Before the name, the game, and the fame, rapper Bobby Shmurda, born Ackquille Pollard, is a son first.
Throughout the young Brooklyn rapper’s life, he’s never been apart from his mother Leslie Pollard. However, after December 17 2014, that all was put to test. “It’s hard because it’s not one of my sons, it’s both of my sons and I only have two,” says Pollard to REVOLT about the incarceration of her sons, Javase and Ackquille Pollard, after a now well-known December 2014 arrest. “He’s never been a part from me, [and] this is the longest that he’s been a part from me so it’s hard.”
Shmurda faces five charges on eight counts, including conspiracy to commit 2nd degree murder and conspiracy to commit 2nd degree assault. He was also hit with a “possessing prison contraband” charge from a separate incident. His court date of February 22, 2016 has since been rescheduled to May 11th and last month, the rapper’s $2 million bond was denied for the seventh time.
With all of this weighing over her 21-year-old son’s head, Pollard, as any other mother would, works hard on remaining a beacon of joy and hope. “When I speak to him I try to keep it jovial [and] make him laugh,” she says. “What’s frustrating to him is that to be treated so unfairly by someone that can control your destiny, that’s hard. He doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t know what to think [and] he doesn’t know who to trust. So, it’s difficult and it’s difficult for me because they’re my children. What they feel, I feel it too.”
Last month, Shmurda’s lawyer (Alex Spiro) raised questions case, specifically about the involvement of some of the case’s arresting officers, noting that certain officers involved in the case have “burdensome files” that may include false arrests, Fourth Amendment violations, and more.
As a trial has since been set to May, Pollard remains strong, devoted, and centered. “It was really hard at first but at the end of the day, God has the last say so I just let him have it. I talk to him and he knows what I’m dealing with and he’s going to deal with it the best way he can.”
Stay tuned to more from REVOLT’s exclusive sit-down with Leslie Pollard.