1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: King Slime is a production of iHeart Podcasts and Heirloom Media. 2 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:18,600 Speaker 2: It's a very quote account of now sessions. But it's Tuesday, 3 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 2: November seven, election day. But instead of getting up early 4 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 2: to vote for local school board candidates, our team has 5 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 2: gotten all gussied up for court. 6 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:30,360 Speaker 3: Good morning, count. 7 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:32,520 Speaker 4: You're on the record the matter of State and Roly 8 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 4: versus Lee ads at All and plains UITs. 9 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 1: Things look a little different from when the YSL trial 10 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: started ten months ago. For one thing, even though the 11 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:45,279 Speaker 1: trial is still called Georgia versus Khalif Adams. Khalif Adams, 12 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: who was listed first alphabetically, is no longer a co defendant. 13 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: His case was severed from the Rico trial after prosecutors 14 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,080 Speaker 1: fouled a motion claiming his lawyer could no longer represent 15 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 1: him because of her impending parental leave. In other words, 16 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: they found out she was pregnant. Same thing happened with 17 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: Timquarius Mender. 18 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 2: Otherwise, el Co defendants have pleaded guilty in exchange for 19 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 2: reduced sentences, and still others were severed because of alleged 20 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 2: misconduct in jail and in one case, untreated mental illness. 21 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 2: Of the twenty eight defendants were once crammed into the 22 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 2: wood paneled walls of this courtroom with their legal teams, 23 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 2: just six. 24 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: Remained Shannon's Stillwelliams, Jeffrey Williams aka Young Thug, Diamante Kendrick 25 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: aka Yacht Gotti. 26 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 2: Marquavius Hughey, Larvius Nichols, and Rodalius Little Rod Ryan. The 27 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 2: proceedings have roe non stop since January, but it's been 28 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 2: a minute since we've been in the courtroom. He was 29 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 2: a while back when we were kicked out. 30 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: Despite having a valid Rule twenty two, a document signed 31 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:09,880 Speaker 1: by the judge that grants us permission to sit in 32 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: the courtroom and cover the trial, we have been barred 33 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: from entering. 34 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,919 Speaker 2: So we've sued to fight our way back in Okay. 35 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 2: In the matter of the quart Taker, I have scheduled 36 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 2: the me and not very much. Frances Quo Matine so On, 37 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 2: George Chid, Tommy Andres, Christina Lee and Sylvia an artist captains. 38 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:50,519 Speaker 5: Yes, I'm George Cheeny and I'm Christina Lee, and this 39 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 5: is King Slime. 40 00:02:52,200 --> 00:03:13,640 Speaker 1: The prosecution of Young Thug and ya So Fulton County 41 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: Courthouse in downtown Atlanta feels like the center of the 42 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: Rico universe. Right now. 43 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,119 Speaker 4: It was a busy day at the Fulton County Courthouse 44 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 4: is dozens of activists faced a judge for the first time. 45 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 1: The day before hearing across the building in Courtroom four 46 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:30,800 Speaker 1: e sixty one defendants were formally charged with domestic terrorism 47 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: for their efforts to stop the construction of a ninety 48 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: million dollar police training facility in Atlanta that protesters call 49 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: cop City, kicking off the largest trial against environmental protesters 50 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: in American history. 51 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 6: I believe in and I value election integrity. 52 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 2: One week earlier that Jenna Ellis became the fourth defendant 53 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 2: to plead guilty in the Rico trial against former President 54 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 2: Donald Trump and eighteen others accused of interfering with the 55 00:03:57,200 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 2: twenty twenty presidential election. 56 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 7: How was fleety guilty to one of aiding and abetting 57 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 7: false statements and writing? 58 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 5: Who sentenced probation has to pay restitution and perform community. 59 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: Service and The RICO trial against Ray Shawn Bennett aka 60 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: the Rapper Wife, and Lucci, along with eleven other co defendants, 61 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,599 Speaker 1: was supposed to start earlier this year, but has been delayed. 62 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: Bennet's attorney says after more than two years in custody, 63 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,560 Speaker 1: they are still waiting for a potential trialtad. 64 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 2: Because of all of this. While we're sitting in the 65 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 2: courtroom on November seventh, and screams and commotions suddenly send 66 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 2: sheriffs running for the halls, and the prosecutor so whisked 67 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,919 Speaker 2: away to a protective area. We aren't sure what to 68 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 2: expect this man places start, please be seid. I chase 69 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 2: the sheriff's deputies out of the courtroom and into the hall. 70 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 2: When the commotion begins, turns out two people are in 71 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 2: a fight on the elevator. I see one being pinned 72 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 2: to the ground and coughed for a scuffle apparently unrelated 73 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 2: to any of the these cases. But the wave of 74 00:05:02,120 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 2: panic that silences the courtroom is proof that this building 75 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:09,200 Speaker 2: is a powder keg that could explode with the smallest spark. 76 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,919 Speaker 1: Ultimately, our lawyer is able to successfully argue our readmittance 77 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,720 Speaker 1: into court, and just in time too. After ten months, 78 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: a jury of twelve has been selected. It consists of 79 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: seven black women, two black men, two white women, and 80 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:31,520 Speaker 1: one white man. 81 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 2: I said to see when you all came in months 82 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 2: and months ago. Thank you for your patience and your 83 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:41,560 Speaker 2: continued patients that you have otherwise given us an additional 84 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 2: three black women, one black man, and two white men 85 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 2: our alternates. The same week of our hearing, Judge Glanville 86 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:51,920 Speaker 2: route that lyrics can be used in the trial and 87 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 2: the basis for prosecutor's argument should sound familiar. In emotion 88 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 2: filed the week before, the DA's office wrote, according to 89 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:03,599 Speaker 2: the defense's argument, had the Turner diaries been read with 90 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,920 Speaker 2: background music, it could not have been introduced against Timothy McVay. 91 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 2: Fannie Willis made that same case to us months prior. 92 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 8: What I tell you is if you wrote a manifesto 93 00:06:15,520 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 8: and then did those acts. 94 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 6: That's good evidence. 