BOBBY SHMURDA & ROWDY REBEL DISCUSS PLEA DEAL, EPIC RECORDS, & POST-PRISON PLANS

Bobby Shmurda and Rowdy Rebel open up from behind bars.

The rhyming duo, who recently accepted a plea deal and were sentenced to seven years in prison for conspiracy and criminal weapons possession charges, spoke with Complex about life on the inside and their relationship with Epic Records in an interview published today (Sept. 15).

“The situation with Epic is the reality,” explained Rebel. “We made our own bed and got to lay in it. We did expect for them to help us and get us out, but from my knowledge it wasn’t on Epic to bail us out, it was Sony, because Epic’s under Sony. So when it came to it, Epic was willing to do it, but Sony had to sign off the checks to get us out and they didn’t want to sign. I don’t hold no one responsible for nothing.”

Meanwhile, Shmurda had his own take on things. “If we made bail I would’ve beat the case,” he said. “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 and Rebel stressed their closeness throughout the interview. When asked why he accepted the plea deal, for instance, Bobby said he “did it for Rowdy.”

“They offered me five and offered Rowdy 12,” he explained.

“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.”

The “Hot Boy” believes his incarceration is part of a bigger
problem dealing with race.

“My lawyer told me we don’t want to go to court in Manhattan with these white people because they’re going to be looking at me, a little black kid,” he said.

“Who are they going to believe, the
word of this black kid talking about shooting shit up or the word of white officers? A jury is going to believe cops all day. We’re black kids, these are white people with badges.”

“They held my bail at $2 million for a gun charge,” he later added. “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.”

Shmurda expects to be released in three years and hopes to make a movie about his life that is “better than Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and Belly put together.”