HMP Birmingham prisoners Demehl Thomas and Moysha Shepherd, both 25, are accused of boasting about drug dealing and violent assaults on rival gang members in the video, police said.
The pair are charged with making a sound recording in jail under the 1952 Prison Act.
They will appear via video link before magistrates in the city on Thursday.
West Midlands Police, which described the video as a "selfie rap", said it believed the prosecution against Thomas, formerly of Vernolds Croft in Highgate, and Shepherd, of Hampstead Road, Handsworth,  was the first of its kind.
Insp Nick Dale, said the law was intended to "minimise the potential" for a camera or recording device to be used inside prison "and possibly compromise security or pose a threat to the safety of prisoners and staff."
Two inmates have been charged with making a "selfie" rap video using a mobile phone smuggled into a jail.