This week, Young Thug‘s widely publicized R.I.C.O. trial began in Fulton County, Georgia. Taking place about a year and a half after Thug was arrested in May 2022 alongside many members of his Young Stoner Life record label, the case will see him fight the singular charge of conspiracy to violate Georgia’s racketeering laws.
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Since he was sent to jail, many in the hip-hop community have missed Thug’s vibrant presence. Having been behind bars since his aforementioned arrest, Thug has not been able to share his eccentric, yet sage-like personality with his millions of fans.
To compensate for this we’ve put together 20 of the best quotes from Thug, check them out below.
1. “When it comes to swag, there’s no gender involved.”
2. “Hits bring money, money bring power, power bring fame, fame change the game”
3. “This is the industry that wants [music], the rap industry. You have to be on deck all the time, but you do not have the time to do the album. It is an energy, it must be present in everyday life”
4. “I feel like I started a lot of things. But I don’t try to downplay nobody’s career. I ain’t make their career. I just made a lot of people not be scared to be them. I just like to see people do what they want to do.”
5. “I don’t want my kids saying, ‘My dad was a gangster, so I need to be a gangster.’ I would rather mine say, ‘My dad was a stunna, so I need to be a stunna.’”
6. “I never write. Never! I do not even remember if I can write.”
7. “I don’t want to rap forever. But I want to be rich forever.”
8. “I stayed in the ghetto. Then I stayed in condos, then I stayed in penthouses, and then I stayed in mansions.”
[RELATED: Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Calls Young Thug His “Inspiration”]
9. “I need new haters.. The [old] ones starting to like me..”
10. “They say u r what u eat..(That’s funny) I don’t remember eating a goat!!”
11. “Up with Jesus… Down with Santa..”
12. “I stopped playing video games in the 90s once I realized that [Pac Man] couldn’t wear jeans.. it just made me profoundly sad.”
13. “Whatever I think of, that’s what I do. I wake up and think, ‘I want to buy a car,’ I go buy a car. Wake up and be like, ‘Just want to lay in bed with my girl,’ I do that. I wake up and want to rap, I rap. So whatever I think of.”
14. “Atlanta is the number one place to live. You live better. You eat better. The rides are better. Vehicles are better deals. It’s better people. More mean people, but at my level, you want it to be about business, so it’s perfect for me.”
15. “If you’re 30, 40 years old, you’re not getting listened to by minors. Like, Jay Z has some of the sickest lyrics ever, but I would never buy his CD, just because of my age and because of his age. By the time I turn that old, I ain’t gonna be doing what he’s doing.”
16. “If you feel that you can just come in the studio and freestyle on my song, then I’m ready to rap battle you. That’s just how I feel about it because I know I’m way harder than another rapper freestyling on my song.”
17. “[Real rap is] letting people in, letting people know what you go through. Let them know that you the same. I just want to open up. Let people know that I’m not just a rapper, I’m a human being. Let people know whatever they go through, I done been through or somebody done been through it. Those are the things that make people grow. People that want to commit suicide, you might give them another chance.”
18. “You’re got to lose, because that’s when you learn structure. That’s when you really, really, really learn to stay down. That’s when you really learn loyalty. That’s when you really learn to never give up.”
19. “Just because you lost me as a friend, doesn’t mean you gained me as an enemy. I still want to see you eat. Just not at my table.”
20. “Money and clout are not the same thing. Make sure you get money, because clout don’t pay bills.”
Photo by Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for Freebandz
