American rapper Young Thug was released Thursday, October 31, after pleading guilty to gang involvement, ending nearly two years of a sprawling organized crime trial punctuated by theatrics. The trial was particularly controversial when prosecutors used extracts from songs as evidence of criminal acts, a practice which had been accused of being racist and contrary to freedom of expression and artistic freedom.
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Real name Jeffery Lamar Williams, the 33-year-old artist has been released from custody, public records from the Georgia state prison system in the southeastern United States show. UNITED STATES. According to the New York Timeshe was sentenced to 15 years of probation in addition to time served since his arrest in May 2022.
The rapper was released after pleading guilty in a court in Atlanta, Georgia’s capital, to six charges, including possession of drugs and firearms and engaging in organized criminal activity.
According to the prosecution, Young Thug’s label, Young Stoner Life Records, was only a front for a branch of the Bloods gang. This had been identified as Young Slime Life, or YSL, involved in murders, drug trafficking and violent car thefts, and of which the rapper was the leader, according to the prosecution. “ The evidence will show you that YSL checks all the boxes of a criminal street gang”declared prosecutor Adriane Love during her opening argument, on November 23, 2023.
This interminable trial was punctuated by dramatic events. Judge Ural Glanville, who presided over a 10-month jury selection and then eight months of proceedings, had to recuse himself in July for arranging a meeting with prosecutors and a key witness, without informing all parties. He was replaced by another magistrate, Paige Reese Whitaker.
Controversies
The trial of Young Thug, an avant-garde figure in Atlanta rap, was also punctuated by controversy. Prosecutors considered, as evidence of criminal acts, excerpts of songs from several artists, including Young Thug. This practice was then accused of being racist and an attack on artistic freedom by supporters of freedom of expression and professionals in the sector.
“ We didn’t look for the words to solve the case, we solved the case and we found the words “, put the prosecutor into perspective.
Adriane Love had read verses from the song “Take it to trial”, and highlighted their “ uncanny resemblance to very true, very real, and very specific events “. Young Thug’s lawyers sought to exclude those lyrics from the exhibits, saying the use of verses could unfairly influence jurors.
The arrest in May 2022 of the singer of “Best Friend”, “Hot” or “Check”, was a shock for the influential Atlanta hip-hop scene. He was charged among 28 other people accused of belonging to the gang.
Young Thug won a Grammy Award in 2019 as co-writer of the best song » of the year, “This is America”. He grew up in a poor suburb of Atlanta, this city in the southeast of the United States, which has become the nerve center of rap in recent years. He has collaborated with the biggest names in rap and pop, from Drake to Travis Scott, including Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and Elton John.