The Atlanta rapper was arrested last year and charged with conspiracy to violate Georgia’s RICO Act, and with participation in gang activity.

Apart from the premiere of Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour film, the most entertaining thing this week has been following the RICO case involving Young Thug, the Atlanta rapper born Jeffery Williams, and the street gang YSL, or Young Slime Life. Williams was arrested in May 2022 as “one of 28 people charged with gang-related crimes and violations of Georgia’s criminal racketeering law,” Nick Visser reported. The 32-year-old rapper has been charged with conspiracy to violate Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and with participation in gang activity.

The trial against Williams began on Monday, after Williams had already spent 567 days in jail, according to Vulture. And it wouldn’t be a true Atlanta trial without some tomfoolery – namely, Williams’ attorney saying his track “Pushin P” actually stands for “Pushing Positivity,” and that the word “Thug” stands for “Truly Humbled Under God.” (That one is actually a little more believable, considering at one point in history, “THUG LIFE” became an acronym for “The Hate U Give Little Infants F*cks Everybody.”)

However, on a more serious note, the trial has been interrupted as images of the jurors’ faces were leaked via livestream, which some believe may warrant a mistrial. What this case raises is the broader, much more important issue of the legal justice system disproportionately criminalizing hip-hop and unlawfully targeting Black artists on the basis of their lyrics. Man, these are the moments I wish NPR had not canceled their “Louder Than A Riot” podcast.