Business is Business: This is the title of the new album released this Friday, June 23 by Atlanta rapper Young Thug, in prison awaiting trial for organized crime.
Among the fifteen tracks on this new opus, the first since Punk in 2021, are collaborations with Drake, Future, 21 Savage and Travis Scott. On the cover, a black and white photo of the rapper sitting in a courtroom and facing the camera, while his co-defendants have their backs turned.
The album, titled Business is Business, hits listening platforms as 31-year-old Jeffery Williams – his civil name – and his 13 co-defendants wait for their trial to get to the heart of the matter, near six months into a lengthy jury selection process. The fourteen defendants were indicted in the spring of 2022 by a Georgia state grand jury for their alleged membership in a branch of the “Bloods” gang identified as “Young Slime Life,” or YSL. Initials that correspond to those of Young Thug’s label, founded in 2016, Young Stoner Life Records.
All are tried for criminal conspiracy for extortion. In support of this accusation: alleged acts of murder, drug trafficking, violent car theft… Young Thug is on trial for criminal association and participation in the criminal activities of a street gang. His arrest in May came as a shock to Atlanta’s influential hip-hop scene, of which the rapper, who has collaborated with the biggest names in the genre, is a figure.
Tattooed up to his face, he is known for his psychedelic and flamboyant style, and his rhymes tinged with voice crackles make him one of the best representatives of the trap current. The case is also iconic because prosecutors used as evidence lyrics from some of Young Thug’s songs, those of fellow rapper Gunna – who pleaded guilty – as well as the lines of a posthumous song by Juice WRLD. , died in 2019 of an overdose.
