Young Thug trial – update: Judge rips lawyers in YSL Rico case

Young Thug aka Jeffery Williams is being painted as the head of YSL by the state.

“The defendant Jeffery Williams’ words and actions betrayed his participation in the conspiracy,” Ms Love said.

He rented a car, despite owning a car, that other YSL members used to “notoriously gun down Donovan Thomas,” the prosecutor added.

YSL is Young Thug’s own record label – Young Slime Life. Artists on his record label are considered part of the “Slime Family,” and a compilation album, “Slime Language 2,” rose to number one on the US charts in April 2021.

Its artists include Gunna and Lil Keed, though several contemporary artists, including Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, Lil Baby, and Travis Scott have also expressed allegiance to YSL without being contractually signed.

However, according to prosecutors, YSL is actually a “criminal street gang”, which started out in the Cleveland Avenue area of Atlanta and claims affiliation to the national Bloods gang.

According to a sprawling 88-page indictment, the members of YSL use “a variety of identifiers including colours, clothing, tattoos, and hand signs” to show their allegiance to the group.

The most predominant colours used by members of YSL are red for Bloods and green for Slime.

Defence attorneys meanwhile insist that YSL is just a music label.

Where does Young Thug fit in?

The indictment portrays Young Thug as the leader of the criminal gang, which was responsible for multiple violent crimes, including murders, shootings and carjackings.

Prosecutors say the rapper also used his music and social media posts to promote the gang,

He is also alleged to have committed multiple crimes that he has not been charged with.

While he is not being charged for such “overt acts”, they lend credence to the allegation that the group of defendants were together engaged in a criminal conspiracy.

Brian Steel, Young Thug’s lawyer, told The New York Times: “Mr Williams came from an incredibly horrible upbringing, and he has conducted himself throughout his life in a way that is just to marvel at. He’s committed no crime whatsoever.”

How has the music industry reacted to the trial?

Several big names in the music industry have expressed support for YSL and hit out at prosecutors’ efforts to use their own lyrics against them.

Canadian superstar Drake referenced the case in the track Sticky on his new album Honestly, Nevermind.

“Somebody’s getting paid and/Free Big Slime out the cage,” Drake says in the song.

Killer Mike of rap group Run The Jewels previously told ABC News: “Hip hop is not respected as an art because Black people in this country are not recognised as full human beings.

“If we allow the courts to prosecute these men based on characters they created and stories of pretend that they tell in rhyme then next, they’ll be at your door.”

Prosecution pointing out patterns

YSL uses a certain set of symbols and other idiosyncrasies to identify themselves, according to Prosecutor Love. These included:

• substituting the letter “C” with the letter “B,” like “Bleveland” vs Cleveland or “Bhris” vs Chris
• using certain emojis: Green Heart, Green Snake, Blowing Nose, and Green Vomit emojis
• using certain hand signs

ICYMI: What happened at the Young Thug trial

Today was a rocky start to the hotly anticipated trial of rapper Young Thug, aka Jeffery Williams, and 28 other defendants who are allegedly involved in the criminal gang YSL; the defence argues that YSL is merely a record label.

The trial was immediately delayed by an hour and a half, as the court was waiting for one late juror.

Then, the prosecution started its opening statements, which were met with numerous objections, and some disagreement over whether the prosecution provided the defence with slides it was showing the jurors.

The jury then had to leave, came back briefly, before being let off for a lunch recess.

After the court returned from lunch, the judge snapped at attorneys from both sides for having “wasted two hours.”

Hours after she began, prosecutor Adriane Love resumed her opening statement, which focused on depicting how YSL operates and portraying Mr Williams as the ringleader. She also already incorporated some of the defendants’ lyrics — the inclusion of which was itself a heated topic ahead of the trial.

WATCH: Prosecutor addressed the finding of certain lyrics, a pressure point ahead of the trial

Has the case been controversial?

The use of lyrics from rappers associated with YSL and Young Thug in the case has been an ongoing point of contention.

Earlier this month, Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville ruled that he would allow prosecutors to introduce 17 sets of lyrics, as long as they can show that the lyrics are related to crimes that the rapper and other defendants are accused of committing.

Defence attorneys had asked the judge to exclude them, arguing the lyrics are constitutionally protected speech and would be unfairly prejudicial.

“The question is not rap lyrics. The question is gang lyrics,” prosecutor Mike Carlson said, during a pre-trial hearing. “These are party admissions. They happen to come in the form of lyrics.”

Mr Carlson had argued that First Amendment speech protections do not apply because the defendants are not being prosecuted for their lyrics. Instead, he said, the lyrics refer to the criminal act or the criminal intent related to the charges.

Another prosecutor, Simone Hylton, also separated the lyrics into three categories: those that prove the existence of YSL as an enterprise, those that show the gang’s behaviour and actions, and those that show that Young Thug is a leader of the gang.

Born in 1991 as Jeffrey Lamar Williams, Young Thug is an Atlanta-born rapper. He also goes by the name Slime.

After starting his career at the age of 19, he signed with Gucci Mane’s record label, and went on to become one of the most influential artists on the contemporary hip-hop and trap music scene.

His first two albums “So Much Fun”, in 2019, and “Punk”, in 2021, debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, as did his 2021 joint compilation album with Gunna, “Slime Language 2”.

Young Thug has also featured in multiple collaborations that have earned him several number one hits.

These include guest spots on Camila Cabello’s Havana in 2018, Travis Scott and MIA’s Franchise in 2020 and Drake and Future’s Way 2 Sexy in 2021, all of which topped the Billboard Hot 100.

He also co-wrote the hit song This Is America with Childish Gambino, real name Donald Glover, which became the first hip-hop track to win Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards in 2019.

What has been said about Donovan Thomas

The case hinges on Donovan Thomas, whom the indictment describes as “an associate of a rival gang.” He was killed in a drive-by shooting on 10 January 2015.

Fulton County DA Fani Willis described Thomas’s killing led to a gang war that “created violence like Atlanta has never seen.”

The prosecutor accused Jeffery Williams aka Young Thug of renting a car, despite owning a car, that other YSL members used to “notoriously gun down Donovan Thomas.”

The defence argued that there are “no eyewitnesses” of Thomas’ killing and insinuated that Spencer Wright aka “fabricated” seeing the killing, as he pointed out that Mr Wright initially used a false name — Nicholas Robinson — when talking to investigators.

Then, using Mr Wright’s word, detectives got warrants for his client, Shannon Stillwell, among others, he said.