The YSL RICO trial has the very culture of hip-hop in its veins. It’s obviously very literally related to rap music as rappers are directly involved. Gunna, YFN Lucci, and most notoriously Young Thug are directly related to the case. It’s also intersected with plenty of other high-profile artists and notable moments in rap. The use of Thug’s lyrics has introduced rappers like Juice Wrld into the mix. Thug’s attorneys even once brought up Lil Uzi Vert’s notorious forehead diamond to explain a particular lyric used by the defense.
Now, yet another iconic piece of hip-hop lore is coming up in the trial. Young Thug’s attorneys have been trying to fight back against the prosecution’s claims of gang affiliations for weeks now. One of the major ways they’ve done that is by attacking the very notion that many of the gang signs cited by the prosecution necessarily imply gang affiliation. They used clips of athletes like Serena Williams and LeBron James to show that gang culture reaches far beyond those directly affiliated. For similar reasons, the defense played clips of Snoop Dogg’s Super Bowl performance in court. They aimed to prove that gang culture is so deeply ingrained in rap that it doesn’t work as direct proof of any actual gang affiliations.
Young Thug’s attorney is playing Snoop Dogg’s Super Bowl performance to show him wearing blue and crip walking. His goal is to show that gang culture is prevalent in hip-hop culture.
Last week, the prosecution in the trial tried to shut down the livestream fans have been using to watch the trial. After incidents like threatening comments made in the Zoom call and even an outright hack, they claim that the harm outweighs the good. Despite that claim the livestream is still available and today’s proceedings are currently available to watch online. One of YSL’s co-founders is back in court today answering even more questions about the label.
What do you think of Young Thug’s attorney playing a clip of Snoop Dogg performing during his trial? Do you think it does a good job of proving how engrained gang culture in in rap music? Let us know in the comment section below.
Crime Mob, a pioneering force in the Southern Hip Hop scene, rose to prominence in the mid-2000s. Within that decade, the Atlanta-based group left its mark with hits like “Rock Yo Hips” and the classic “Knuck If You Buck.” With their distinct blend of crunk and unapologetic lyrics, the group earned a dedicated fan base and cemented their place in the genre’s history. Their work has also been sampled by artists like Erica Banks. As the years passed, the members of Crime Mob have navigated various personal and professional paths. For fans of the group who have wondered where they are now, here’s what they have been up to.
Crime Mob
Formed in 2002, Crime Mob was originally a group of six rappers, including M.I.G., Cyco Blac, Diamond, Princess, Lil’ Jay, and Killa C. However, following his arrest in 2003, Killa C left the group before they debuted in the music scene. Subsequently, Crime Mob introduced themselves to the world with their debut single, “Knuck If You Buck,” in 2004. Soon after, in August 2004, their self-titled debut album dropped. It appeared on the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at No. 90. However, it failed to sell enough units to earn a Gold certification from RIAA. Nonetheless, it brought Crime Mob national fame and set the stage for the success of their subsequent release.
In 2006, Crime Mob released their sophomore album, Hated on Mostly. Peaking at No. 31 on the Billboard 200, it is the group’s highest-charting album. While it isn’t certified in the US, the album spawned the hit song “Rock Yo Hips” ft. Lil Scrappy. Being that it peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Rock Yo Hips” is the group’s highest-charting single.
Since 2006, Crime Mob has not released any new albums. They disbanded in 2007 and only briefly reunited in 2012 to perform at Atlanta’s Hot 107.9’s Birthday Bash. Everybody but Princess was present for the performance, and afterward, Crime Mob wasn’t seen together again for a while. However, in 2018, Mike Will Made It succeeded in getting the group back together to feature on “We Can Hit” from the Creed II movie soundtrack. While Crime Mob hasn’t released any new material since then, the group has continued to perform at festivals, shows, and whatnot.
After Crime Mob initially broke up, M.I.G. released his mixtape Small Circle, No Squares in 2010. While he hasn’t released any additional projects since, the rapper has continued working on music and performing with Crime Mob. He is also very active on social media. M.I.G. often gives fans glimpses of his personal life, especially on Instagram.
While mostly keeping a low profile, rapper and producer Lil’ Jay has kept busy over the years. He has produced work for several prominent artists, including Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj. Besides his solo endeavors as a producer, Lil’ Jay has shown up for Crime Mob over the years. Moreover, he continues to perform with the group.
Princess
Younger sister of Lil’ Jay, Princess is one of only two women in Crime Mob. Since the group first separated in 2007, Princess has released a number of solo projects. These include Takin Ova the Throne, Dirty Pop, and PSA. In addition, she promised to release an EP titled Southern Comfort in 2016. However, the EP has yet to drop, but she did become a mother in 2016. Subsequently, in 2019, Princess released Vagina Power, a collaborative EP with Diamond.
