The attorney for Brooklyn rapper Bobby Shmurda, whose song “Hot Boy” featuring his “Shmoney dance” went viral this summer, denied his client’s involvement in shootings and drugs sales, saying he is being railroaded for street talk.
Prosecutors accuse the rapper, born Ackquille Pollard, and 12 other members of his crew, East Flatbush GS9, for gang activity, according to a spokeswoman for the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s office.
Pollard was arrested Wednesday and arraigned Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court where bail was set at $2 million.
Pollard’s lawyer, Howard Greenberg, said his client is a successful rapper who has no reason to commit the crimes prosecutors laid out in the indictment.
“It’s preposterous,” he said. “He is rich, he is successful, he is busy.”
Pollard’s label, Epic Records, will cover the bond, Greenberg said.
Prosecutors allege Pollard and 12 other men are in a gang responsible for multiple shootings attacking rival crews and drug trafficking.
The men of GS9 were hit with a 69-count indictment on a host of weapons and attempted murder charges.
Two men — Rashid “Rasha” Derissant and Alex “A-Rod” Crandon — were charged with a count each of second degree murder for the death of a 19-year-old man who belonged to a rival crew. Their attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The NYPD seized 21 guns after the bust, according to the special narcotics prosecutor’s office.
“It really points out the very insidious nature of a lot of this music in terms of the language used, the demeaning of women, the celebration of violence, using the music record label to effectively make threats,” said NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said. “These are bad people. They shouldn’t be celebrated.”
Pollard’s hit, “Hot Boy,” details the tension and angst of violent street life, peppering the song with references to Glocks and 9mm guns and selling crack cocaine “since like the fifth grade.”
Pollard also talks about the GS9 crew and name checks his friends, like Meeshie, Monty and Rasha — three men who were also snared in the sting.
“His video or his song is almost like a real life document of what they did out in the street,” Deputy Chief James Essig said. “It pointed us in the right direction. It chronicled what they were doing out in the street: the shootings, the violence.”
The prosecution will not use the lyrics as evidence, said New York Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.
Pollard, who was arrested along with seven others at Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan, faces eight counts of conspiracy, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a weapon and using drug paraphernalia. He is accused of being a gunman in a June 2 shooting outside a Brooklyn barber shop.
Prosecutors allege that GS9 members used code words to talk about firearms, drugs and shootings. Pollard’s lawyer says it’s just slang.
“It’s just kids talking to each other, that’s it — in street argot, not even English,” Greenberg said of the indictment. “It’s a bunch of [expletive].”
