NEW YORK: A wide-ranging gang conspiracy trial involving US rapper Young Thug is expected to begin on Monday, with prosecutors accusing the Atlanta artist’s record label of being a front for a crime ring.
The influential hip-hop star, born Jeffrey Williams, was one of more than two dozen people indicted by a Georgia grand jury last spring, alleging ties to an offshoot of the Bloods street gang. , identified as Young Slime Life or YSL.
The indictment shook the rap world in Atlanta — a hotbed of hip-hop for years and where Young Thug is considered one of the most influential figures in the contemporary rap sound industry.
Georgia prosecutors charged all defendants with conspiracy to violate the state’s criminal racketeering statute, which is modeled after the federal RICO Act.
In its early days, the law was used to go after mobsters, and it recently took down disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly for sex crimes.
The alleged individual crimes supporting the YSL conspiracy charge include murder, assault, carjacking, drug dealing and theft.
Young Thug, who founded hip-hop and trap label YSL Records in 2016, also faces one count of participating in criminal gang activity.
Defense lawyers insist that YSL – also known as Young Stoner Life Records – is nothing more than a label and vague association of artists.
Controversially, prosecutors are withholding rap lyrics from musicians including Young Thug as well as Gunna — who was also indicted but took a plea deal — and even from a posthumous Juice WRLD single. One more time.
“I think if you decide to plead guilty to a charge, I’m going to use it,” said Fannie Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. (AFP)