Music

Young Thug’s arrest sent shockwaves through the rap community. On May 9, 2022, the YSL rapper was apprehended along with 27 other alleged gang members as part of a sprawling 56-count indictment. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis alleged that Thug – born Jeffery Williams – was the leader of the Young Slime Life operation and dubbed him “King Slime.” 

Thugger was hit with charges for allegedly participating in violent street activities and conspiring to violate the RICO Act. He was tied to accusations of murder, assault, robbery, theft, gun possession, illegal drug possession and more around the Atlanta area since 2012.

Less than 48 hours after Thug was taken into custody, Gunna – born Sergio Kitchens – turned himself in. The YSL rapper was charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. 

“Mr. Sergio Kitchens, known as Gunna, is innocent. The indictment falsely portrays his music as part of criminal conspiracy,” Gunna’s attorneys Donald F. Samuel, John A. Garland and Kristen W. Novay said in a joint statement.

Thug’s Buckhead, Ga., home was raided by police at the time of his arrest in May. The drugs and weapons reportedly recovered by authorities resulted in an additional seven felonies being tacked onto his charges, including possessing illegal firearms and possessing drugs with intention to distribute.

Young Thug got a bond hearing a month after being arrested, but he was denied bail. Prosecutors labeled him the head of the operation and the “most dangerous” part of the alleged gang, and argued he shouldn’t be allowed to have access to the streets again. They also feared witness intimidation could be in play if Thug walked out of jail. Thug’s team tried to argue that he was needed at home as a father and a pillar of the Atlanta community, to no avail. 

His requests for bail have been repeatedly denied, with the fourth request being rejected July 2023.

Gunna spent his 29th birthday behind bars but released a statement on social media proclaiming his innocence in the case with the RICO charge levied against him. “For now, I don’t have my freedom,” he wrote in part. “But I am innocent. I am being falsely accused and will never stop fighting to clear my name!”

The YSL rapper added in the caption of the post: “22 & 2, just a bed & a shower, no windows just walls. Can’t see or talk to anyone. I’m writing now & still praying everyday. I was raised to fight fire with water, even tho my country’s amendments have failed me! PROTECT BLACK ART!”

See his full statement below:

Young Thug faced six additional felony charges as a new indictment hit Fulton County Superior Court in August 2023, per the Associated Press. The new charges stemmed from the raid of Thug’s Buckhead home in May 2022 during his arrest.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Thug faces changes for participating in criminal street gang activity, violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, firearm possession during a felony, possession of a machine gun and drug charges.

Thug’s attorney, Brian Steel, maintained his client’s innocence. “Mr. Williams has committed absolutely no crimes,” Steel told the AJC. “We cannot wait for a trial date.”

Gunna entered an Alford Plea deal in December 2022, which essentially mean he can plead guilty while maintaining his innocence. 

The YSL rapper ended up pleading guilty to the single conspiracy RICO charge against him and received a suspended sentence of five years behind bars; Gunna was released because he was credited with one year of time served.

“While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way,” the rapper said in a statement after the plea deal.

Gunna laid low for much of the first month since regaining his freedom as snitching allegations flooded social media. The “Fukumean” rapper spoke out on social media with a photo of himself at his home studio, and declared himself back and called for Young Thug’s freedom.

“N—-s acting like they switching to a side But it’s only one side,” he wrote. “#YsltheLabel #FreeThug&Yak GUNNA BACC!!!!!”

YSL co-defendant Kahlieff Adams walked across the Fulton County courtroom for an alleged narcotics exchange with Young Thug during a court hearing. However, Thug is off the hook and Adams was hit with new charges after being found in possession of more drugs by deputies following the alleged contraband hand-off.

Thug fell ill during a May 2023 court proceeding and was hospitalized briefly. Details of his situation were not provided due to medical privacy laws. “I know he’s had some difficulty of a similar sort at the Cobb County Jail a few months ago, and so I’m obviously concerned about his wellbeing,” Thug’s attorney said to the judge.

Young Thug’s legal team had previously complained that the rapper was suffering from exhaustion in jail during an April 2023 hearing. 

“Mr. Williams is sleep deprived, mandated to wake up on court days between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. and not having more than five hours of sleep per night,” his attorneys said. “By the end of the week, Mr. Williams is fighting to pay attention to the goings on in his case.”

