G. Dep, best known for being signed to Bad Boys Records in the late ’90s, has been released from prison after nearly a decade and a half behind bars.
Late last year, the 49-year-old (real name Trevell Coleman) was one of 16 people who were granted clemency by New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Once his sentence was commuted, he became eligible for parole sooner than he would have.
AD LOADING...
On Thursday (April 4), the Harlem, New York native was finally released from prison.
G. Dep’s official Instagram page documented his release and subsequent celebrations, from being greeted with a prayer circle outside Fishkill Correctional Facility in upstate New York to enjoying his first post-prison meal at iHop.
G. Dep’s initial sentence of 15 years to life previously included stipulations that prevented him from requesting parole before the 15-year mark. His clemency grant, however, allowed him to petition the parole board after serving 13 years.
Back in 1993, the then-18-year-old rapper tried to rob someone at gunpoint in East Harlem, New York. The victim, who was later identified as 32-year-old John Henkel, resisted the robbery, leading to Dep firing off three bullets and fleeing the scene without checking on his victim.
AD LOADING...
Unfortunately, Henkel died from his injuries and law enforcement were unable to solve the murder until the case eventually went cold. Meanwhile, G. Dep signed a deal with Diddy‘s label and went on to release his debut album Child of the Ghetto, spawning hits such as “Let’s Get It” and “Special Delivery.”
In 2010, Dep finally turned himself in, and was handed the aforementioned prison sentence two years later.
In an interview with The New York Post from Rikers Island shortly after he was locked up, the rapper said he was content with his life choices.
“Maybe at the end of serving time or after looking back, someone might feel differently,” he said. “But now I feel what I did was right.”
AD LOADING...
He also revealed what he would tell his teenage self, saying: “I would have told myself to stop playing with guns. Sometimes you think things happen for a reason, and if I wasn’t who I was then, like maybe my daughter would have never been born.”
Dep admitted that he still hadn’t forgiven himself but that he was “working on it,” adding that his family was starting to understand why he confessed to the murder nearly 20 years later.
AD LOADING...
“I think my daughter understands why,” he explained. “My sons, they know that I’m in jail. I talk to them a lot.”
