ysl trial

Hip- hop has seen its fair share of high-profile criminal trials, but perhaps none will be more impactful to the genre as a whole than the ongoing racketeering trial against Atlanta rapper Young Thug and his crew, YSL. While YSL is ostensibly the name of Thug’s record label, according to Georgia prosecutors, it’s actually the title of a violent street gang, Young Slime Life, with the trapper turned rapper at its head.

Over the past few months, it seems all of hip-hop culture’s eyes have been on the court proceedings due to the impact their outcome could have — not just on Young Thug and YSL, but on hip-hop as a whole. Because the Fulton County District Attorney’s indictment cites Thug’s lyrics as the main evidence against him for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, the case has drawn national attention, with many observers calling this decision prejudiced against a musical form invented and primarily practiced by Black artists.

Because of the case’s import, plenty lf people will naturally want to follow it in real time, and fortunately for them, the trial is being livestreamed by multiple networks, a testament to public interest in the case. Among the networks livestreaming the trial are Fox 5 Atlanta, Law & Crime Network, and Atlanta News First.

In addition, in-depth coverage and commentary has been provided throughout by legal affairs journalist Meghann Cuniff, who gained attention during the assault trial against Tory Lanez for shooting Megan Thee Stallion (she aslo gained the affectionate nickname Meghann Thee Reporter from followers online). Her YouTube channel also includes a stream and her commentary with explanations and breakdowns for those viewers who aren’t familiar with legal proceedings.

The trial is currently on hiatus and scheduled to restart on January 22.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The racketeering trial against Young Thug and his record label, YSL Records, continued this week after being delayed by a stabbing involving one of the defendants. However, it didn’t take long for the trial to endure further interruptions. The Zoom call through which several of the participants were streaming experienced a break-in from a fan, who shouted “Free Thug! Mistrial!” several times before the stream was cut.

As the trial continued today, a more run-of-the-mill video was played in court: That of Rich Gang’s 2014 hit “Lifestyle” which featured Young Thug and fellow Atlanta rapper Rich Homie Quan. The video was apparently played by Young Thug’s lawyer Brian Steel as part of a line of questioning toward witness Trontavious “Tick” Stephen.

According to legal affairs reporter Meghan Cuniff, who has followed and reported the trial via livestream, the lawyer aims to demonstrate that Tick’s cooperation comes from his eagerness to cut his own sentence short, rather than any particular knowledge of alleged misdeeds committed by the supposed “gang,” YSL. From the clip played, it’s unclear how it’d play into Steel’s line of questioning, but according to Cuniff, the judge did not allow it to be admitted as evidence, preferring that it be submitted during a different testimony.

Unfortunately, as Cuniff points out, Steel won’t have much of an opportunity to do so for a while; Judge Ural Glanville has recessed the trial until January 22.

Young Thug is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.