Bobby Shmurda Speaks From Jail

Viral rap star Bobby Shmurda has been jailed since Dec. 17, when the NYPD raided Quad Recording studios in Times Square and arrested the 20-year-old along with about a dozen others.

Prosecutors have characterized Shmurda as a "driving force" in the East Flatbush-based gang and record label GS9, charging him with multiple counts of conspiracy, weapons possession, reckless endangerment, and criminal use of drug paraphernalia. For the most serious of his conspiracy charges, Shmurda could faces up to 25 years in prison.

On Saturday (Feb. 7), Billboard spoke with Shmurda, who dispelled various rumors about his life on the inside -- no, he wasn't stabbed -- and discussed the odds of making his $2 million bail.

How is it in there? It's survival, survival. Survival of the fittest.

Has it been hard on you? Not that hard. I get a lot of love in here.

People in there know who you are and know "Hot Boy"? Yeah, everybody. Every time I walk the halls, I see people and they yell out "Ah Ah!" or something.

There are so many rumors, like, that you got stabbed. It's nothing but rumors, man. I'm good. Everybody knows I'm good. I'm chilling. We over here -- we over here thugging it out, man. [Laughs.]

Your mother and your lawyer are working hard to get you out on bail. Are you hopeful about that? Uhhh… We're trying, but right now I think the DA and the judge and everyone in the court is being biased. It's so crazy. The favoritism, yeah. They don't have no evidence, no nothing on me for the bill to be so high. I haven't been out for a year, I haven't been around for a year. So I didn't make two million dollars! [Laughs] They gave me a bill they know I can't pay. We can pay the 10 percent. And we tried to pay the 10 percent and they told us collateral. And every time we go for bail, it's something new. [Note: The Special Prosecutor's Office said last week that the suretor (the person putting up collateral for Shmurda) had withdrawn. Shmurda's lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery, says the defense is now working on a more viable bail package.]

Your last hearing was Jan. 29. What were you thinking in court? When I see the judge and the DA, I just see a bunch of people [who are] trying to take my life away for being blessed. That's what I look at when I look at them. It looks like a bunch of haters.

How do you feel about the other people who are your co-defendants? Have you been in touch with them at all? Some of them I don't know. Some of them I do know. They just started picking anybody out of the neighborhood. They got me locked up with -- I've seen, I don't know, probably like six people here. I don't even know everybody. It's crazy.

Besides your mother, who have you been in touch with? I talked to Meek [Mill]. I talked to French [Montana]. I talked to Migos. I stay in contact with people.

What are you planning to do when you get out? Write some platinum songs. [Laughs.] Finish up this deal I got with Epic.

Do you have a message for your fans? Yeah. Keep your head up. Everybody goes through tough times and good times. You know what, tough times don't last forever. I say, God makes his toughest battles for his strongest soldiers.

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