the gang for murder and shooting indiscriminately at crowds in public places long before Shmurda rose to fame. Police said Shmurda was "the driving force" in a gang also known as GS9 (standing for "Grimey Shooters," "Gun Squad" or "G Stone Crips."), the name of his label, as they dealt crack cocaine and waged deadly battles with rival gangs for territory. He faced a maximum sentence of 8–25 years. James Essig, head of the NYPD unit that made the arrests, said Shmurda's songs and videos were "almost like a real-life document of what they were doing on the street." In his song "Hot Nigga", Shmurda rapped that "I been selling crack since like the fifth grade" because "Jaja taught me"; Shmurda also rapped about his crew's past and future murders. Shmurda has asserted that the lyrics represent his real life in several interviews, though the Supreme Court of New Jersey recently ruled that lyrics cannot be read at trial as evidence unless they have a "strong nexus" to a specific crime. During his jail time, Shmurda was involved in a fight suspected to be related to the Bloods vs. Crips rivalry. Between late June and early July 2015, the rapper and his ex-girlfriend were caught by officials after smuggling a knife into Rikers Island jail. Both were charged with two counts of promoting contraband, in addition to one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, which could result in an additional seven-year sentence. Shmurda appeared in the Bronx Supreme Court to face his charges of prison contraband plus 25 years for his previous charge in late 2014. He and his ex-girlfriend pleaded not guilty to the contraband charge, but Shmurda was still facing a maximum sentence of 25 years for the drug and gun charges. Conviction On September 9, 2016, as part of a plea deal, Shmurda pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree conspiracy and one count of weapons possession, and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Under the deal, Shmurda could not appeal the sentence, but was to be given credit for two years served, leaving five years left on his sentence, followed by five years of probation. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, expected that with good behavior Shmurda would only serve approximately three and a half years. In early 2017, Shmurda was given a four-year sentence for sneaking a makeshift knife (shiv) into