Bobby Shmurda, Brooklyn-based rapper who rose to fame off the strength of his hit song “Hot N****” has been at the center of a controversial court case involving 4th-degree conspiracy and 2nd-degree criminal weapons possession, among many others. He and his associate from his GS-9 crew Rowdy Rebel recently accepted a plea deal that gives them both a seven year sentence, including the last two years time served.
In their first interview since the deal, the pair spoke to Complex in-depth about their inability to make bail — due, according to them, to Sony’s decision not to pay the whopping $2 million in bail — and why they took the deal in the first place. Bobby says he took the deal in order to keep his friend Rowdy’s sentence minimal.
Shmurda:
I did it for Rowdy. They offered me five and offered Rowdy 12. They said the only way they’ll give him seven is if I took seven too. So, you know, I had to take one for the dawgs.
Rowdy:
My boy copped out for me, you heard?
Shmurda also said he believes if they’d made bail, he would’ve been able to fight the charges, which he says the cops lied about:
If we made bail I would’ve beat the case. We look guilty in these orange jumpsuits. If you put Al Sharpton in a orange jumpsuit and accuse him of having a gun, he’s going to be found guilty. They just look at our skin color, and look at where we’re from. I didn’t get caught with anything on me and the cops lied, saying they seen me with a gun in my hand. I explained the whole situation to Epic and they were behind me all the way. We had big-money lawyers and they still couldn’t do nothing because of the judge, who looked at us like black thugs.
Shmurda is signed to Epic, which is a subsidiary of Sony, and though he says the label was willing to shell out for him, Sony wouldn’t sign the check. But he also said he bears no ill will to the label.
He goes on to further draw comparisons between Brock Turner’s three-month sentence for raping an unconscious woman, and the years-long sentence he and Rowdy will serve for charges that remain unproven:
All the motions I put in, they denied them. They held my bail at $2 million for a gun charge. I copped out to seven years for a gun charge when this is my first offense. That’s how America is. They got these kids running around with rape charges getting six months and they wanna give me seven years for a gun charge.
Rowdy said told Complex that he and Shmurda have a joint mixtape called The Last of the Real coming out soon, along with a solo tape from him called Shmoney Keep Calling Pt. 2. The rappers also addressed the gargantuan sentences of 98 and 53 years to life respectively that were slapped on their otherGS-9 associates Rashid Derissant and Alex Crandon, and leveled more charges of corruption against the justice system on all levels. Shmurda noted that he’s been rapping and writing and plans to write a book. Overall, the two are taking an optimistic look at things, which is admirable on a number of levels, considering the situation. They took some time toward the end of the interview to tell Complex what they’ve been listening to while in prison and shout out their fellow Brooklyn rappers.
Read the full interview here.