95 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: There's no different because you put a beat behind it. 96 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 1: We mentioned at the top of the show that the 97 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: number of y CEL defendants have been whittled down to six. 98 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 1: As Christopher Sperry from the DA's office told us, this 99 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: woodling down has all been part of the prosecution's plan. 100 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 9: When I'm looking also at deals, one of the things 101 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,160 Speaker 9: is not necessarily always who pulled the trigger? What is 102 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 9: the culpability and the age of the defendants, and who 103 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 9: can I remove from this equation? And this does not happen. 104 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 2: So are these the six defendants who cannot be removed 105 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 2: from the equation. It's sort of hard to. 106 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: Say, but in this episode we are going to focus 107 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:00,600 Speaker 1: on one of the first and definitely most famous defendant 108 00:07:00,680 --> 00:07:03,159 Speaker 1: to cut a deal and plead guilty in exchange for 109 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: no jail time, Sergio Kitchens, also known as Gonna. In 110 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: December twenty twenty two, just hours after Gunna negotiated a 111 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: plea deal that led to his release from Fulton County Jail, 112 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,920 Speaker 1: a video of exactly how that negotiation went down leaked 113 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: on social media. 114 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,480 Speaker 10: I would you affiliated with whyl around two thousand and sixteen? 115 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 10: Is that true as it pertains to use use your kiss? 116 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:44,760 Speaker 10: Why cel is a music label and a game and 117 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 10: you have personal knowledge that members are associated with HYSL 118 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 10: have committee primes and partiments of the game. 119 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 3: Isue? 120 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,800 Speaker 1: That video quickly sparked fraud discussions over whether that Alfred 121 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: plea was an act of betrayal where Gunna snitched on 122 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: his biggest connections to the music industry. 123 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 10: And do you acknowledge the following statement, I recognize the 124 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 10: steps and deep leary bread that my talent and music 125 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 10: and directly further why sell the game to the detriment 126 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 10: of my community. 127 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:17,560 Speaker 5: Why sell as a gang must get? 128 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 8: Is that your statement or acknowledgment? 129 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 3: Yes. 130 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: Gunna's acceptance in hip hop was put to question by 131 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: some of his own industry peers, including Chicago rapper and 132 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: past collaborator Little Dirk. 133 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:34,240 Speaker 2: If you were right, you are right. 134 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 6: I looked into the camera and I told you if 135 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 6: you were rit I fucking h I love it too. 136 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: It what's life been like for the second most famous 137 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:45,439 Speaker 1: rapper and the YSL crew since he walked out of 138 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,840 Speaker 1: Race Street. In order to understand the answer to that question, 139 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: you got to start at the beginning. In August twenty eighteen, 140 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: an editor from pop magazine Double XL reaches out asking 141 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: if I will write a profile on Gonna. Music journalists 142 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,240 Speaker 1: were curious to learn more about this rap newcomer who 143 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:12,360 Speaker 1: many first heard on the song Floyd Mayweather from Young 144 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: Thug's twenty sixteen album. Jeffrey signed on that with. 145 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 11: Bone bbs is hit on that Gnack. 146 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 12: All of a sudden, Thugs sounded kind of weird, and 147 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 12: then I came to figure out that there was a 148 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:27,640 Speaker 12: feature on it. 149 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 3: It wasn't Thug, it was Gonna. 150 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,320 Speaker 1: That's Atlanta based music journalist Joshua Robinson. I met him 151 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 1: through our mutual friend Yo, co founder of documentary studio 152 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:38,000 Speaker 1: Rap Portraits. 153 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 8: I thought the name was kind of silly, and I 154 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 8: also feel like his rap style was thug light. 155 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 6: I got the real Thug, and he. 156 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 8: Wasn't as like a clectic as thug to me, Like 157 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 8: he wasn't doing the same kind of runs, and he 158 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 8: wasn't necessarily as experimental. 159 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: Journalists like Yo and Joshua would argue that the biggest 160 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,720 Speaker 1: testament to Young Thug's growing influence on rap was Gunna himself. 161 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,680 Speaker 12: So a lot of the young young artists who had 162 00:10:06,720 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 12: like huge success, I would say in the late twenty tens, 163 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 12: like right on the cusp of twenty twenty, I would 164 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 12: argue that they are all like young Thugs kids from 165 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:18,880 Speaker 12: like vocal inflections, like from even the howling and just 166 00:10:18,920 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 12: the crazy stuff that Young Thug would do with his voice, 167 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 12: Like you could see that kind of emulated everyone kind 168 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:26,079 Speaker 12: of bit little pieces of it. 169 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: The comparison makes sense. They're both by products of Atlanta 170 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:32,559 Speaker 1: South Side, and they shared a mentor in Keith Troup, 171 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: who Gonna told me was an uncle like figure in 172 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:39,559 Speaker 1: the community. Thug and Gunna met during the making of 173 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,920 Speaker 1: a music video released in twenty sixteen for a song 174 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 1: that Young Thug made in Troops Honored. Looking at the 175 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: music video, now you think that Young Thug and Gunna 176 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:52,160 Speaker 1: were old friends, and the first scene featuring the two 177 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: of them, they look at each other knowingly before they 178 00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: hit the dab, a popular Atlanta made dance move at 179 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: the time. A couple months after the King Trout video drops, 180 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 1: Young Thug would release Jeffrey, and that fall of twenty sixteen, 181 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 1: Gunna releases his first mixtape as a YSL Records artist, 182 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:13,840 Speaker 1: called Drip Season. There's maybe a handful of times on 183 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:16,560 Speaker 1: that project where Gunna speaks to life on the streets. 184 00:11:17,240 --> 00:11:20,440 Speaker 1: The most overt reference is in the intro song out 185 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: of Sight, out of Mind. 186 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 3: It's the biggest. 187 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,880 Speaker 11: I ever saw it A kiss. 188 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: A verse like that sticks out today because some of 189 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: Gunna's peers accuse him of turning into a snitch during 190 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 1: the YSL trial. 