How the YSL gang trial impacts Atlanta’s music scene

“Heard they lockin’ n----- up for what they put in rhymes/ Standin’ on this s---, f--- it. I’m still writing mine.”

It’s a deeply somber track that finds the Atlanta chart topper at perhaps his most introspective. Throughout the track, he reflects on a crime-riddled upbringing and friends he’s lost to gun violence. But he touts an optimistic future for his career. He also cautions those coming after him to avoid the pursuit of a street lifestyle. And, most notably, he alludes to the targeting of rap lyrics in the ongoing YSL trial — admitting that won’t stop his creativity. 21 Savage enlists fellow Atlanta artist and Young Thug’s girlfriend Mariah the Scientist to sing the hook. The track is as heartfelt as it is hopeful.

Since the blockbuster YSL trial began last year, some artists and other creatives within Atlanta’s music scene have hung on to that same hope — forging stronger bonds and ushering in a new and more collaborative chapter in Atlanta rap.

‘Take It to Trial’

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

For over a decade, Young Thug (born Jeffery Lamar Williams) has cemented himself as a chart-topping iconoclast who has helped catapult Southern trap music to mainstream success. And by 2021, with the release of his sophomore album “Punk” (his second solo effort to debut at no. 1 on the Billboard charts), he was starting to craft the beginning of what could have been a successful genre-defying career.

That was until May 2022, when he and 27 of his alleged associates were indicted on gang and RICO charges by a Fulton County grand jury. Prosecutors say YSL, the rap group headed by Young Thug, stands for Young Slime Life, which they claim is a criminal street gang. Jury selection began in January 2023, but the trial has dragged on for months, making it the longest running criminal trial in Georgia history. Proceedings are currently halted due to a ruling to recuse Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville — marking the latest of many disruptions in the case. The case was reassigned to Judge Shukura Ingram, but she recused herself. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker has been assigned to handle the case.

Today, only six defendants remain. They’ve been in jails in Cobb and Fulton counties without bond for more than two years. Others have taken plea deals or had their cases severed.

While the trial’s full effect on Atlanta’s rap scene has yet to be seen, those within it are hopeful that Atlanta won’t lose sight of its rap dominance, despite recent blows. During the same year the YSL indictment was handed down, prominent Atlanta rappers Lil Keed, Trouble and Takeoff died. Lil Keed, a YSL artist who wasn’t named in the indictment, died just four days after the arrests from eosinophilia (a rare condition caused by a parasitic infection, an allergic reaction or cancer). Trouble and Takeoff died from gun violence.

All rappers were under the age of 35.

Those deaths, along with the YSL trial, have created a huge void in Atlanta rap. But, for some within the scene, the current era isn’t solely about mourning what’s lost. It’s about continuing the creativity of those who made Atlanta rap a mainstream sound.

“It’s definitely been a lot of hardships, but there are a lot of good things happening, too … I can never say that right now is a dark period because you see so many people running and taking advantage of [what Atlanta’s music scene offers],” said Travis Cochran, owner of the West End production studio the HBUC (Historically Black University of Creatives), where Young Thug and other rappers have filmed their music videos.

A new chapter

Atlanta’s rap prowess is notable for the variety of its regional sounds that quickly burst into mainstream. There was the soul and funk-infused rap sound of the Dungeon Family, the glorious angst of crunk music, the dance-centric craze of snap music, and the incessant hustling spirt of the trap.

In the early 2010s, Young Thug arrived as one of the freshest additions to the lineage of trap music. But he took it one step further. The rapper, with his garbled diction, introduced a melodic trap sound that felt just as weird as it was exciting.

Credit: Amy Harris/Invision/AP

Credit: Amy Harris/Invision/AP

Take his 2014 breakout hit “Stoner,” for example. Over cloudy drum patterns, Young Thug’s eerie combination of drawn out syllables and abrupt ad-libs take center stage ― making the song sound like something you’d hear from a trap house based in outer space.

“The real power with him is how he shapes language, like specifically the yodels, the way that he raps, him kind of being written off as a mumble rapper when in reality he changes sound,” said culture journalist Clarissa Brooks. “The way that he pitches his voice in his raps I think is finally being appreciated.”

That’s what drew Atlanta rapper Bear1Boss to Young Thug’s music. Bear1Boss, born Daniel Pointer, cites the fellow Atlanta native as a prime influence. His music has the same colorful, dreamy pop-infused rap sound that made Young Thug famous.

For the 25-year-old, the YSL trial means losing an artist whose propensity for being edgy and buoyant inspired others.

“At the end of the day, he helped me stay better and elite. He might not know that I’m competing with him, but I’m competing with him. If he dropped something, and I heard it, and it’s a wicked cadence, then I’m gonna try to do that cadence and do it better.”

But the camaraderie of Atlanta’s rap scene in the absence of Young Thug and other YSL artists is what keeps artists like him optimistic. It’s the same for his close collaborator, Popstar Benny ― a mainstay in Atlanta’s underground rap scene. The producer is known for making the bubbly beats that are inherent of plugg music ― one of the latest styles to emerge from Atlanta, blending the traditional trap sound with distorted synths that resemble what you’d hear while playing a video game.

“Atlanta really is like a spider web,” he said. “Everyone is at a point that’s connected to six, seven other points, so it definitely feels like a big team.”

