June has been quite a month for Young Thug’s Young Stoner Life record label. On Friday (June 23), Thug’s attorney Brian Steele filed a motion to the Fulton County Court in Georgia for the dismissal of certain charges brought against YSL members that pertain to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Claiming that some of the RICO charges exceed the statute of limitations necessary for indictment, Steele and Thug are seeking a new hearing to have these charges thrown out.
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In particular, Steele is claiming that 61 of the 191 charges brought against Thug and his YSL co-defendants in the RICO case violate the statute of limitations.
“To satisfy the Statute of Limitations, the overt act must have occurred within five (5) years of the filing of the Bill of Indictment with the Clerk of Court,” Steele states in the motion obtained by XXL. “Approximately overt act numbers 62 through 191 are alleged to have occurred on a date
within five (5) years of May 9, 2022, the date of the original Bill of Indictment as well as the re- Indictment (Aug. 5, 2022). Both the original Indictment as well as the re-Indictment have overt acts numbers 1 through approximately 61 with a date more than five (5) years before the return of the Indictment. Since overt acts numbers 1 through about 61 are outside of the five (5) year Statute of Limitations, these overt acts cannot support a conviction of Mr. Williams (or any of the accused) since said overt acts are outside of the five (5) year Statute of Limitations.”
The court has yet to respond to this motion, but if Steele and Co. are able to get some of these charges dismissed, Thug would surely be facing less time in prison than originally thought. Currently, the famed Atlanta-bred rapper is in the jury selection stage of his trial, as he faces eight counts relating to conspiracy and possession of drugs and firearms.
On the same day Thug and Steele filed the aforementioned motion, the former put out his third studio album Business is Business from behind bars. The LP contains guest appearances from Drake, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, and more. According to a report Monday (June 26) from HitsDailyDouble, the LP is expected to sell around 95,000-110,000 units in its first week, which would give it a good chance of being the first hip-hop project of the year to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
In the lyrics of Business is Business, Thug appeared to send a diss at fellow YSL label-mate Gunna, where he disapproves of Gunna’s decision to take a plea deal in the YSL case. Last December, Gunna’s plea earned him probation instead of prison time but also saw him confess that YSL was a street gang, which fellow rappers like Lil Durk and Lil Baby felt may not have done Thug any favors in his case.
However, the week before Thug’s album was released, Gunna put out his own tape a Gift & a Curse on June 16. Earning the best first-week debut for a rap album without features since 2021, a Gift & a Curse saw 11 of its 15 songs debut on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. Gunna also used his album and its subsequent music videos to voice support and love for Thug, regardless of their personal differences.
And yes, all of this occurred within the month of June.
Photo by Amy E. Price/Getty Images for SXSW
