Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
The 24-year-old has had a number of run-ins with the law from his adolescence into his adulthood, but many believed that after he became a viral sensation, his troubles were behind him.
The young artist rose to fame with his hit “Hot N***a” which popularized the “Shmoney Dance,” however, in 2014 Shmurda was arrested on felony weapons charges and months later, once again was in custody for conspiracy to commit murder, reckless endangerment, and drug and gun possession. In September 2016, Shmurda copped a plea and was convicted of third-degree conspiracy and one count of weapons possession. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but will only be expected to serve three-and-a-half, and his conditional release date is in late 2020.
The rapper recently spoke with Swaggy Sie on SiriusXM’s Hip Hop Nation and was asked about whether or not he would link up with the likes of Meek Mill, Jay Z, and other artists in the rap game in their fight for both prison and criminal justice reform. “Like I tell people all the time, I respect what he’s doing. I can’t do it though,” he said. “I can talk to the kids, but I ain’t about to be sitting here protesting and politicking for no motherf*cking cops because them mtherf**kers don’t care. They been killing motherf**kers since Rodney King.”
“I tell people all the time, like a positive person I’ve seen, like Martin Luther King,” Shmurda continued. “I love what Martin Luther King did. I respect him because I couldn’t do it. Motherfuckers hitting him with rocks, doing all types of s**t, and he stayed positive. I can’t do it, know what I mean? I’ll come talk to the kids. That’s about it. But I respect everything that they do.”
