Billboard Feature: Bobby Shmurda Says, "That Shit Is Bullshit"

Here's a feature I wrote for Saturday's Billboard magazine about Bobby Shmurda’s epic rise and fall. I spent some time in East Flatbush with Bobby's mother and some of his friends. I also read through a lot of transcripts of the alleged gang's recorded calls, attended their January hearing, and spoke with the mother of the young man they are accused of murdering. Finally, I spoke with Shmurda by phone from jail (a bit of the interview ran as a Q&A a few days ago). Here's a sample of the story: Shmurda's roller-coaster rise and fall has given the rap star’s rags-to-riches narrative a 2015 twist: Social media made him famous overnight, but it made him famous for a life he says he was trying to escape. Viral success gave him what he called a “big ticket” out of the hood, but also evidently helped increase the scrutiny of law enforcement. Today, he languishes in jail, unable to make bail — bail set at $2 million, the same amount as his Epic Records contract. Read it online here or download a PDF version here.