The Ballad of Rooster Jenkins
Logic
2026
The Ballad of Rooster Jenkins is part-concept album, part-radio play about a runaway slave narrated by Morgan Freeman. t follows the life of Rudy “Rooster” Jenkins, who was born into slavery in 1859. The story, narrated by actor Morgan Freeman, traces Rooster’s life as he grows up on a brutal plantation and finally gains his freedom on January 1, 1863, after the Emancipation Proclamation.
The story begins on the Destrehan Plantation in Louisiana, where Rooster is born into slavery. His father is brutally executed by the plantation owner, Richard La’Blanc, after conceiving a child without permission. Rooster is raised by his mother, who secretly teaches him to read and write, but she dies giving birth to his younger brother, John.
When the Emancipation Proclamation is announced in 1863, La’Blanc pretends to free his slaves, only to order his men to massacre anyone who attempts to leave. Rooster and John survive but remain effectively enslaved. After reading about the S.S. Republic, a ship carrying $400,000 in gold that sank off the coast of Georgia, Rooster devises a plan: escape, recover the treasure, become wealthy, and return to liberate the plantation. During their escape, John is fatally shot, sacrificing himself so Rooster can flee.
Rooster eventually arrives in Paradise, Georgia, where he accidentally becomes involved in a deadly saloon shootout alongside a mysterious Gunslinger. Both are arrested and sentenced to hang, but after Rooster tells the Gunslinger about the lost treasure, the Gunslinger’s partner Pepe blows them out of jail with dynamite. The trio joins forces to hunt for the gold.
Over time, Rooster assembles a larger crew (the “”Glorious Five””) and eventually confronts La’Blanc again. In the climax, Rooster engineers an elaborate plan to send La’Blanc and his stolen fortune hurtling back toward the plantation aboard a runaway train loaded with dynamite. Knowing the enslaved workers sleep elsewhere, Rooster ensures only La’Blanc is trapped. As La’Blanc begs for mercy, Rooster reminds him that his fate is the result of his own cruelty before the train crashes into the plantation, destroying both the mansion and its tyrannical owner.”
Stand-Out Tracks
Tokyo Time
Catch Me If You Can
Can I
