Van Jones isn't much concerned with what his critics think of him. "Some of us have got to be willing to walk across the street and bring our people back home," he tells Ebro Darden on Apple Music's The Message. "And that's my role. I don't apologize for it. I'll tell you the people who never complain: the people who come home. The 17,000 people that we got out of federal prison early, none of them complained. The 70,000 people we got out of state and local jails early ahead of COVID, they don't complain. Somebody said, 'Van Jones has freed more Black people than anybody since Harriet Tubman.' I don't know if that's true or false, but I like that." Jones, who is maybe most visible as a political commentator, is a lawyer, author, and activist whose most gratifying professional mission is fighting the disproportionate incarceration of Black and brown people in America. As a guest of The Message, he spoke to Ebro about the indelible connection between hip-hop and the people he fought for as one of the principals of Oakland's first Police Watch program. "We would roll up on city council meetings, school board meetings, police commission meetings, deep with the youth," Jones says. "And when it came time for the public comment, we would hit hard on the lyrics. We were using hip-hop as a weapon before we had anything else to fight with." Jones’ The Message playlist features hip-hop groups like Public Enemy, who literally told us to "Fight the Power," and then a wealth of musicians whose varying messages left a mark on him both personally and professionally, artists like Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, U2, Missy Elliott, and, of course, Jones' friend and activist colleague Prince.