If Sean ''Puffy'' Combs were to wind up in the slammer, perhaps girlfriend Jennifer Lopez could belt out a song for his release. Bob Dylan's 1975 anthem about convicted murderer Rubin Carter — featured in the Denzel Washington-topped film The Hurricane — helped efforts to win the ex-boxer a retrial. Here's how some other protest ditties fared.
BOB DYLAN's ''George Jackson'' (1970)
Prisoner: Jackson, a Black Panther leader
Sample Lyric: ''Authorities, they hated him/Because he was just
too real''
Aftermath: Jackson died during an abortive prison escape the
following year.
JOHN LENNON's ''John Sinclair'' (1971)
Prisoner: Sinclair, a counterculture radical jailed for
possessing two joints
Sample Lyric: ''Let him free, lift the lid/Bring him to his wife
and kids''
Aftermath: Sinclair was released three days after Lennon debuted
the song.
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's ''Voice of the Voiceless'' (1999)
Prisoner: Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist convicted of killing a
Philadelphia cop
Sample Lyric: ''So long as the rope/Is tight around Mumia's
neck/Let there be no rich white life''
Aftermath: Abu-Jamal is now in his 18th year on death row.
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