YOUNG Thug was arrested on multiple charges in May 2022 - but why is he still in jail?
On Sunday, March 26, 2023, it was confirmed that the rapper's sister, Angela Grier, passed away while he remains in prison.
Who is Young Thug?
Young Thug — whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams — was born on August 16, 1991, in Atlanta, Georgia.
He grew up in a large family, as he is the ninth of 11 siblings.
The 31-year-old is an American rapper who is best known for the songs Go Crazy, Solid, and Bubbly.
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Young Thug has been on the American rap scene since the early 2010s.
He was first signed to rapper Gucci Mane's record label after he dropped his first mixtape titled I Came from Nothing.
Why was Young Thug arrested?
Young Thug was arrested on May 9, 2022.
He was charged with one count of attempted murder and one count of participating in criminal street gang activity.
This happened after authorities accused him of renting a car that was used to carry out a 2015 drive-by shooting that claimed the life of 26-year-old Donovan Thomas.
The rapper’s arrest was the result of a larger grand jury indictment that named 28 members and associates of his label, YSL Records.
The 56-count indictment cited their lyrics as conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and claims that YSL members were involved in murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, theft, drug dealing, carjacking, and witness intimidation.
Prosecutors in the YSL case have cited multiple songs as evidence of gang affiliation and racketeering activity.
Some references include Young Thug’s hit track Anybody and other tracks from the YSL 2020 compilation album, Slime Language 2, such as Take it to Trial, Ski, and Slatty.
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Lyrics from Anybody include the lines: “I never killed anybody, But I got something to do with that body.”
Slatty, which also features fellow YSL artist, Gunna, features lyrics that involve killing a man and “not leaving a trace.”
According to prosecutors, the lyrics were “overt acts” to complete objectives in the alleged RICO conspiracy: “Preserving, protecting, and enhancing the reputation, power, and territory of the enterprise [YSL].
The indictment ran a whopping 88 pages long, according to The New York Times and also characterized YSL, Young Slime Life, as a "criminal street gang" and alleges 182 instances of the groups participation in gang activity.
Gunna, Yak Gotti, PeeWee Roscoe, and Young Thug’s brother Unfoonk were also indicted.
Young Thug is allegedly the founder of the YSL street gang, which formed in 2012, according to Vulture.
But Brian Steel, Young Thug's lawyer, told The New York Times that YSL is not a criminal street gang.
Seven other defendants walked free in December with each pleading guilty to a racketeering charge, and revealed that YSL was both a music collective and criminal street gang.
Yung Thug's brother, Quantavious Grier, had taken a plea deal in the YSL Rico case, which included a curfew, no contact with his brother, and no possession or close proximity to firearms.
But after being pulled over by an APD undercover officer last month, a gun was found in the vehicle and Grier is now having to serve the remaining balance of his original 12-year sentence, which is 9 years and 6 months.
Young Thug is currently being held in Fulton County Jail after a judge denied bond.
What happened to Young Thug's sister, Angela Grier?
On Sunday, March 26, 2023, multiple siblings of Young Thug took to social media to confirm Grier's tragic passing.
His sister HiDoraah shared multiple Instagram stories that included images of Grier, while his sister Dolly White posted a photo of Grier along with heartbroken and crying emojis.
At this time, Grier's cause of death has not been confirmed.
She was the mother of three children named Quendarious, Farderren, and Aniya, and an aunt to Young Thug's six children.
