Young Thug‘s lyrics may be used against him in his ongoing YSL RICO trial, and spectators have been given a look into a few of the bars on the table.
On Wednesday (November 8), Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist Jozsef Papp took to Twitter to share some of the lyrics being used in the courtroom.
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The lyrics that could potentially be used are as follows:
“I just beat a murder rap, paid my lawyer 30 for that/ Me and my slimes above the law” from 2018’s “Just How It Is.”
“Honestly truth be told YSL won’t fold/ Pick his ass off from the balcony/ YSL wipe a n-gga nose” from 2014’s “Eww.”
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“I shot at his mommy, now he no longer mention me” from “Bad Boy” with the late Juice WRLD in 2021.
“I rep my life for real/For slimes you know I kill!” on 2020’s “Take It to Trial” with Gunna
“Hey, how you doing? I’m Yak Gotti/ I got bodies on bodies!” from 2015’s “Dream.”
Here are some of the lyrics prosecutors want to introduce as evidence in the #YSL trial against #YoungThug and other co-defendants (including Deamonte Kendrick). @ajcpic.twitter.com/ovoZxSLTS0
— Jozsef Papp (@JozsefPapp_) November 8, 2023
The problem is, D.A. Fani Willis, the same district attorney who is prosecuting Donald Trump, may not have gotten all the lyrics right.
According to court documents obtained by HipHopDX on October 30, some of the lyrics listed in the court documents were incorrect, and still others were incorrectly attributed. For example, the documents read “knocking off your big homie bitch” and credit the lyric to Yak Gotti in Unfoonk’s song “Mob Ties.” But that line doesn’t appear anywhere in the song (though a similar line does appear in the song’s hook, spit by 24Heavy), and Yak Gotti doesn’t appear on the track at all.
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Another error in the documents involves “Anybody,” which was released in 2018. While the documents claims the lyrics are, “Ready for war like I’m Russia/ I get all types of cash, I’m a general,” the actual lyrics are, “Ready for war like I’m Russia/ Latest Chanel for the luggage.”
While a proposed federal bill limiting the use of song lyrics in criminal proceedings is still pending in the House of Representatives, and similar bills have been introduced in states throughout the country, D.A. Willis has confirmed to NBC News that she will continue to use song lyrics as evidence against defendants if she feels they are relevant.
Shortly after the jury — comprised of seven Black women, two white women, two Black men and one white man, per Yahoo! — was finally seated last week, Judge Glanville took the prosecutor’s office to task for exponentially expanding their witness list, and for being evasive with providing evidence required by discovery.
“I am really annoyed about this,” Judge Glanville said from the bench last week. “This is ridiculous! Your witness list has grown by two-thirds since then! And I don’t know why! You’d better have a dang good explanation on the 16th, because if you don’t, I’m going to exclude it. Right now, I’m telling you: without anything further, it’s gone.”
He continued: “This is ridiculous! There is no plausible explanation I’ve gotten that would suffice, and we just keep — you just keep dribbing and drabbing out evidence. Nuh-uh.”
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At the crux of the YSL RICO case is the belief that Young Thug’s Young Stoner Life label is actually a cover for a larger criminal enterprise called Young Slime Life.
The Punk rapper faces eight charges, including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and participation in criminal street gang activity, along with a string of drug and weapons offenses.