191 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 4: With Gunna, I don't know too much of his personal 192 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:38,079 Speaker 4: background story. 193 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:41,200 Speaker 1: Albany Beza is a hairstylist in Columbia, Missouri, But to 194 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:41,559 Speaker 1: me it. 195 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:43,840 Speaker 4: Seemed like his early music he was kind of telling 196 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 4: the story of like where he's came from and how 197 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 4: a lot of that still kind. 198 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 6: Of shows up. 199 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 4: And even though he's trained, like now he's his famous, 200 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:55,560 Speaker 4: people know on he has money, like a lot of 201 00:11:55,600 --> 00:12:00,079 Speaker 4: his life circumstances have changed, but I think that he 202 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,080 Speaker 4: still kind of was like partaking in things that he 203 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 4: was doing before he had the fame and the money 204 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 4: and all of that, and like how it I don't know, 205 00:12:09,880 --> 00:12:11,800 Speaker 4: I don't know if he ever really transitioned out of it. 206 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: If there's a song off Drip Season that epitomizes how 207 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: Gunn's music would go mainstream, it's caught Me a Foreign 208 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: once again. He features Young Thug, which is a flex 209 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:28,680 Speaker 1: and a music genre where high profile features are major currency. 210 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,839 Speaker 1: But he also speaks directly to his biggest interest as 211 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: a rap artist, which isn't necessarily the hardship and hustle 212 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: that drives a lot of hip hop songs, but the 213 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:43,440 Speaker 1: rewards of such hard work. 214 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,960 Speaker 4: So I can sold out dates and ready, Like he's 215 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 4: talking about a lot about like the fame that he's had. 216 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 4: But those two first came to my mind of like 217 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 4: some of his older music where he was just talking 218 00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 4: about like the new lifestyle change so that he has 219 00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:02,719 Speaker 4: just like the fame and the money and all the 220 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 4: grab that he came into now that he's an artist. 221 00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 6: Gun is cool. I'll give it that. 222 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 8: Like as far as doubling down on a lifestyle wrap 223 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,720 Speaker 8: that I think is accessible, he made the style way 224 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,720 Speaker 8: more accessible to ears that thought Thug was a little 225 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 8: bit more of a train rap. Gunn is kind of 226 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,280 Speaker 8: like a Mayback. He want to be like a foreign 227 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:27,880 Speaker 8: car for real. He want to have like the foreign drip. 228 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:30,319 Speaker 1: There's no good way for me to explain what drip 229 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 1: means in this hip hop context without sounding like I'm 230 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: approaching my forties, So I'm going to quote Gunna. He 231 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: defined drip to Billboard Magazine as essentially the designer clothes 232 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,600 Speaker 1: he wears. How he quote might wear a ten thousand 233 00:13:43,679 --> 00:13:47,280 Speaker 1: dollars outfit on a weekend. At the time, Gunna was 234 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 1: helping repopularize drip as hip hop slang. If Young Thug 235 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 1: concerned himself most with testing the limits of his elastic 236 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: rap voice and being the driving artistic force behind Young 237 00:13:58,200 --> 00:13:59,400 Speaker 1: Stoner Life records. 238 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,199 Speaker 4: With Young Thug, I hear him a lot of the features, 239 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 4: and I just can't understand him, Like I feel like 240 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 4: it doesn't articulate and there's no like charisma to his voice. 241 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,479 Speaker 1: Then Gonna seem to thrive most off being a trendsetter, 242 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 1: showing how the label could become a mainstream phenomenon. 243 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:17,840 Speaker 4: Kenna's voice is just like I don't know, it's just 244 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 4: attractive to me, Like when he's rapping, it doesn't even 245 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 4: matter what he's like saying. It's like I get in 246 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 4: tune to his music because of his voice in the 247 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 4: way that he can kind of go back and forth 248 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 4: between R and B and hip hop. 249 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: At the top of twenty twenty two, Gunnahead yet another 250 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: hit on his hands, push and pe to rock along 251 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: with the song is to pretend that you're in the 252 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: know with Gunna Future and Young Thug on what that means, 253 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: which is what brands like I hopped it when they 254 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:49,640 Speaker 1: sent out branded tweets like we're always pushing pancakes. It 255 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:53,200 Speaker 1: was news to some myself included that the pee stood 256 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 1: for positivity, as Young Thug's lawyer Brian Steele argued during 257 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:01,000 Speaker 1: opening statements in November twenty tw and. 258 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 6: What you'll learn is that. 259 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 4: You have to just released with Sergio Kitchen's formula is 260 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:10,200 Speaker 4: Gonna the song that is wildly popular. 261 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 3: It's around the globe. 262 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 5: It's called pushing P and it's positivity. 263 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 3: It means any circumstance you're in, if you think positively 264 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 3: about something, you can make it through. You're pushing positivity, 265 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:25,960 Speaker 3: pushing P. 266 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: The Washington Post described this desperation to be as hip 267 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,840 Speaker 1: is Gunna. Like this quote, you could feel the song 268 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: becoming uncool on your skin. Jordan Rose, a journalist for 269 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 1: Complex Media, attributes all this to how mainstream Atlanta rap, 270 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: with Gonna being a major poster child, had become. 271 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 7: The Atlanta rap scene is the most dominant rap scene 272 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 7: in the space right now. So I think the Gunna 273 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 7: fan is similar to an offsets fan is similar to 274 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 7: you know, obviously a thug, a young thug fan, a 275 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 7: future fan. I think kind of interacting in this first 276 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 7: Atlanta space of that kind of trap sound that they 277 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 7: all operating. So people who are trap leading I think 278 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:11,880 Speaker 7: lean towards being fans of Gonna. Also, I think Gunna 279 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 7: has really overtaken the youth. So I think, you know, 280 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,720 Speaker 7: fans of Kai Sanat and fans of twitch streaming and 281 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,880 Speaker 7: fans of you know, that space and the culture as well, 282 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 7: often are also Gunna fans, Like I think push Your 283 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 7: Piece is a perfect example, Like the phrase became even 284 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:36,800 Speaker 7: larger than the song push your p on the album, 285 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 7: you know what I mean. You could probably not even 286 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 7: know that that's a song if you just were on the 287 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 7: Twitch space or the social media space, And I think 288 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 7: that's like a great example of how the influence has 289 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 7: spread beyond even the music. 