King Slime: The Prosecution of Young Thug and YSL

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the past decade, rapper Young Thug has become an international superstar thanks to five No. 1 hip hop albums and his own record label, YSL. But police allege that over that same period, Jeffrey Lamar Williams was running a criminal enterprise, also called YSL, that is responsible for violence and murder. Reporters Christina Lee and George Chidi profile Young Thug, the artist—and introduce Young Thug, the alleged criminal mastermind. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Young Thug was raised off one of south Atlanta's most notorious streets, Cleveland Avenue. But when the national Bloods gang infiltrated that part of the city in the early 2000s, that street became known as Bleveland Avenue. We meet a reformed gangster turned street minister and a gang unit detective from the Atlanta Police Department who offer us two very different perspectives on the area.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A haunting scream echoes through the courtroom in the YSL trial, causing chaos and the arrest of several defendants. It’s just another day in the craziest trial in Atlanta’s history—and we meet the district attorney prosecuting it, Fani Willis, to discuss why RICO is such a powerful, albeit controversial tool to target both criminal street gangs and Donald Trump. We also press a gang unit investigator caught in a leaked interrogation tape about how law enforcement turn suspects like Lil Woody into witnesses.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While prosecutors claim that YSL is a dangerous criminal organization, defense attorneys in the YSL trial argue RICO and gang laws are being used too aggressively to target neighborhood problems and young people, turning the justice system upside down in Fulton County and beyond. We go into the courtroom’s holding cell to find out why YSL defendant Lil Rod was screaming, and we unexpectedly become characters in the story of this trial. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prosecutors in the YSL trial cite lyrics from a dozen songs to help underscore the accusation that Young Thug is a dangerous kingpin running a criminal enterprise. We examine the controversial use of lyrics in court, potential changes in the law and explore how this trial could change music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Both Young Thug's rise to stardom and current legal entanglements epitomize Atlanta's complicated legacy as a Black mecca. We explore how the YSL trial has already impacted the city and its music—and discover a secret about the rapper's legal future that could change everything, regardless of what the jury rules.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last December, YSL defendant Sergio Kitchens, the rapper Gunna, took an Alford plea and walked out of Fulton County Jail with probation. Christina Lee investigates Gunna’s life after court, the impact on his reputation and music, and the evolving legacy of Atlanta as hip-hop’s capital.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By the time opening statements began in the YSL trial, the remaining defendants had already spent more than a year and a half behind bars. Nearly all of them are being held at the Fulton County Jail, a facility that has become notorious for a spate of deaths in recent years and has been immortalized as Rice Street in rap songs for decades. A former employee and a recent inmate reveal shocking secrets about Rice Street’s filthy and dangerous conditions, which may make it the worst jail in America. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the jury seated and the YSL trial well underway, the King Slime team kicks off a bi-weekly discussion breaking down the most important, most interesting and most absurd moments of the craziest trial in hip hop’s history.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Defense attorney Suri Chadha Jimenez was on the YSL defense team until his client’s charges were dismissed. Now he’s free to offer an inside view of the defense team and weigh in on the prosecution’s tactics. We’ll discuss a big fight over a NPR Tiny Desk Concert, the YFN Lucci deal, and why the debate over whether Young Thug is Truly Humble Under God won’t go away. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Big Facts” co-host Baby Jade offers an inside perspective on Young Thug’s career. We discuss the prosecution’s use of social media and reveal who leaked Young Thug’s jailhouse video chat with Mariah the ScientistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On September 11, 2013, police arrested three men who had committed an armed robbery and exchanged gunfire with police in a stolen red Nissan that they crashed into a laundromat. Young Thug was not one of those three. But now, more than a decade later with the help of Georgia’s RICO laws, prosecutors are trying to put him in the car. Journalist Jewel Wicker joins the King Slime team to discuss this incident and what it says about the case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Legal affairs reporter Meghann Cuniff joins the King Slime crew to discuss the growing animus between the prosecution, defense and even the judge presiding over the YSL trial, and how it could impact the case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The trial will go on, but the show's over. In King Slime's final episode, New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli helps recap the proceedings and break down the cultural impact of Hip Hop's longest and wildest court case.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.