Young Thug has more legal problems as he is currently being sued by concert promoter A-1 Concert Entertainment, which paid the rapper a $150,000 advance to perform at Atlanta`s State Farm Arena on June 18, but was unable to perform due to his recent arrest, according to HipHopDX. On May 9, prosecutors revealed an 88-page indictment against Young Thug, Gunna and 26 others, alleging that their “YSL” was not a label called “Young Stoner Life,” but a violent street gang called “Young Slime Life” that had “devastated” Atlanta over the past decade. The charges included murder, carjacking, armed robbery, drug trafficking and illegal possession of weapons. Sidney Madden: RICO is most often used as a tactic to sweep entire street gangs, and the definition of a street gang becomes really vague when you look at it in black communities. When prosecutors apply RICO to rap, it`s not just the rappers who get caught up in the system, it`s their entire team and their entourage. Everyone is roped up and classified as a gang member. In the midst of Young Thugs, according to RICO, a trial date was finally set for October 24, 2023. However, the Atlanta rapper faces other legal issues alongside these two. Williams was also sued for $150,000 for a concert in Atlanta he was supposed to give in June. However, due to his arrest, it could not happen, so the organizers want their bail back.

M. Williams allegedly committed a series of illegal acts for which he is not charged, but which are described as “manifest acts” aimed at furthering the group`s criminal conspiracy. These allegations include a case of threatening to kill in a shopping mall and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute it. Lord. Williams also reportedly rented a silver Infiniti Q50 sedan used in the January 2015 murder of rival gang leader Donovan Thomas Jr. Monday`s indictment says that in December 2020, Williams appeared in a video for a song full of violent language, boasting of the good life and legal success. Its title: “Take It to Trial”. Book your tickets, get times and itineraries, and check out our special experiences and audio tours. However, Monday`s 88-page indictment alleges the gang was involved in a variety of illegal activities, including witness intimidation, murder, attempted murder, carjacking, robbery, theft and drug trafficking. A number of people are cited as victims of shootings or attempted shootings, including Dwayne Carter, the New Orleans hip-hop star who raps under the name Lil Wayne, and whose tour bus was shot dead by a YSL member named Jimmy Winfrey in April 2015, according to the indictment. The 28 defendants are also accused of violating Georgia`s law on the influence of racketeering and corrupt organizations (Rico), which was passed to bring charges against gangs and organized crime. The 88-page indictment names Lil Wayne as the victim, whose tour bus was allegedly shot dead by a YSL employee in 2015.

Meanwhile, a bill is being introduced in New York that restricts the use of rap lyrics used as evidence in criminal cases. But this bill is still being debated in the New York Senate. In 2019, the Supreme Court refused to hear a “text in court,” despite pressure from many notable artists such as Chance the Rapper, Meek Mill and Killer Mike. Decisions like these continue to set legal precedents, and since this happens almost exclusively in hip-hop, it`s almost impossible to see it other than through a racial lens. ATLANTA (AP) — Rap star Young Thug, one of the most influential artists in Atlanta`s famously fertile hip-hop scene, was arrested Monday on suspicion of gang involvement and conspiracy to violate Georgia`s punitive extortion law. The rapper, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, was indicted in a grand jury indictment that identified him and 27 others as members of the same criminal street gang and charged some of them with violent crimes such as murder and attempted armed robbery. Twenty-eight employees of rapper label Young Stoner Life have been charged with a variety of charges, ranging from murder to robbery to drug trafficking. Carmichael: That`s the dichotomy we`re living in right now. Basically, we have a music industry that rewards artists who take advantage of their connection to the street. On the other hand, we have a justice system that is determined to criminalize the same ties – whether they are real links, whether they are dramatized.

For young people who have been seduced by the spotlight and are often looking for a way off the streets, rapping about where you came from and the things you or your people were doing on the street has the potential to earn millions of dollars a year — or years in prison. If you`re an icon like Young Thug, maybe both. In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams suggested this year that social media companies ban certain video clips of graphic rap artists after two aspiring rappers were killed in Brooklyn. “I mean, we removed Trump from Twitter because of what he spat out, but we allow music — showing guns, violence — we allow him to stay on those pages,” Adams said. Carmichael: It talks about another thing we talked about a lot in the first season [of LOTR], which is the fact that the artistic merits of hip-hop are not judged in the same way as other genres. It is not considered creativity or even genius, but only an autobiography. Like, “How can people make this stuff up, especially black kids? They just have to rap what they know. This strikes at the most damaging way in which black art and black music are judged in this country.

The indictment alleges Williams is one of the founders of Young Slime Life, a criminal street gang that began in Atlanta in 2012 and is affiliated with the national Bloods gang. Sir. Williams` successful label was called YSL Records or Young Stoner Life Records; The label refers to its artists as part of the “Slime Family”, and a compilation album titled “Slime Language 2” reached No. 1 on the charts in April 2021. Williams` arrest at a home in affluent Buckhead was confirmed Monday night by Jeff DiSantis, a spokesman for Willis` office, who said several other people named in the indictment had also been arrested. Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Williams, has been held in an Atlanta jail and will appear in court for an initial hearing on Tuesday. He is charged with “involvement in criminal street gang activities”. The indictment comes at a time when other metropolitan lawmakers and law enforcement officials are concerned about hip-hop artists and their ties to criminal activity as the country struggles to curb a nationwide rise in violent crime. These concerns, and opposition from civil rights activists and hip-hop fans, mirror debates in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when explicitly violent lyrics sparked controversy in the emerging gangster rap genre. Rodney Carmichael: The truth is that rappers – at least in this country – are predominantly black.

This means that nine out of 10 cases are from communities that have historically been subject to over-surveillance. Just like walking, while Black stopped and risked you in New York in the early 2000s, rap, while Black definitely put you in the NYPD hip-hop case watch queue at the time. In the first season of Louder Than A Riot, you recorded the rise of rapper Bobby Shmurda, and then his indictment and arrest as he grew up. He found himself embroiled in a case where prosecutors said he was part of a gang and could be the linchpin of it. Can you talk about some of the similarities with what happened with Bobby Shmurda and what seems to be happening with Young Thug and Gunna right now? Last week, the Fulton County District Attorney in Atlanta charged rapper Young Thug (pictured) with allegedly participating in street gang activity and violating RICO. SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP via Getty Images Hide caption. Based on the cover of the next Young Thug project, it should be better what I think. pic.twitter.com/sRUhSdYGrb Carmichael: That is a good question. This is the one we really asked for and confused in the first season of Louder Than A Riot.

In our coverage this season, we spoke to this gang expert and academic, Babe Howell, and she really explained for us this difference between gangs in a more organized sense and fair neighborhood teams, which are much more disorganized and usually run by teenagers — young people who grew up with each other and who, she says, studies show. that it is really more likely to get out of this phase of youth crime, unless they are involved in the system.