290 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: Nearly one year after the song took off, when news 291 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: of Gunna's Alpha Plea began circulating, its title became a 292 00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: running joke that fool. 293 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:00,840 Speaker 2: Is pushing please. 294 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:07,320 Speaker 8: If you're on Twitter, you kind of notice the first 295 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 8: shifts of free the Freak kinda that first initial run 296 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:17,640 Speaker 8: of Hey, I want to see the whole collective free. 297 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 6: It was like the last camaraderie I've seen on Twitter. 298 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 8: Or we all felt like why Cell was like our 299 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 8: family and we all want to why Cell out as 300 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:30,399 Speaker 8: a collective. I gonna get us out with that video 301 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 8: pretty much saying you know, why is a gang and 302 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:36,200 Speaker 8: how it needs to be disbanded. Oh that was rough. 303 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:37,919 Speaker 8: That was a rough day on Twitter. That was a 304 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 8: rough day. What are people saying? 305 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 6: The The yes, ma'am was yes ma'am. The thing like, 306 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 6: oh my god, it looked like betrayal. 307 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 8: It looked like Julius Caesar getting stabbed by Brutus. 308 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 6: It did feel like the Eyes of March, like our 309 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:58,119 Speaker 6: version the Eyes March. 310 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,399 Speaker 8: Shakespeare could not have written a more tragic story than 311 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:04,280 Speaker 8: Gunn's video. 312 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 1: Gunn's lawyer, Steve Sadau, tried his best to anticipate all 313 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 1: this when he sent journalists a statement announcing the Alpha plea. 314 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,159 Speaker 1: He's stressed that nothing Gunna said during negotiations could be 315 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:19,359 Speaker 1: used against anyone else in court, but this was no match. 316 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 6: For public opinion. 317 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,200 Speaker 8: You'll need to go to law school to tweet about 318 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 8: people in jail. You can just tweet I'm sorry, but 319 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 8: that's Twitter. You don't know sometimes like who actually knows 320 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:32,639 Speaker 8: what they're talking about versus someone who is just talking. 321 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:35,680 Speaker 8: And sometimes a person just talking got more followers, got 322 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:37,360 Speaker 8: a loud of voice, got a better way of tweeting, 323 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:39,840 Speaker 8: Like there's a savvy to how you can pay something 324 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 8: to get on Twitter for it to go viral. And 325 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,160 Speaker 8: I feel like the viral tweets about Gunna all had 326 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,600 Speaker 8: rats and a lot of rad emojis. 327 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,640 Speaker 1: It's September ninth, twenty twenty three, Jordan Rose is heading 328 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:01,439 Speaker 1: to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. He's got a 329 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,199 Speaker 1: ticket to Gunna's first headlining concert in two years, but 330 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: he tells himself to manage his expectations for the show 331 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: that night. Jordan is curious to see how Gunna will perform. 332 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: He's even more interested in how the crowd at Barclays 333 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: will receive him. 334 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 7: I tried to come in with as low as exportations 335 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,360 Speaker 7: as possible, just because I didn't know what the performance 336 00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 7: would be like in a general sense, and then you 337 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 7: obviously add on all of these different, you know, new 338 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 7: obstacles that he would be facing. I thought it was 339 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 7: interesting that he chose his first show to come back 340 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 7: to be in New York. 341 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,119 Speaker 1: As a staff writer a complex Jordan has a broad 342 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: sense of how the Ysel trial has played out. 343 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 7: Trying to stay as informed as possible in terms of 344 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:41,480 Speaker 7: everything that's happening. 345 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: He was paying attention when Gunna was charged with conspiring 346 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: to violate Rico in part of the initial fifty six 347 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: count Ysel indictment, and he saw him walk out of 348 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:54,200 Speaker 1: Rice Street, not to news cameras in a press conference 349 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:56,719 Speaker 1: as Gucci Mane did when he himself was released from 350 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:59,120 Speaker 1: the same Fulton County jail back in two thousand and nine. 351 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 7: I can't wait to show we're a black field and 352 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:02,639 Speaker 7: now then I'll free. 353 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:04,360 Speaker 9: I run if you have almost wanted man. 354 00:20:04,359 --> 00:20:07,480 Speaker 1: In joy not to a private jet like the one 355 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: that New York rapper Bobby Schmurder wrote in with another 356 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:15,160 Speaker 1: Atlanta artist, Quevo to celebrate his release, but to accusations 357 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:18,240 Speaker 1: that he portrayed a street code of conduct. Tweets with 358 00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:22,120 Speaker 1: rat emoji circulated, and then there were the social media stunts. 359 00:20:22,840 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: In one video, you see a bystander tossing wrapped slices 360 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: of cheese at a black and white Mercedes made back gls, 361 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: leaving cheese for the rat. The video claims that this 362 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: was the same SUV that drove Gunna away from Fulton 363 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,680 Speaker 1: County Jail in December twenty twenty two. In another video, 364 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,640 Speaker 1: a clubgoer shows a nightclub that's playing when a Gunna 365 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:42,640 Speaker 1: is nature versus. 366 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 11: I don't know. 367 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:48,400 Speaker 1: The man shooting the video loudly claims the club came 368 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: to a standstill once Gunna's voice began blaring. 369 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 6: Through the speakers. 370 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,439 Speaker 1: Then there were the critics on podcasts and radio shows. 371 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,679 Speaker 2: You're not meaning guilty to a rico right, You're not 372 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 2: bringing your in then freeing you. 373 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:06,119 Speaker 6: That's a fact problem. 