Bobby Shmurda, Capella Grey, and Dave East

Born Ackquille Jean Pollard in Brooklyn, New York City, Shmurda was raised by his mother since his father was pretty much constantly in and out of jail. He took solace in his music, becoming a devoted hip-hop fan while also skirting dangerously close to a life of crime, selling crack by the time he hit fifth grade. Music was always his true passion though, not to mention his ticket away from a life in. By the age of ten he was remixing songs by his idols Lil Wayne, Jay Z and Juvenile, and began rapping at the age of 10. However, it wasn’t until 2014, when he sample the beat of Lloyd Banks’ track “Jackpot” to create his own track “Hot N*gga”, that he started to create some serious buzz for himself. At first it was localized, becoming huge among the projects of his native Brooklyn, then a video was made for it and the song, along with its “Shmoney Dance” went viral.

The track was a huge hit, hitting number six on the Billboard Hot 100, getting freestyled over by Lil’ Kim, Jeezy and T.I, and Beyoncé herself performed the dance at a show of hers in July 2014. His debut album “Shmurda She Wrote” was released in November of the same year, and ever since then Shmurda has remained one of the hottest (no pun intended) talents in American hip-hop. He’s leapt to stardom quickly, but there’s no reason to believe he won’t have staying power. For that, he comes highly recommended.