Young Thug, an American rapper, was set to go on trial Monday on charges that his record label is a front for a criminal organization.
WSB-TV
The influential hip-hop star, born Jeffery Williams, was one of more than two dozen people charged by a Georgia grand jury last spring, which said those named belonged to the Young Slime Life, or YSL, branch of the Bloods street gang.
The indictment shook the hip-hop world in Atlanta, where Young Thug is regarded as one of the industry’s most influential figures, having helped shape the sound of modern rap.
Georgia prosecutors charged all of the defendants with conspiracy to violate the state’s criminal racketeering law, which is modeled after the federal law RICO ACT.
This statute was first used to prosecute the mob, and it was recently used to convict R&B singer R. Kelly for sex crimes.
Murder, assault, carjacking, drug dealing, and theft are among the alleged individual crimes supporting the YSL conspiracy charge.
Young Thug, who founded the hip-hop and trap label YSL Records in 2016, is also charged with one count of criminal street gang activity.
Defense lawyers argue that YSL, also known as Young Stoner Life Records, is merely a record label and a loose collective of artists.
Prosecutors are displaying rap lyrics from artists such as Young Thug and Gunna, who were both charged but accepted a plea deal, as well as a line from a posthumous Juice WRLD single.
“I think if you decide to admit your crimes over a beat, I’m going to use it,” said Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, which includes Atlanta.
‘Rap on Trial’
It is not the first time hip-hop lyrics have been used in court, a practice that has sparked controversy on several occasions.
Erik Nielson, a professor at the University of Richmond and an expert on the use of rap music as evidence in criminal trials, will almost certainly testify for the defense as an expert witness.
His 2019 book, “Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America,” co-written with Andrea L. Dennis, contends that courts routinely use out-of-context lyrics to criminalize and imprison both professional and aspiring Black and brown rappers.
In the six to nine-month trial, 14 of the 28 people named in the YSL indictment are expected to testify.
Six of the original defendants will be tried separately, and eight have accepted plea bargains, including Gunna and Young Thug’s brother, Quantavious Grier.
The state could call more than 300 witnesses, including well-known rap artists like Lil Wayne, according to court documents.