374 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,320 Speaker 1: So this also wasn't the first time that hip hop 375 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:12,719 Speaker 1: accused one of its biggest players of being a snitch, 376 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: not even over the past few years. In twenty eighteen, 377 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: rapper Takashi six ' nine was arrested on racketeering, weapons 378 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:24,159 Speaker 1: and drug charges. Prosecutors accused him of being affiliated with 379 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,000 Speaker 1: nine Tray Gangs of Bloods. He could have been sent 380 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:30,679 Speaker 1: to prison for life. Instead, he struck a deal with 381 00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:34,879 Speaker 1: prosecutors to become their star witness. I remember choking with 382 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:37,720 Speaker 1: friends that he should have been called Ta Kashi snitch nine. 383 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,240 Speaker 1: What he had done. Just felt that blatant on's gonna 384 00:21:42,280 --> 00:21:44,880 Speaker 1: took the alpha plea though six ' nine visited hip 385 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: hop commentator DJ Academics and seemed more than eager to 386 00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:51,480 Speaker 1: deflect those accusations of being a snitch on someone else. 387 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 7: Nowhere know how in the transcript the Sonava foot typing 388 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:59,040 Speaker 7: it up, did they say yes and we are a gang? 389 00:21:59,160 --> 00:21:59,760 Speaker 2: They did? 390 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 12: They denied that, denied, deny, deny, deny, deny, deny. 391 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 3: So Sergio Fatass Kitchens winning that plue room and admit 392 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 3: it good ask. 393 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 1: But Joshua Robinson, the journalist from Atlanta, remembers how that 394 00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:15,879 Speaker 1: charge was led by people who were actually close to 395 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: Young Thug. 396 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:21,359 Speaker 12: You have YSL affiliates like Lil got It, who's not 397 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,199 Speaker 12: even really a part of YSL, but he's like kind 398 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,000 Speaker 12: of leading the charge that Gunna is in fact a snitch. 399 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: Low got It is an artist signed to Alamo Records, 400 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: a sony music in print, but he at one point 401 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,639 Speaker 1: lived off Cleveland Avenue, and in the beginning of his 402 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:38,960 Speaker 1: career he benefited from co signs by Young Thug and 403 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,680 Speaker 1: Yes Gunna. When Gunna left Fulton County Jail, Low got 404 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: It charged him on Instagram with betraying quote unquote family. 405 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:51,439 Speaker 12: So when Gunna gets out, there's like either no like 406 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 12: fanfare or like sly remarks here and there on his story. 407 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:55,919 Speaker 12: I think Lil got It was really big on his 408 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 12: story at the time, if I'm room correctly, because I 409 00:22:57,800 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 12: was reporting on this, I had new hip hop like 410 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:02,080 Speaker 12: every day. I think that he was like doing little 411 00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,399 Speaker 12: shady stuff and then when Umfun got out, is all 412 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 12: buddy buddy with Unfunk and I think they're stolen shots 413 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:08,160 Speaker 12: and Gunna through Instagram as well. 414 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,640 Speaker 1: On Funk is Young Thug's older brother, Quantavias career. He's 415 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,320 Speaker 1: another defendant in the y cell trial who took an 416 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:17,960 Speaker 1: Alpha kleet just days after Gunna did the same. 417 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:22,959 Speaker 12: It's very, very much so just this petty, petty like 418 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:24,760 Speaker 12: you would snitch you or rat type stuff. 419 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: What didn't help matters was the apparent disconnect between Young 420 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: Thug and Gunn at themselves. 421 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:33,240 Speaker 8: Here's Yo at the time. Thug was still using Twitter 422 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 8: right before kind of got out. I don't know if 423 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,879 Speaker 8: people remember, but Thug was kind of active on Twitter 424 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 8: and not actively saying anything about the case or anything. 425 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 6: But she just kind of like tweets here and there. 426 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:47,160 Speaker 1: I have to mention the most bizarre example. One year 427 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: after he was arrested in Buckhead, Young Thug tweeted at 428 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:54,679 Speaker 1: Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps asking whether he could quote swim 429 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: one hundred miles from the middle of the ocean back 430 00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:00,000 Speaker 1: to shore, back to what Yo was saying. 431 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:01,280 Speaker 6: He was casually. 432 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:05,720 Speaker 8: Tweeting, and when Gunn got out, his tweets stopped a 433 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:08,720 Speaker 8: cancel hall like Thug never ever kind of came out 434 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 8: and said anything about Gunn's situation. 435 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:13,320 Speaker 6: If he approved it disapproved. 436 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 8: So Thug's quietness just made the issue louder. 437 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,439 Speaker 1: For two consecutive weeks. In June twenty twenty three, the 438 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: two biggest artists of Young Stoner Life Records released their 439 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: first new album since being arrested. Gunnas was called a 440 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: Gift in a Curse. The album featured a lead single 441 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:33,920 Speaker 1: where he accused Da Fani Willis of doing some quote 442 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,440 Speaker 1: unquote sneaky shit. Then Young Thug released Business as Business. 443 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,560 Speaker 1: The cover art features him sitting in a courtroom, turning 444 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: around to face the camera. Young Thug Gunna's biggest champion 445 00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,399 Speaker 1: leading up to the Ysel indictment. His mentor, who had 446 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: been featured on almost every Gunna album since the two 447 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:56,360 Speaker 1: met in twenty sixteen, doesn't appear at all on Gunna's 448 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 1: homecoming album, and while Young Thug managed to wrangle high 449 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,760 Speaker 1: profile features like Drake Future, Travis Scott, and Nicki Minaj, 450 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,119 Speaker 1: Gunna was nowhere to be found on Businesses Business. 451 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 3: The day that Gunna drop it could have been way cooler. 452 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:13,360 Speaker 12: He could have had business business, and then he could 453 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,680 Speaker 12: have dropped a deluxe version of Gunner's album with Thug 454 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,200 Speaker 12: on it, and that would have been a completely different 455 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 12: that would have changed everything if that was the case. 456 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,240 Speaker 12: But he goes and drops his project with no Gunner 457 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 12: feature on it and a whole bunch of hot, big 458 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 12: industry people. 459 00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,720 Speaker 1: The staff track list seemed to signify the industry support 460 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,399 Speaker 1: behind Young Thug. As for a Gift and a Curse, 461 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:40,399 Speaker 1: Gunna sounds isolated from raps inder Circle, a star contrast 462 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 1: compared to how his last album DS Forever was his 463 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: most star study yet. 464 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,919 Speaker 8: J Cole started to kind of become a meme for 465 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 8: having no features on his album, right, but that was 466 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 8: an anomaly, you know, like, oh J Cole and double 467 00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 8: platinum with no features. But he's the only artist really 468 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 8: doing no features. Most big artists. Part of it is 469 00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 8: having associations. Part of the reason why people gonna stream 470 00:26:05,040 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 8: certain albums is I want to hear this rapper. 