The Cobb County native said the artists on YSL Records, an imprint of 300 Entertainment, represented the glue of Atlanta rap, given the familial bonds between them. Artists like Gunna, Karlae, and Lil Keed went on to have budding solo careers. Benny said the cross-collaboration among the rappers was indicative of the power of Atlanta hip-hop’s knack for building community.

“Slime Language 2,” the latest compilation album from YSL Records (released in 2021), debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard chart.

“Without their presence, the main thing that I’m kind of noticing is that it’s putting a lot more focus on the next up, crossover underground acts that I’ve been working with. It’s opened the mainstream part of Atlanta,” said Popstar Benny. “It definitely does feel like there’s a little bit more focused eyes on the who’s next and what’s next as far as the underground community.”

The next generation of Atlanta rap is just as vast as its forebears. Underground rappers like Baby Kia and 2Sdxrt3all (which translates to Too Solid Dirtball) are known for a brazen rap style and punchy ad-libs that continue to make Atlanta rap exciting. Others, like Anycia and Tony Shhnow, provide a unique take on Atlanta’s traditional street style that has garnered mainstream collaboration.

Decatur’s Vayda, another Atlanta underground rap highlight, produces infectious sped-up beats on which she raps about her carefree and confident attitude.

“I have noticed that a lot of the girls are kind of taking the lead in Atlanta sound right now, and I feel like it might be because there is a space that’s open right now,” she said. “Even though Thug is dropping music and stuff like that, there is still a gap.”

And she’s right.

Before Latto, Atlanta hasn’t had its own female rapper continuously reach mainstream success. In June, she became the first woman to headline Hot 107.9′s Birthday Bash. Before that, she made history as the first female rapper to have a No. 1 song on pop, rhythm and urban radio with “Big Energy.” Since her success, Vayda and Anycia, along with other Atlanta female rappers like Kaliii, Baby Tate, Bktherula and Karrahbooo have carried the torch while also collaborating — proving that Southern rappers are leading the female rap explosion.

Future of Atlanta rap

Arguably, the most looming effect of the YSL trial is whether it would have any impact on what rappers say in their music. Last November, Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville ruled that certain sets of lyrics can be presented to jurors if prosecutors could lay the foundation for how those words pertained to real-world crimes allegedly committed by “Young Slime Life” members.

“The lyrics are evidence of criminal intent and criminal action,” said prosecutor Mike Carlson in court. He argued that lyrics can help prove the mindset of Young Thug and other defendants.

The use of rap lyrics in criminal trials is a thorny topic with strong opposition within the music industry and beyond. A paid advertisement signed by music groups, record labels and artists ran in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The New York Times in 2022, asking prosecutors to stop using lyrics as evidence in criminal trials.

Last year, the Black Music Action Coalition joined U.S. Reps. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) to reintroduce the Restoring Artistic Protection Act (RAP Act) to Congress. The act was introduced in 2022 in an effort to prohibit song lyrics from being used in federal cases.

Since 2020, the Black Music Action Coalition has found over 500 criminal cases where prosecutors have used artists’ lyrics as evidence against them.

“To me, (the trial) is another example of trying to paint the culture in a way that wasn’t truly representative of who and what we are,” said Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, the Atlanta-based co-founder of the coalition. “Our fight to limit the use of lyrics to prosecute isn’t about innocent or guilty. That has nothing to do with whether or not someone committed crimes. But what this is about is the culture hasn’t committed crimes, and you can’t put the culture on trial.”

Christina Lee is an Atlanta music journalist who co-hosted the iHeartMedia podcast “King Slime.” The now-defunct podcast, which debuted last year, expertly documents the ins and outs of the ongoing YSL trial. She said learning the complexities of using lyrics in a criminal trial was one of the most rewarding insights while recording the podcast.

But, as someone who’s covered Atlanta’s music scene for over a decade, Lee is still not sure whether a trial as complex and monumental as the YSL trial could knock the dominance of Atlanta rap — or support for the YSL artists.

“We’ve seen what happened between like Gucci and Jeezy (both rappers faced a string of legal issues) for example, we have seen T.I. get arrested — this all being at the height of trap music as we’ve come to know it. Atlanta’s music scene has gone through a lot, she said. “I think if hip-hop in general is going through a sea change, coming after this admittedly prolonged period of dominance where Atlanta was where you had to be, the YSL trial could be a factor, but it may not be the be all, end all.”

Credit: Photo by: Terence Rushin @photor

Credit: Photo by: Terence Rushin @photor

Since jury selection for the YSL trial began, two of the biggest stars named in the 56-count indictment have dropped new music. Gunna, who’s no longer a part of the case after taking a plea deal, is having one of the most remarkable comebacks in rap history, and doing it notably solo. He dropped his featureless fourth studio album “A Gift & a Curse” in June 2023. The album boasted his first solo top 10 hit, “f--umean.” He followed that success with this year’s “One of Wun,” an album that debuted at no. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Last year, Young Thug dropped his third studio album “Business is Business.” The album, executive produced by Metro Boomin, featured rap heavyweights like Drake, Travis Scott, Future and more. At best, the album sounds like the type of choppy, improvisatory project one would release from jail (although “Oh U Went” is a strong outlier).

For veteran Atlanta tastemaker DJ Princess Cut, releases from both artists still bring the life to any party in the city. She said she still receives numerous requests to play music from YSL artists at events as if nothing happened.

“Oh, it goes up. People love it. I think they might go crazier now and have more fun now than they used to … Actually, it really just shows how much people still support Young Thug and YSL.”