Bobby Shmurda was released from prison on Tuesday to the fanfare of celebrities and regular people alike.
Now, the GS9 rapper has given his first post-prison interview. Speaking with Frazier Tharpe for GQ, Bobby revealed that the moment where he actually began taking his rap career seriously was when he received a letter from a fan in 2016. “A six-year-old girl wrote to me; she said I was her favorite rapper… That just let me know the kids are watching me, and I have to be a role model,” he said.
“I didn’t really care too much for it until I went to jail and I seen how the fans were loyal,” he continued. “I can’t name a week that I didn’t see at least 10 [pieces] of fan mail, throughout the whole bid.”
This was after Bobby’s hit song “Hot N***a” peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2014 and he landed a seven-figure label deal with Epic Records. So what did he care about at that point? “Money and bitches, I ain’t gonna lie to you,” he said. “I was 19 turning 20, coming out of the [East Flatbush] ’90s, one of the worst neighborhoods in Brooklyn.”
While it was believed that Bobby wouldn’t get out until December, right after the new year, he was granted a conditional release on Feb. 23. He will now remain under parole supervision and will serve the rest of his sentence under community supervision.
Quavo—who picked up Bobby in a private jet—and the Brooklyn rapper began planning his first day out months ago. Quavo told GQ that Bobby “had a dream: a jet, flooded out with his gang, his family, a couple vibes [read: women] for him.” Quavo footed the bill: “It’s like his birthday today. Whatever he wants to do, we’re doing it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Bobby shared some of what he and the late Nipsey Hussle discussed before his death, which included real estate and financial freedom. Their last conversation was just a month before Hussle’s untimely passing: “I only had four or five conversations with cousin,” Bobby said. “His mind was different. He was saying all the things we were going to do when I got out.”
It also seems like Bobby already has a few musical tricks up his sleeve. Quavo is eyeing a feature from Bobby for Migos’ impending Culture III album. And while we are all lamenting the fact that we never saw a Shmurda and Pop Smoke Collab, Shmurda assured GQ that he “has something cooking.”