471 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 6: Paired with this rapper. 472 00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 8: It's a big party, Like it's kind of like a 473 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,159 Speaker 8: wrestling match. You don't fight yourself, you and there's the 474 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 8: versus Goldberg. People are tuning in for the spectacle, and 475 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 8: I feel like features gave rap a spectacle that you 476 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 8: don't see in other genres. Other rock bands don't really 477 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 8: cross collaborate like that. But a hip hop you can 478 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:27,920 Speaker 8: take a future and you pair them with a Drake 479 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:30,560 Speaker 8: and you can have a diamond record because you put 480 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 8: these two rappers together on a record that just sounds amazing. 481 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,320 Speaker 8: Like you got so used to seeing Gonna in collaboration, 482 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,080 Speaker 8: did a whole table little Baby. He's not an artistist 483 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:42,919 Speaker 8: that seems selfish about I only make music for me 484 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 8: by me. It always felt like he was a part 485 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 8: of a larger conglomerate of collaborators, and this was the 486 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 8: first time where there's no collaboration. 487 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:52,760 Speaker 6: So it was a big It was a bit of 488 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 6: a shock, and you couldn't. 489 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,359 Speaker 8: Read it at first as if did you make this 490 00:26:57,480 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 8: album by yourself because you wanted to or because no 491 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 8: picked up the phone? 492 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 6: You know, you couldn't tell A. 493 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,760 Speaker 1: Gift in Accurse only features one of Gunna's go to producers, Turbo. 494 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:10,520 Speaker 1: He's been loyal to Gunna at the very least since 495 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,679 Speaker 1: I interviewed both of them for Double XL back in 496 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,320 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen. But it was still striking to hear how 497 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 1: even producers appear to have distanced themselves from perhaps the 498 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:24,640 Speaker 1: biggest name on their resumes. Six months prior to those 499 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:28,520 Speaker 1: release weeks, a Rolling Stone headline read a court screwed Gunna. 500 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: Now he's being shunned by his peers. Upon first impression, 501 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,480 Speaker 1: A Gift and a Curse seemed to confirm this, but 502 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:38,680 Speaker 1: when the album comes out, it debuts as the third 503 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:41,960 Speaker 1: best selling in the country, higher than Midnights by Taylor 504 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 1: Swift that week. Gunna's album has since spent twice as 505 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,199 Speaker 1: many weeks on the Billboard Album Chart as Young Thugs, 506 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,040 Speaker 1: and although Young Thugs album originally unseated Gunnas from the 507 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:53,920 Speaker 1: top spot on the R and B and Hip Hop 508 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: album's chart, Business is Business charted for only six weeks, 509 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:00,879 Speaker 1: A Gift and a Curse hearted for twenty. 510 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 8: The music was so strong by itself, It's like, you know, 511 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 8: it didn't feel like gonna need y'all. 512 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 6: Y'all might need Gunning. 513 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:20,800 Speaker 1: Arriving at the show at Barclay Center in Brooklyn that 514 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 1: Saturday night, Jordan Rose notices something. 515 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:24,399 Speaker 6: Immediately. 516 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 7: I drove that to five parking I found parking way 517 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:30,439 Speaker 7: down the street because it was this is when I 518 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,240 Speaker 7: first realized, oh, like it is Gonna be crazy because 519 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:35,879 Speaker 7: I'm driving up and I'm hearing Gonna being played in 520 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 7: the streets of Brooklyn at a five parking a few 521 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 7: streets down from Barkleys, and when I'm walking, I see 522 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 7: it's like a ridiculous line. Just to just to get 523 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:48,800 Speaker 7: into the building to check it. 524 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,520 Speaker 1: Jordan gets in, takes a seat, and watches the nineteen 525 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: thousand others Phillip quickly the show is sold out. He 526 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: begins talking to people sitting around him. 527 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 6: The first guy says, I'm from Baltimore. 528 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 7: He was like, this is my first time at Barkley 529 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:05,440 Speaker 7: Soon and I was like, wow, that's crazy. 530 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: What he quickly realizes is that these aren't all NYC fans. 531 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 7: I came up to someone else and they were from Virginia. 532 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:14,440 Speaker 7: That theme persistent throughout the night. 533 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: Gonna had only two shows scheduled in the US, one 534 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles and one in. 535 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 7: New York, so I feel like a lot of people 536 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 7: on the East Coast weren't going to make it to 537 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:25,880 Speaker 7: the LA show. So it was like you had to 538 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:28,280 Speaker 7: really get here because it was the only chance to 539 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,280 Speaker 7: see him, especially because it was the first time back. 540 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:41,640 Speaker 1: How was Gonna been able to outsell Young Thug this year. 541 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: You could chalk up that initial chart performance to overall curiosity, 542 00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:48,960 Speaker 1: if not anticipation of what he'd have to say after 543 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,640 Speaker 1: being jailed. Since May twenty twenty two, press play and 544 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: the music feels weighed down by this palpable sense of 545 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 1: obligation to acknowledge that at the very least, this is 546 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: a challenge time for Hysel. The album's lead single is 547 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 1: Bread and Butter, which calls out the DA's office and 548 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:10,040 Speaker 1: openly acknowledges the scorn he's received since leaving Fulton County Jail. 549 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 11: Never again, no ugly you know what I'm saying or 550 00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,480 Speaker 11: whatever you niggas on the trust me how much the 551 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 11: DA did some niggas shit? 552 00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:18,680 Speaker 12: I fail for it. 553 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:20,520 Speaker 1: Here's yo. 554 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 8: I wouldn't even say you played it safe, you played 555 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,480 Speaker 8: it smart. Mmm, he didn't. He didn't feed into it 556 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:28,040 Speaker 8: too much. I feel like there's things that he referenced 557 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:31,400 Speaker 8: on the album, like I think bread and Butter mm 558 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 8: hmm yep. He kind of like alludes to some people 559 00:30:35,440 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 8: like like changing sides and not necessarily like being on 560 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 8: his side. But he doesn't really call nobody out by name. 561 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 8: He doesn't pick fights. You know, he sort of just 562 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:49,480 Speaker 8: expresses how it feels from his end. I think Gonna 563 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 8: sounds disappointed largely at people thinking that he would do 564 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 8: something to thug, to betray Thug, or betray the. 565 00:30:57,840 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 6: People he came up with. 566 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:01,920 Speaker 8: And I think he also expresses how hard it was 567 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:03,840 Speaker 8: to kind of just be sitting down for so long. 568 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:06,400 Speaker 8: He's lost a year of his life. That's a hard 569 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,680 Speaker 8: thing to do for anybody for any reason. 