Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty, who was serving a more than five-year prison sentence for a Florida gun charge, has been released from federal prison custody, records show.
The 25-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Lontrell D. Williams, pleaded guilty in January 2022 to one felony count of conspiracy to possess firearms in furtherance of violent and drug trafficking crimes, federal court documents show.
Williams is no longer in custody, according to records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons obtained by USA TODAY on Oct. 7. The “Back in Blood” rapper was initially slated to be released from BOP custody in April 2026, according to the prison’s official website.
“I am elated that Pooh has been released after three years,” Pooh Shiesty’s attorney, Bradford Cohen, told the hip-hop magazine XXL. “The government fought hard to give him 10, but after listening to the case, the judge agreed with us that it was not appropriate and gave him a sentence that resulted in him serving three years. I know he will come back bigger than ever and definitely learned from this experience. He is excited to start the next chapter of his story. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I think that this is just the beginning of his second act.”
Cohen did not respond to requests for comment from The Commercial Appeal.
Shiesty’s 2021 debut album, “Shiesty Season,” was officially certified platinum while he was in custody in 2022. His last single, “Federal Contraband 2,” arrived on Christmas Day 2023.
Who is Pooh Shiesty?
Born Lontrell Williams Jr. on Nov. 8, 1999, Shiesty was raised around South Memphis’ Cane Creek Apartments. A second-generation rapper, his father founded the Bluff City label Mob Ties Records and rapped under the name Mob Boss, steeping him in the family business from a young age.
“He could rap, but he had his own label too,” Shiesty told The Commercial Appeal in 2021. “I was exposed to it, but he was doing his own thing. I was still real young then. There was stuff I didn’t know or understand. That was before I jumped in the streets or whatever.”
After a couple years living with his mother in Texas, Shiesty returned to the Mid-South and began focusing on his own musical career.
He got his start with a group of friends known as Choppa Gang. “Me and Choppa Gang, before we were rappers we was just moving around — y’know? We did everything else but make songs. And then we started to do that too,” Shiesty said.
As part of the Choppa Gang collective, Pooh Shiesty first gained notice with the track “Breaking News,” released in late 2018.
In spring 2020, fate intervened for Shiesty in the form of Grammy-nominated, platinum-certified rapper Gucci Mane. That April, Gucci messaged Shiesty on Instagram, and in short order offered him a record deal, specifically a chance to be part of his The New 1017 label venture with Atlantic Records.
Shiesty’s subsequent solo singles would earn him critical notice. Chosen by Spotify’s “Rap Caviar” as one of the “10 Artists to Watch in 2021,” Shiesty quickly hit Billboard’s Hot 100 and Emerging Artist charts, and made Rolling Stone’s “Breakthrough 25” rankings, and earned raves for his full-length debut, “Shiesty Season,” released in Feb. 2021.
Why was Pooh Shiesty in prison?
Prosecutors accused the rapper of being part of a group that shot two people and stole drugs and high-end sneakers at a hotel in Bay Harbor Islands, a town in Miami-Dade County, Florida, in October 2020.
In April 2022, a federal judge in Miami sentenced Williams to 63 months in prison for firearms conspiracy charge, to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to court documents filed in the Southern District of Florida.
Williams, who was 22 at the time of sentencing, faced up to 20 years in prison for the crime. Under a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop three other charges filed against him, including a gun charge with a potential life prison sentence.
According to court filings, the other charges stemmed from three separate events, including a shooting at a Miami-Dade County hotel.
What did Pooh Shiesty say to Cardi B?
Following his release on Oct. 7, Williams was already going viral on social media for his comment under rap superstar Cardi B’s Instagram video, which reads, “I love you.”
As of Oct. 7, Williams’ comment had garnered thousands of likes, and his official Instagram account showed he had more than 3.3 million followers.
Williams has made headlines in the past for his flirtatious remarks on her social media posts during the time he was in prison.
“I’m 5 mins away baby open the door,” someone commeted from Pooh Shiesty’s account while the “Pretty & Petty” rapper was on Instagram Live in August 2024.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Was Pooh Shiesty released? The latest on the Memphis rapper