The youngest member of Crime Mob, Diamond has built up a successful solo career over the years. Although she is no longer a group member, she certainly made her mark when she was and will always be remembered by fans of Crime Mob. Since her exit from the group, Diamond has worked with several prominent artists, including Ludacris, Gucci Mane, and Waka Flocka, among others. With over ten projects to her name, Diamond has the most extensive solo catalog of all members of Crime Mob. Her most recent body of work, Slim Thick Reloaded, was released in February 2022. She also dropped a handful of singles in 2023, including “Pop Off,” “Bab,” and “BBL.”
Like Lil’ Jay, Cyco Blac produced several songs for Crime Mob, including “Go to War” and “All Madden.” While information about Blac is limited, he has continued to produce over the years. Additionally, he has a family and owns a cell phone store in Atlanta. Besides that, he’s maintained a low-key personal life.
Killa C
Although he is one of the founding members of Crime Mob, Killa C unfortunately did not get to enjoy the group’s success. As aforementioned, he dropped out of Crime Mob before their debut single was released. He spent time in jail for failing to register as a sex offender after being found guilty of child molestation. After the ordeal, he kept a very low profile for many years. However, in 2016, he appeared with other Crime Mob members in a post-show interview. Since then, not much has been seen or heard about the rapper.
Ariana Grande, the GRAMMY® Award-winning and multi-platinum sensation, has once again conquered the charts with her latest single, “yes, and?”. The track debuted at an impressive #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Grande’s eighth chart-topping hit and her twenty-first song to secure a spot in the Top 10. This achievement solidifies her status as the only artist whose lead singles from all seven studio albums have debuted in the Top 10.
But that’s not all – “yes, and?” not only dominated the domestic charts but also soared to #1 on the Billboard Global 200 Chart, marking Grande’s third #1 on the global stage. The song also clinched the top spot on the Digital Song Sales Chart.
Ariana Grande’s Spotify reign continues with “yes, and?” making an explosive debut at #1 on the Spotify Global Chart, amassing 11.2 million streams. The single also claimed the #1 position on the Apple Music Top 100 Global chart, while its official music video secured the top spot on YouTube Trending for Music.
“yes, and?” serves as the lead single for Grande’s much-anticipated seventh full-length album, eternal sunshine, slated for release on March 8 via Republic Records. The single is a collaborative effort, with Grande taking on writing and production alongside Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh, while Christian Breslauer skillfully directs the official music video. Ariana Grande continues to prove her musical prowess and dominance on a global scale with yet another remarkable chart-topping success.
As fans eagerly await Ariana Grande’s new album, there was a growing interest in identifying her most popular tracks on music platforms and how much she earned per stream. By analyzing the number of listens on popular music platforms, three top tracks were identified – “7 rings,” “Save Your Tears,” and “One Last Time,” due to their significant streaming numbers. These songs have amassed impressive stream counts – for instance, on Spotify, “7 rings” reached 2.17 billion streams, “Save Your Tears” garnered 1.41 billion, and “One Last Time” hit 1.35 billion. In comparison, her new album’s track “yes, and?” accumulated 72.15 million streams on Spotify and 40 million on YouTube Music. The comparison team at CasinospotFR estimates that the new release has already earned Grande $288,605.09 on Spotify and $70,000 on YouTube Music, while the beloved “7 rings” has generated an astounding $8,683,932.51 on Spotify alone.
Chrisean Rock has opened up about her inability to ‘move on’ from Blueface, the father of her child, shedding light on the special connection they share.
The RICO trial against Young Thug and YSL resumed today, but there may be some changes going forward if the prosecution gets its way. According to Law&Crime Network producer Cathy Russon, the prosecution filed a motion asking Judge Ural Glanville to block video of witness testimonies for the rest of the trial. While audio would be allowed, witnesses’ full names would also be blocked from publication until after the testimonies. The matter of video will be settled during a hearing on Friday, February 2 at 3pm ET.
GA v. Jeffery Williams, et al is finally back today but will cameras be allowed? On Friday, the prosecution team filed a motion asking the judge to ban video and only allow audio for witnesses. They are also requesting that witnesses’ full names not be broadcast or published… pic.twitter.com/v2WFMUAXQG
Judge Glanville set a hearing for Friday, Feb 2nd at 3pm for the camera motion. I guess we get cameras and naming of the witnesses at least until then. #YSL#YoungThugpic.twitter.com/yBmKgb4Iti
This appears to be a belated effort by the District Attorney’s office to protect its witnesses from possible retaliation or tampering efforts, something the prosecutors claimed they were worried about from very early on in the case. Witness tampering concerns were among the arguments against granting Thug and his co-defendants bond for the near-year they were incarcerated. Arguably, the strategy was at least partially effective in pulling plea deals out of many of the co-defendants, including from Gunna and Thug’s brother Unfoonk. Despite all of those deals being so-called “Alford pleas” in which they only pled guilty to being in a gang, they’ve face recriminations from fans and fellow rappers for the past year.
