(Atlanta) Is Atlanta rap star Young Thug “the proclaimed leader” of a criminal street gang that traveled in “packs”? The hip-hop figure appeared Monday on the first day of a controversial trial, where prosecutors plan to use the lyrics of his songs as evidence.
The 32-year-old rapper, white shirt, dark tie, thin glasses and braids falling on his tattooed face, followed in silence, seated between his lawyers, the opening argument of prosecutor Adriane Love, who pointed at him several times as the leader of a branch of the Bloods gang identified as Young Slime Life, or YSL.
Murders, drug trafficking, violent car thefts: “The evidence will show you that YSL checks all the boxes of a criminal street gang,” also launched the prosecutor of Fulton County, in the state of Georgia, before the jury, whose selection took almost eleven months.
The rapper, who appears with five co-defendants in this trial, says he is innocent and his lawyers insist that YSL is only the acronym for his hip-hop and trap label, Young Stoner Life Records.
After the prosecution’s opening argument, it will be the defense’s turn to speak, before examining the facts. The trial is expected to last until at least 2024.
The arrest in May 2022 of the singer of Best Friend, Hot or Check, crowned with a Grammy Award in 2019 as co-author of the “best song” of the year, This is America, was a shock for the influential Atlanta hip-hop scene of which he is a central figure.
Young Thug has collaborated with the biggest names in rap and pop, from Drake to Travis Scott, including Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and Elton John.
He was charged among 28 other alleged gang members, but some have since pleaded guilty and others face trial in separate trials.
Prosecutors rely, as evidence, on the lyrics of certain songs by Young Thug (meaning young thug), those of another rapper, Gunna – who made a plea agreement -, and a posthumous title of Juice WRLD, who died in 2019 of an overdose.
After the very long jury selection, the case now enters the hard part, with at the heart of the file 17 extracts from Young Thug’s titles which constitute, according to the prosecution, as many confessions to the crimes of which the rapper is accused.
His lawyers sought to exclude those lyrics from the exhibits, saying the use of verses could unfairly influence jurors.
An argument defended by many supporters of freedom of expression and players in the music industry, who fear that this practice harms the creativity of artists and disproportionately affects African-Americans.
“If it was country, or rock… we wouldn’t be here today,” lamented Kevin Liles, the co-founder of the record company 300 Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner, of which YSL Records is a brand.
“We are not talking about rap lyrics here, but gang lyrics,” argued prosecutor Mike Carlson. “These are late-night confessions. »
This isn’t the first time hip-hop verses have landed in a courtroom. The defense, which insists that YSL is nothing more than an artistic record company, called as a witness a specialist on the subject, professor at the University of Richmond, Erik Nielson.
In an interview with AFP at the beginning of the year, this expert affirmed that “this question of rap in the trials is only a new illustration of a system which insists on imprisoning young men of color” .
“If you have other evidence, don’t use the rap lyrics,” Mr. Nielson ruled. “And if you don’t have other evidence, don’t press charges. »
The trial, which is taking place in the same Atlanta courthouse where former President Donald Trump is also to be tried for his attempts to overturn the result of the presidential election in the southeastern US state by 2020 will see hundreds of witnesses, including rappers T.I. and Killer Mike.