Over the last decade, the Atlanta rapper Young Thug has dropped a steady barrage of tracks about pistols and snipers, mob life and gangsters.“I never killed anybody, but I got something to do with that body, ” he rapped on the 2018 track “Anybody, ” featuring Nicki Minaj. “I told them to shoot a hundred rounds… ready for war like I’m Russia… I get all type of cash. I’m a general. ”By 2020, he was more brazen, issuing a direct challenge to authorities.“Take this s— to motherf— trial, ” Young Thug rapped on 2020’s “Take It to Trial” with two other artists on his Young Slime Life label, Gunna and Yak Gotti. According to a sweeping 56-count indictment filed by Georgia prosecutors, these weren’t streetwise fantasies or idle boasts. On Monday, Georgia prosecutors arrested Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, on felony charges of participating in gang activity and violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute. Controversially, the Grammy-winning rapper’s lyrics and social media posts are a key part of the indictment. In an 88-page document, Fulton County prosecutors list lyrics from nine of his songs, from 2014’s “Eww” to last year’s “Ski, ” a collaboration with Atlanta rapper Gunna, who is also named as a defendant. Prosecutors allege that the 30-year-old hip-hop star, known for his melodic, mournful flow and gender-bending fashion aesthetic, is a key founder and organizer of Young Slime Life, or YSL, a criminal street gang that engaged in or conspired to engage in violent crimes including murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, carjacking, theft and drug dealing. If Williams, who appeared before a Fulton County magistrate judge Tuesday and remains in jail until the case goes before Superior Court, is convicted of a RICO Act charge, he could face a jail sentence of up to 20 years and a fine of $250, 000. Williams’ attorney, Brian Steel, said the charges against his client — one of the most influential acts to emerge from Atlanta’s bustling hip-hop scene — were “baseless, ” and that Williams was “not involved with any criminal street gang activity whatsoever. ”But prosecutors allege Young Thug’s music is not mere artistry or gritty work of fiction, but propaganda designed to attract new recruits to YSL and inspire criminal acts of violence. The Fulton County district attorney’s office laid out a decadelong narrative that places Williams, who grew up in southwest Atlanta’s Sylvan Hills neighborhood, as one of three founders of Young Slime Life, a local gang established in 2012 that claims affiliation with the national Bloods gang. Using Georgia’s RICO statute, prosecutors identify Williams and 27 other people as members of what they allege is a criminal street gang that conspired to illegally obtain money and property through a pattern of racketeering activity including murder, aggravated assault and threats of violence.
All data is taken from the source: http://latimes.com
Article Link: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-05-10/young-thug-rico-lyrics-gang-ysl
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