dead beside him. He disclosed that many of his prison mates died which frightened him sometimes.

He said he also had to deal with being constantly subjected to head counts which could be very annoying at times.

“I had to be counted three times a day and five times on holidays. This was not cool at all and I got upset anytime I was counted,” Yaw Nanna stated.

While in prison, his daily activities were mainly playing football, visiting the gym and watching movies.

“I sometimes listened to stories of other inmates when I was bored and I realised I was a ‘saint’. Some of the offences were unheard of,” he said.

Yaw Nanna, real name, Nana Yaw Gyenin, told Showbiz that he started counting the days for about a year until he was released in 2016.

“I knew that day would come and I started counting a year until that day when I was set free. I just stood in front of the prison gate and told myself I was never going back there again,” he stated.

A month after he was released, he donated assorted items to the Nsawam Prison as his small contribution to the inmates.

“Prison is not a place anyone should be and I pray that anyone who comes back from there never returns,” he said

After tasting that ugly side of life, Yaw Nanna says he is working at improving on his life and that involves trying to make an entry into the music industry.

He has released some songs and is currently promoting his latest, titled, Holiday.

Yaw Nanna is hopeful that he will make an impact in the choked industry because music is his passion.

Showbiz