Bobby Shmurda Pleads Guilty; Will Serve Seven Years Behind Bars

According to Billboard, the rapper Rowdy Rebel, with whom Bobby Shmurda has collaborated, also pled guilty as part of the deal, as did a man named Nicholas McCoy.

Bobby received 7 years in prison and 5 years probation. Authorities say a minimum seven-year sentence is required by his plea deal.

The rapper has already been in jail since December 2014 when he and 12 members of his GS9 crew were variously charged with a range of crimes including murder, attempted murder, assault, attempted assault, drug trafficking and weapons possession in a 100-count indictment.

Shmurda was facing a maximum sentence of 8 – 25 years on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, reckless endangerment, and drug and gun possession.

The Brooklyn-born performer, whose birth name is Ackquille Pollard, is best known for the hit song “Hot Boy”.

Police arrested Shmurda in late 2014 after he left a recording studio near Radio City Music Hall.

The summer before he was arrested, Shmurda released his debut single, “Hot N–a”, which brought him viral fame when the lo-fi video’s signature “Shmoney dance” became a social media phenomenon. He was accused of firing shots at a crowd in Brooklyn, and of being present during a confrontation with a rival gang outside a courthouse, during which shots were fired.

In a jailhouse interview past year with The New York Times, Shmurda criticized his label, Epic Records, for not helping him pay his $2 million bail.