Young Thug has been denied bond following his arrest Monday on charges of participating in gang activity.
The motion made by an attorney for the rapper (born Jeffrey Williams) was turned down on Wednesday by Judge Robert Wolf, who declared him to be a flight risk and saw potential that he could commit further crimes if released on bond. The particular charges in question at the hearing stemmed from the seven additional felonies Young Thug is facing after police raided his Buckhead, Georgia home and found a large stash of weapons — including a sawed-off shotgun, sawed-off rifle and fully automatic machine gun — and marijuana. He’ll have another opportunity to request bond for the initial gang-related charges at a separate hearing.
Young Thug’s legal troubles are part of a sweeping, 56-count indictment against his YSL (Young Slime Life) collective that also includes Gunna and 26 other individuals associated with the group. Prosecutors allege that the Slime Language 2 rapper founded the YSL gang in 2012 and charged him with conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and participation in criminal street gang activity.
Interestingly, per CNN, the prosecution presented lyrics from a number of Thugger’s songs — including 2016’s “Slime Shit” with Yak Gotti, Duke, and Peewee Rosco and 2018’s “Anybody” featuring Nicki Minaj — as evidence in the case, bringing into question just how much song lyrics should be constitutionally protected as free speech.
Watch Young Thug’s bond hearing in full below. Gunna, who is also facing racketeering charges, was also denied bond.
Months prior to the arrest, Gunna enlisted his co-defendent and Future on his January single “pushin P,” which Consequence named our Rap Song of the Week at the time. Thugger also released his sophomore album PUNK back in October.
