Bella Shmurda doesn't smoke weed

Cash App singer, Abiola Akinbiyi, aka Bella Shmurda, says he gave up on smoking weed because it was messing up his body and mind.

The music star said in an interview with hosts of the In My Opinion Podcast he smoked weed at the beginning of his career but realised quickly he needed to stop.

When asked to state one thing difficult for people to believe about him, he quickly pointed at the substance that has become a signature of many of his industry colleagues.

"I used to (smoke weed) but I started having anxiety. I started getting scared of the future. So, four years ago, I stopped," he said.

The star said he's fine with people smoking the substance around him, but would be affected if he smoked it himself. To fill that gap, Shmurda prefers to kick back with cigarettes and liquor to feel good.

Upon further probing, the 28-year-old said, in his case, smoking weed did not help him be more creative, a claim popularly made about the substance, still considered illegal in Nigeria.

"Everything I was doing with smoking weed, I was having anxiety. At a point, I can be doing music and be like stop. I would just be lost in the middle. It wasn't working anymore. It wasn't helping," he said.

In a recent documentary by WeTalk Sound, Shmurda stated that his son has inspired him to be better and expressed a desire to create a lasting legacy for the boy he announced to the world in November 2023.

The music star plans to drop two projects in 2024. The first is an EP that would be followed by an album to be released in September in honour of his friend, Mohbad, who died last year.