Free Bobby Shmurda

About

Free Bobby Shmurda refers to a copypasta and hashtag campaign saying rapper Bobby Shmurda, aka Ackquille Pollard, should be released from prison. Shmurda was arrested in December of 2014, and in 2016, plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, weapons possession and reckless endangerment, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Fans have been divided on whether the campaign is worthwhile, as some fans love Shmurda's music and want him free so he can make more, while others note that Shmurda has plead guilty to the charges against him and has a list of allegations against him incurred during his time in prison, and therefore should not be released.

On February 23rd, 2021, Bobby Shmurda was conditionally released to serve the rest of his sentence on parole.

Origin

On July 25th, 2014, Shmurda’s released the lead single “Hot Nigga” from his debut EP album Shmurda She Wrote was released (shown below). The song peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, bringing Shmurda international attention.^[1]

On December 17th of the same year, Shmurda and several members of his crew, part of his label GS9, were arrested by New York City Police. The charges against Shmurda were conspiracy to commit murder, reckless endangerment, and drug and gun possession, and he was held at $2 million bail, which he was never able to make.^[2] NYPD pointed to lyrics in Shmurda's songs about selling crack and committing shootings and argued they were "almost like a real-life document of what they were doing on the street." Shmurda has claimed in interviews that the lyrics were accurate, but lyrics are not admissible in a crime unless they have a "strong nexus" to a specific crime, as the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled. The #FreeBobbyShmurda campaign started shortly after the arrest. Shirts about the arrest were covered by GQ on December 19th, 2014.^[3]

Spread

Throughout Shmurda's imprisonment, "Free Bobby Shmurda" became a refrain in the hip-hop community.^[5] Martin Shkreli offered to pay Shmurda's bail in 2015 on the condition Shmurda made an album for him.^[4] On October 19th, 2016, Shmurda was sentenced to seven years in prison, with the two years he'd already served included in the sentence. In April of 2018, parole officers said Shmurda was scheduled for a parole hearing in August of 2020 and could be released on parole as early as December of 2020.^[8] However, TMZ notes that allegations of Shmurda's behavior in jail, including attempting to bring in a shank and drug possession among 11 violations could hinder his chances of being released.

Walkout

After several years of the campaign trending during Shmurda's imprisonment, the campaign drew attention again as a "Free Bobby Shmurda" walkout was planned for schools on April 19th, 2018, the day before the National School Walkout for gun control was scheduled.^[6]

The walkout was meant more ironically than the National School Walkout. The campaign was spread with memes, several of which were posted to an Instagram account bearing the campaign's name^[7] (examples shown below).

Release

On January 4th, 2021, The New York Times^[8] reported that Bobby Shmurda would be eligible for conditional release on February 23rd, 2021. On February 17th, Shmurda's friend rapper Rowdy Rebel posted^[9] an archive video of Shmurda, writing SIX DAYS LFET Then all the joy gone wash away the pain,I promise you brother"

On February 22nd, 2021, Bobby Shmurda posted a clip from 1990 film King of New York in which main character Frank White gets released from prison on Instagram,^[10] writing "How the fucc y’all forget about me." The post received over 3 million views and 806,000 likes, further confirming speculations that Shmurda would be released on February 23rd.

On February 22nd, 2021, multiple users on social media posted memes about Shmurda's expecting release (examples shown below). In many examples, users also mentioned the disbandment of electronic duo Daft Punk that was announced on that day.

On February 23rd, Bobby Shmurda was conditionally released from prison to serve the rest of his sentence on parole until February 23rd, 2026.^[11]

Search Interest

External References