G$9

Rowdy Rebel grew up in a neighbourhood known as "the 90s" in Brooklyn's East Flatbush area. People in his neighborhood referred to him as "rowdy" as a child, which is the genesis for his stage name. Many members of GS9 (including Shmurda) originated in the same East Flatbush locale. He is of Jamaican and Bajan descent.

Much of Rowdy Rebel's music contains references to the block where he grew up. Rowdy has noted that he and other GS9 members talk about friends from the neighborhood "to keep their names alive." Despite the fact that only he and Bobby Shmurda have been signed to Epic Records, one of their primary goals is to help other GS9 members such as Abillyon and Corey Finesse get record contracts too.

Bobby Shmurda had run-ins with the law while living in Brooklyn, including fifteen months spent in detention for probation violation and being arrested on gun charges that were later dropped. According to his 2014 indictment, Shmurda was the ringleader of a criminal enterprise called "GS9" that regularly entered into disputes with criminal gangs, was responsible for murders and non-fatal shootings, and engaged in drug trafficking along Kings Highway to East Flatbush. All members appeared in Shmurda's video for "Hot Boy"

On June 3, 2014, Shmurda was arrested and charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon. Police claim they saw him flashing the gun in an apartment and when they went to investigate, he tried to hide it in a couch. He was set free on $10,000 bail. On December 17, 2014, police arrested Shmurda and 14 others, including his brother Javese and his fellow GS9 label-mate Rowdy Rebel. Police charged Shmurda with conspiracy to commit murder, reckless endangerment, and drug and gun possession; charges against the others included murder, attempted murder, assault, and drug dealing. Shmurda pleaded not guilty and was held on $2 million bail.