Gunna returned with his A Gift & a Curse album in June 2023. The project arrived free of features and included his Hot 100 hit “Fukumean.” The LP served as his first since 2022’s DS4EVER and debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 85,000 album equivalent units sold in the first week. 

A week after Gunna returned, Thug dropped his Business Is Business album while still incarcerated – his first from behind bars. The LP debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 89,000 album units and was a star-studded affair, featuring appearances from Drake, Future, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert and more. 

Despite hours of deliberation and arguments from the defense, Judge Ural Glanville ruled that lyrics were not protected by the First Amendment. Seventeen sets of lyrics will be used against Young Thug and his YSL co-defendants as part of the case. 

“They’re not prosecuting your clients because of the songs they wrote,” Glanville said. “They’re using the songs to prove other things your clients may have been involved in. I don’t think it’s an attack on free speech.”

The much-delayed trial finally began on Nov. 27, 2023, and Thug’s attorney Brian Steel delivered the first viral moment of the trial when he shocked viewers and the prosecution with his alternate definition of his client’s artistic moniker, which he defined as “Truly Humble Under God.” He also explained that “Pushin P” was just “pushing positivity” and YSL was named after the Yves Saint Laurent fashion designer. 

YSL co-defendant Shannon Stillwell was stabbed multiple times at Fulton Country Jail by another inmate who entered his cell. Stillwell survived his injuries after being stabbed in the back, stomach and shoulder. He is one of the six YSL defendants left in the case heading to trial.

Per WSB-TV, inmate Willie Brown admitted to stabbing Stillwell multiple times after taking the knife out of Stillwell’s hands. “I went into his room and he [Stillwell] pulled out a knife on me and [I] took it from him and stabbed him with it,” Brown reportedly told investigators.

Trontavious Stephens took the witness stand after agreeing to a plea deal with eight years of probation. Stephens — who also goes by Tick and Slug — identified himself, Young Thug and Walter Murphy as the founding members of YSL, though he gave the prosecution trouble while having a tough time recalling certain events when he took the stand on Jan. 3, 2024.

Stephens claimed on the stand the next day that YSL was a record label first before anything and looked to be a positive evolution of the Raised on Cleveland street gang, which has Blood ties. “YSL is a music label. Music happened first. That was the approach,” he said, according to 11Alive. “Music.”

Thug’s legal team turned the tables when they played Rich Gang’s “Lifestyle” – Thug’s 2014 breakout hit – in an attempt to convince the jury this was merely art and he had no legitimate gang ties. While others wore Bloods-colored clothing in the extravagant music video, Thugger didn’t have on an ounce of red. Thug didn’t have much of any reaction to the track being played in court.

This marked another moment from the trial that caught fire on social media and went viral. 

Attorney Nicole Fegan represented a former co-defendant of the YSL trial named Tenquarius Mender, and was herself arrested in court on charges related to a separate 2022 Atlanta gang shooting. She was charged with participating in criminal street gang activity and evidence tampering.

Fegan has been accused of telling the alleged gunman to dispose of the murder weapon, and she allegedly made contact with a separate defendant about an active arrest warrant, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Mender’s case was separated from Young Thug’s in May 2023, and will be tried separately.

The prosecution played a 911 phone call in court made by an anonymous woman on Sept. 11, 2013, in which she identified Young Thug as the gunman in a shooting of a mutual friend. “They came to my house and told me that the guy who shot somebody’s name was Young Thug, whoever that’s supposed to be,” she can be heard saying. 

Prosecutors called Adrien Bean to the stand to get his testimony about his comments regarding Young Thug’s alleged gang ties, which Bean made when he was arrested in connection to a drive-by shooting. 

However, the hearing took a turn when Bean claimed he was intoxicated and urged court personnel to bring him a bottle of water. “Can I get a water or something? I’m so high right now, y’all, I’m about to go to sleep on y’all now. I am,” Bean said.

Judge Glanville granted Bean’s request and allowed him to finish testifying.

Thug’s attorneys filed a motion to have Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Adriane Love taken off the YSL RICO trial, but the request was denied by Judge Glanville, according to WSB-TV. Thug’s lawyer, Brian Steel, believed that Love was “continuously” injecting herself as an unsworn witness in the case with her methods of questioning the alleged victim of a 2013 robbery on the stand. Love started statements with “Isn’t it true you told me,” which Thug’s team took issue with.

However, the requests to have Love take the stand or off the case altogether were denied.