570 00:31:09,360 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 1: But Bread and Butter isn't the reason why Gunna has 571 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,640 Speaker 1: been dominating the Billboard charts in the year of Hip 572 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 1: hop fiftieth anniversary. It's only a part of Gunna's continued 573 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: success in a year where raps share in total music 574 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 1: revenue has been dwindling. The real reason is a single 575 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: that came after Bread and Butter, a lifestyle anthem called 576 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:31,760 Speaker 1: fuck you Mean. Here's Joshua Robinson. 577 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 12: I was talking about little Bro. I was just talking 578 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:37,080 Speaker 12: about who's like, you're younger than me. When it came 579 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 12: out that Gunna was released and he took the plea 580 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,600 Speaker 12: deal man, he was he was heartbroken. He was like, 581 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:44,479 Speaker 12: oh man, he's a rat, he a snitched all that. 582 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,800 Speaker 12: When I tell you he bumps. He bumps this way 583 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 12: more than I do. And I was just talking to 584 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:50,600 Speaker 12: him yesterday, but I was like, why do you listen 585 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 12: to it? And he was like he slid and it's 586 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 12: like it's just that simple to him. And he was 587 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 12: saying that you can't ignore the talent. And I was like, 588 00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 12: but isn't he a rat? He's like, oh, yeah, he's 589 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:03,040 Speaker 12: definitely a rat. He's definitely a rat. But like for him, 590 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,720 Speaker 12: I think he said that more it's not a it's 591 00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:07,640 Speaker 12: not a moral issue for him to listen to the music, 592 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:11,000 Speaker 12: so he doesn't feel like he's betraying those like snitching 593 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,880 Speaker 12: like standards by listening to the music. It'd be different 594 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 12: if he was, like I guess rocking with him personally. 595 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 12: But yeah, it's complex. I guess people are just deciding 596 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,280 Speaker 12: to ignore it a little bit for their musical enjoyment. 597 00:32:22,320 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 3: I guess. Hmm. 598 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, And you said he was three years younger 599 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:27,959 Speaker 1: than you, so how old are you? 600 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 12: So I was twenty five, he's twenty two, Okay, yeah, 601 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:33,680 Speaker 12: ok he's outside for real, for real and way more 602 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 12: outside than me. And yeah, he I'm telling you, when 603 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 12: fuck you mean came out like? 604 00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:39,720 Speaker 3: That? 605 00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:40,000 Speaker 6: Was? 606 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 12: That was shit, shit, Yeah, it's crazy, it's the whole mixtape. 607 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:46,520 Speaker 12: He still listened to it to this stat too, because like, 608 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 12: how many months is it now? 609 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:49,440 Speaker 3: Has it been? 610 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 12: It came out in the summer, Yeah, that's nothing holds 611 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:53,880 Speaker 12: his attention now long? 612 00:32:54,040 --> 00:33:00,960 Speaker 1: So fuck You Mean has been so so successful that 613 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,080 Speaker 1: atopped the US Spotify charts and remained a mainstay on 614 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:08,000 Speaker 1: the platform's major playlists even months later. It's also become 615 00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:12,680 Speaker 1: Gunna's first solo single to top several Billboard charts. No Features, 616 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,240 Speaker 1: No Problem. Billboard reported that the song first took off 617 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:20,280 Speaker 1: on streaming before radio inevitably caught on. It doesn't remark 618 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:23,000 Speaker 1: on how unlikely the song's rise to platinum sales has 619 00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 1: been to become rap song of the Summer, all just 620 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:28,959 Speaker 1: a few months after this nitch and conversation bubbled up, 621 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 1: and many months before the y Cel trial will be over. 622 00:33:34,600 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: So maybe those stitching conversations were besides the point. And 623 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,479 Speaker 1: at least this day and age, rap has long been 624 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,920 Speaker 1: associated with gritty realism, but that's far from the appeal 625 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 1: of all rap artists. There's this question about whether even 626 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,440 Speaker 1: street cred was even the larger point of guns appeal 627 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:52,280 Speaker 1: that was something that I've always been thinking about. It 628 00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,240 Speaker 1: was like, did we look to Gunna for stuff like 629 00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:57,360 Speaker 1: this or you know, to like abide by this quote 630 00:33:57,400 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: unquote code right. 631 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 12: Yeah, Gunner's music up in that point was like clothing drugs. 632 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 3: Like I think he was very vibe. 633 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,120 Speaker 12: You know, I don't think unless I'm just having like 634 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,480 Speaker 12: a blank in my mind, I don't remember necessarily hearing 635 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:15,439 Speaker 12: like overtly overly street things, and like Drake talks about 636 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:17,640 Speaker 12: street things, so like if Drake can talk about it, 637 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:19,920 Speaker 12: you know what I'm saying, Like it's like a bass 638 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:22,480 Speaker 12: layer that some artists may do. But like, I don't 639 00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,440 Speaker 12: think anyone thought that Gunna was that guy in the streets. 640 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,880 Speaker 12: Like ever, jay Z said it best when he was 641 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:32,680 Speaker 12: Disagnis on Takeover, and he was like, you're rapping about 642 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 12: things that are happening around you that you're not actually doing. 643 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,319 Speaker 12: And I think that's what a lot of rappers pool 644 00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 12: from to relate to more people. Like I mean, Drake 645 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:42,400 Speaker 12: on his new album has a song where he's like 646 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:44,839 Speaker 12: you shot him in daylight, and like we know he's 647 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,320 Speaker 12: not talking about himself, like Jake's not shooting anyone in daylight. 