Young Thug’s racketeering trial in Atlanta has been a train wreck from the get go.
Now prosecutors want to make it so we can only hear the train wreck, not see the train wreck.
The Fulton County DA’s motion cites threats and online “doxxing” that happened weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/SnmBXRvywY
Speaking of YSL gang leader (co-leader?) Trontavious Stephens, this clip of him answering questions from Chief Deputy DA Adriane Love about snitching is up to 7.6 million views on TikTok. https://t.co/FkcLY3c9sQpic.twitter.com/0g77yt8ovC
Since, Hot Girl Meg has collaborated with Reneé Rapp on Mean Girls track “Not My Fault” and released a NSFW song from the Big Mouth soundtrack, but she just reminded everybody that she’s still firmly in “Act One” of her snake emoji-fueled era.
This morning, January 22, Megan Thee Stallion announced “Hiss.” The single is due out this Friday, January 26, and is available to pre-save here. The “Hiss” cover art (or, one of them) finds Meg appearing completely nonplussed about having a shudder-inducing white snake wrapped around her neck and head.
“Cobra” and “Hiss” are presumably leading up to a Megan Thee Stallion album soon — her first since Traumazine in August 2022 — which is on Uproxx’s list of “Most Anticipated Albums Of 2024.” Aaron Williams previewed what can be expected, as excerpted below.
“New Year, new Stallion. The Hot Girl Coach finds herself in a much better place to begin 2024; she’s put both her legal dispute with her label and the Tory Lanez shooting case in her rearview, and she’s newly independent, meaning she’s the one calling all the shots on her next album. She kicked off her new era with the confessional return to form, ‘Cobra,’ and predicted in September that her next album will contain ‘a lot of rawness, a lot of realness, a lot of sh*t talking,’ while a more recent live stream promised she wouldn’t hold back, answering anyone who has called her out over the past couple of years.”
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Tierra Whack set the rap world on its ear in 2018 with the release of the Whack World EP, garnering a buzz that has yet to die down. Since then, she’s released a handful of well-received singles, along with a trio of cheeky EPs highlighting the difficulty of classifying her sound (Rap?, Pop?, and R&B?, all in 2021). Today, though, she’s finally announced her long-awaited debut album, World Wide Whack, which drops on March 15 via Interscope. “I really took my time with this,” she wrote on her social channels. “So I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.”
The first single will be called “Shower Song” and will come out this Friday, January 26. Whack previewed the song earlier this month with a snippet accompanied by a silly social video featuring bathwater and hot dogs. The song is upbeat and lighthearted with light funk production and Whack’s usual blend of singing, rapping, and offbeat humor.
Whack’s most recently released single, “Chanel Pit,” was released on November 7 last year, however, there are no indications as yet that it will appear on World Wide Whack. Still, it was during the Apple Music interview accompanying its release that she first hinted that her album was on the way, saying, “I promise. It’s done. It’s finished. We’re just making it all make sense, putting the pieces together, and we’re giving it to you.”
World Wide Whack is out on 3/15 via Interscope. “Shower Song” is out 1/26. You can get more info here.
All week celebrities from across the fashion, music, and entertainment landscape are in Paris to watch some of the biggest names in fashion debut new work. Among those in attendance was Chris Brown, who is seemingly staying busy. After videos made the rounds online of him sitting next to Quavo during a show, he responded. Brown doubled down on his beef with the former Migos rapper in an Instagram comment maligning that he doesn’t get to pick where he sits. The post reminded some fans that the beef even existed in the first place as it’s been dormant for quite a while.
Eagle-eyed fans also spotted Chris Brown and Gunna at the same show. The pair were in attendance for the AMIRI show last week. But now even more videos of the duo are popping up. A new clip being shared online is of Gunna performing his smash hit “Fukumean” for a pretty packed crowd. It’s unclear if this is at the same show or not, but Brown is once again in attendance. He isn’t just there though, he’s seemingly having a pretty good time vibing along to the performance. The pair have collaborated once before on record. Gunna turned up for a feature on Brown’s song “Heat” from his 2019 album Indigo. Check out the video of Brown at Gunna’s Paris Fashion Week performance below.
Gunna wasn’t the only celeb that Brown made waves for crossing paths with recently. Last week he popped up courtside at a USC basketball game alongside Saweetie. Though the team itself has underperformed this year, many were focused on other things. The rapper is fresh off a relationship with YG which was formally ended earlier this month. While Brown and Saweetie don’t have any confirmed involvement, fans nonetheless jumped to conclusions seeing the pair together so shortly after her breakup.
What do you think of Chris Brown enjoying Gunna’s performance during Paris Fashion Week? Do you hope the pair collaborate again on something soon? Let us know in the comment section below.
His goal is to show that gang culture is prevalent in hip-hop culture.
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