Tay-K is currently locked up in Tarrant County Jail as he awaits trail on a series of murder charges. The Texas native blew up with the viral success of his music video for “The Race,” in which he raps alongside his own ‘WANTED’ poster.

The 17-year-old rapper has been rightfully nominated for XXL’s Freshman Class, appearing on the ballot for the coveted 10th Spot just a few weeks ago. While the other nominees had an opportunity to visit XXL’s offices and offer a pitch for their case, Tay obviously wasn’t able to do so; thus causing him to pen a letter from behind bars.

While XXL tends to lean away from including incarcerated rappers on the list, they did indeed include Chief Keef as ‘The 11th Freshman’ in their 2013 class; which makes a case for Tay-K.

Written on a piece of lined notebook paper and complete with the magazine’s iconic red box logo, Tay-K offered his thoughts on why he deserves a spot in 2018’s Freshman Class.

“The fact that I’m 17-years-old and I have your audience speaks for itself,” he writes. “Also, I was one of the first ‘SoundCloud Artists’ to make the Billboard Hot 100 Charts.”

Read Tay-K’s full letter below, and stay tuned to see if he’ll land a spot on the cover of XXL.