Larry Hoover Jr. is grateful to Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, for the role he played in getting his father’s sentence commuted. Speaking with TMZ, he credited the rapper and Kim Kardashian for starting the “Free Hoover” movement on behalf of his father, Larry Hoover, and introducing him to the “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson.

“He had a very big part because he started it all off. He put us on the platform. He took us to the White House on his platform when he didn’t have to do that,” the younger Hoover said. “We know he don’t have a problem with sticking his neck out there about what he believes in, and I’m glad he believed in this.”

According to ABC News, President Donald Trump recently commuted the federal life sentence of the elder Hoover, the founder of the Gangster Disciples, who spent nearly three decades in solitary confinement at ADX Florence in Colorado.

Chance the Rapper reacted to the news, alleging the elder Hoover “was a political prisoner that was set up by the federal government.”

“He did so many things to really, like, mobilize our people. And he was really targeted for that s***. … I just want to say, I’m so glad that he’s home, and God bless his family,” Chance said. 

However, Hoover still faces a 200-year state sentence for the 1973 murder of William “Pooky” Young, a 19-year-old neighborhood drug dealer in Chicago. Hoover is expected to be transferred to a prison in Illinois.

Hoover’s case has drawn significant attention from high-profile figures, including Ye and Drake, who set aside their differences in 2021 to perform at an Amazon-sponsored concert advocating for Hoover’s release.

NBA YoungBoy was also pardoned by Trump for his gun charges. “I want to thank President Trump for granting me a pardon and giving me the opportunity to keep building — as a man, as a father, and as an artist,” he wrote in an Instagram Story.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.