A judge ruled today that over a dozen song lyrics will be admissible in Young Thug’s upcoming YSL RICO trial.
17 Song Lyrics Will Be Used Against Young Thug and Codefedants in YSL Trial
On Thursday (Nov. 9), Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville ruled that rap lyrics can be used as evidence against Young Thug and his codefendants in their upcoming racketeering trial. According to court documents obtained by XXL on Thursday, the judge conditionally admitted 17 songs and lyrics, stating prosecutors have to lay a foundation in order to use them.
Billboard reports the decision to use song lyrics as evidence was made the day after a heated hearing between prosecutors and the defense. The practice of using song lyrics as evidence has been widely criticized by the music industry and lawmakers, who have made efforts to ban it. During the hearing on Wednesday (Nov. 8), Thug’s attorney, Brian Steel, lambasted prosecutors for attempting to use creative expression to convict his client.
“They are targeting the right to free speech, and that’s wrong,” Steel reportedly said. “They are saying that just because he is singing about it, he is now part of a crime.”
In a formal ruling on Thursday, which can be viewed below, Judge Glanville denied Thug’s request to ban the lyrics outright from the trial and allowed a motion by prosecutors to conditionally admit them. Although Judge Glanville allowed the lyrics to be used in the trial, he told prosecutors they would still have to explain their use, and Steel could object. Ultimately, Judge Glanville said it was up to jurors to decide how much weight to give them.
Young Thug’s attorney Brian Steel released the following statement to XXL on the update in the case: “Jeffery Williams looks forward to the commencement of the trial on November 27, 2023.”
Read More: Young Thug and YNW Melly Will Have the Biggest Trials in Hip-Hop
What Are the Rap Lyrics Prosecutors Are Going to Use in the YSL RICO Trial?
Here are the lyrics that prosecutors will used during the trial to prove that Young Thug is a leader of a gang as a criminal enterprise.
• Young Thug’s “730” including the lyrics, “Come and enroll to the YSL school and I swear I am the principal (slime!)/I do not care if you slime for a dollar and chance, it’s the principle.”
• Young Thug’s “Tik Tok” including the lyrics, “I was a capo in the hood way before a plaque or a mention.”
• DJ Esco’s “Who” featuring Young Thug and Future including the lyrics, “N***as gon’ hate on me cause I’m at the top with bro though (Woah)/Ooh, head honcho, hold up, kick in your mom door, shoot with the .44 (Faow, phew).”
• Young Thug’s “Dream” featuring Yak Gotti including the lyrics, “Hey, how you doin’? I’m Yak Gotti (Woo)/I got bodies on bodies.”
• Young Thug’s “Thug N 30” including the lyrics, “Ah, money longer than the world’s longest ruler, yeah (Swea, swea)/Ah, playin’ with YSL, n***as gon’ shoot you, yeah (Boom, boom).”
• Young Thug’s “Slime S**t” featuring Yak Gotti including the lyrics, “Hey, this that slime shit, hey, YSL s**t, hey, killin’ 12 s**t, hey, f**k jail s**t, hey/Cooking white brick/I’m not new to this, hey, I’m so true to this, hey/I done put whole slime on hunnid licks/Slime or get slimed.”
• Young Thug’s “Original Slime S**t” featuring Yak Gotti including the lyrics, “Murder gang s**t/…YSL until we’re dead and pale.”
• Juice Wrld’s “Bad Boy” featuring Young Thug including the lyrics, “You better watch the way you breathe around me ‘fore that breath be your last, boy/Smith & Wesson .45 put a hole in his heart better not play with me/Killers they stay with me” and “I shot at his mommy/ Now he no longer mention me/I had on Margielas when I shot at the c*nt/ Act like you want war and they gon’ smoke you like a blunt.”
• Young Thug’s “Just How It Is,” including the lyrics, “Last n***a tried me almost got popped in Lenox/Ask the cops, ask the detectives, they know all the business/Ask the cops and the detectives, all the jurisdictions” and “Gave the lawyer close to two mil/He handles all the killings” and “We don’t speak ’bout shit on wax/It’s all mob business/We know to kill/The biggest cats of all kittens.”
• Unfoonk’s “Mob Ties” featuring 24 Heavy and Slimelife Shawty, including the lyrics, “N***a play with Unfoonk and get hogtied/N***a play with Unfoonk, then they all die/Talking ’bout knocking off your big homie, even his small fry, why would I lie.”
• Lil Keed’s “Fox 5” featuring Gunna including the lyrics, “We got ten 100 round choppers.”
• Slimelife Shawty’s “Where You From?” including the lyrics, “Free lil Rod/F**k your squad/Where you from?/I’m from Bleveland/Throw your set up/But where I’m from n***a talk too much then get wet up.”
• Young Thug’s “Take It To Trial” featring Yak Gotti and Gunna, including the lyrics, “For slimes you know I kill, trial/I done beat it twice, state/I’m undefeated like feds came and snatched me, don’t know/No point in asking /I was on Bleveland/Stuck like a magnet/B***h-a*s n***a/I shoot at your mammy/Need to stand down/I up my stamina/Take it to trial, get an appeal, take it to trial/Yeah, you gon’ wack ’em.”
• Young Stoner Life’s “Really Be Slime” featuring YNW Melly, B Slime and FN DaDealer including the lyrics, “My n***a, really, they slime, and we committing them crimes” and “hop out and shoot, roll one up for the gang” and “You wanna be slime? Go catch you a body.”
• Young Stone Life’s “Slatty” featuring Young Thug and Gunna including the lyrics, “I killed his man in front of his momma/Like f**k lil bruh, sister and his cousin.”
• Young Thug and Gunna’s “Ski,” including the lyrics, “I f**k with slatts and we come to eat rats and I came with some f**kin’ piranhas” and “Duke Rollin’ 60’s/He locked in C’s.”
• Young Thug’s “Anybody” featuring Nicki Minaj, including the lyrics, “I never killed anybody but I got something to do with that body” and “I told them to shoot a hundred rounds” and “Ready for war like I’m Russia” and “I get all type of cash/I’m a general.”
Read More: 50 of the Most Clever Hip-Hop Lyrics
Watch Judge Ural Glanville announce he will allow rap lyrics in Young Thug’s RICO trial below.