648 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:49,359 Speaker 12: And I mean he may not even be talking about 649 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 12: an actual person, but it's like that connection there, but 650 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,319 Speaker 12: it's like we don't take it seriously. And I feel 651 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 12: like it was the same way with Gunna. Like I 652 00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:58,640 Speaker 12: don't think anyone would have expected Gunna to be a 653 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 12: street guy. 654 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:03,759 Speaker 1: That is, says Jordan Rose, until Gunna's listening audience was 655 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:05,840 Speaker 1: told to hold him up to that expectation. 656 00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:10,320 Speaker 7: In terms of like his widening fan base, people only 657 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:14,160 Speaker 7: cared about what they were suggested to care about, as 658 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:16,600 Speaker 7: hip hop is going into the space and Gunnis fans 659 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:20,200 Speaker 7: intersect with like twitch Jimmy fans intersect with. 660 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,440 Speaker 6: General cool kids slang fans. 661 00:35:24,040 --> 00:35:27,480 Speaker 7: I think if you heard from one of your favorite 662 00:35:27,480 --> 00:35:30,399 Speaker 7: streamers that gun is a snitch, you're gonna think he's 663 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,160 Speaker 7: a snitch, even if you don't fully understand what that 664 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 7: means or the street politics that are behind that label. 665 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:41,480 Speaker 7: But then you have a whole other group of rap 666 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:46,880 Speaker 7: fans who are like, yo, don't like this guy because 667 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 7: he's a rat and rats are bad, and they don't 668 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 7: really know the full context behind that, but they're told 669 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:58,120 Speaker 7: by somebody that they like and follow believes that, so 670 00:35:58,239 --> 00:35:59,320 Speaker 7: they believe that as well. 671 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:02,480 Speaker 1: With hip hop still being a commercial force on TikTok, 672 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:06,839 Speaker 1: especially Yo says Gunna's lifestyle wraps can serve ass aspirational 673 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:08,720 Speaker 1: soundtrack for all walks of life. 674 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:15,040 Speaker 8: Twitter is a space where you want to be your 675 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 8: most authentic self. Like authenticity has value there, and also 676 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:25,560 Speaker 8: there's credos and rules that people might want to like 677 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:30,479 Speaker 8: establish that means you're authentic, right, or you're really about 678 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,279 Speaker 8: what you say, you really stand on business in this 679 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:36,319 Speaker 8: kind of way. On TikTok, Man, people want to make 680 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,160 Speaker 8: Q videos and people want to laugh, People want to 681 00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 8: like enjoy a sounder, right. They might not even associate 682 00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 8: this clip with a Gonna or with the rapper, you know, 683 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:48,760 Speaker 8: they might not associate this with a. 684 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,840 Speaker 6: Person's life and lifestyle. On Twitter. 685 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,880 Speaker 8: It's like if you post Gunna, you condone everything Gonna 686 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 8: has done. On TikTok, It's like you can associate with 687 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:02,799 Speaker 8: a forty second clip and move on to the next thing. 688 00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,040 Speaker 1: On TikTok, fuck You Mean has become the unofficial soundtrack 689 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:09,440 Speaker 1: for white kids feeling themselves on camera and doing Romanian 690 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:10,520 Speaker 1: deadlifts at the gym. 691 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:12,800 Speaker 6: I never thought Gunna was gym rat music. 692 00:37:13,560 --> 00:37:15,120 Speaker 8: I never thought he was going to follows in the 693 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:18,880 Speaker 8: gym you know, where the only drift is sweat, like 694 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,120 Speaker 8: I never thought, I never thought that's why you played Gunna. 695 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:26,280 Speaker 1: But most notably, the song also sounds like the before times, 696 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,800 Speaker 1: a time when whenever Gunna was doing was always trending, 697 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,640 Speaker 1: more specifically, a time before the YSL trial. 698 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:36,040 Speaker 7: If you only lived on the Internet, the successful year 699 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,000 Speaker 7: that Gunna has had would sound impossible. The rap fans 700 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 7: who endorse street codes that they've never had to live 701 00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:43,719 Speaker 7: by a crucified him for taking a plea deal, and 702 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:45,880 Speaker 7: the rappers who may have made the same decision in 703 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,200 Speaker 7: his position to turn their backs on him. Even though 704 00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:50,720 Speaker 7: it looks like the rapp world betrayed Gunna, his talent 705 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 7: and loyal fanbas proved that hip hop is so much 706 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:54,880 Speaker 7: bigger than the narratives on Twitter. 707 00:37:55,239 --> 00:37:58,520 Speaker 3: People lie, The Internet lies, but the music shirt doesn't. 708 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,160 Speaker 1: That's what Jordan Rose wrote to conclude his review of 709 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:05,160 Speaker 1: Gunna's first concert in two years for Complex. He remembers 710 00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:07,040 Speaker 1: the moment those thoughts first came to mind. 711 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:10,120 Speaker 7: We ramp through all of his like you know, biggest 712 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:13,319 Speaker 7: songs from all of his old albums. He had a 713 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:15,800 Speaker 7: young thug segment where he did all his songs with Thug. 714 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: At one point, the screens to gun his left and 715 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,040 Speaker 1: right read free Jeffrey in all caps. 716 00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:24,520 Speaker 7: But then it wasn't until he got into Gifted a Curse, 717 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:29,080 Speaker 7: which I think you know is a much more emotional album. 718 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:31,799 Speaker 7: He like really responds to what talks about, what his 719 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,520 Speaker 7: experience has been like since he's been released, and all 720 00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:38,880 Speaker 7: like the emotional trials and Tripulationcy's been through. And it 721 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 7: was just seeing you know, the audience, especially like in 722 00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:44,680 Speaker 7: the GA section, like the standing ga in front of 723 00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,840 Speaker 7: the of the stage, knowing every single word, even to 724 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,560 Speaker 7: the songs that on the new album that aren't popular. 725 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:52,960 Speaker 1: One song that has yet to be released as a single, 726 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:55,800 Speaker 1: and who knows if it ever will be is the 727 00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:59,480 Speaker 1: album's last track. All Right. It's where Gunna tries his best. 728 00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,880 Speaker 1: I feel hope full about the future, though as he admits, 729 00:39:03,360 --> 00:39:04,360 Speaker 1: it feels challenging. 730 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:08,120 Speaker 11: Y'all talk to my dog, just tell them I miss won. 731 00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:11,719 Speaker 11: Nobody's pain came on my rhythm. She was just not 732 00:39:12,640 --> 00:39:15,360 Speaker 11: I didn't use a common sense pass away ananamous she 733 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:16,799 Speaker 11: eat me up on Hell's see. 734 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:19,879 Speaker 1: This is about as confessional as Gunna has ever been 735 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:23,000 Speaker 1: in his career. Jordan says that the crowd at Barclay 736 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,680 Speaker 1: Center was ready to receive him at his most vulnerable. 737 00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 3: It was like a cathartic experience. It felt like a 738 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:29,640 Speaker 3: cathartic performance for him. 739 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:34,200 Speaker 7: Then to see that that cathartic performance be matched by 740 00:39:34,239 --> 00:39:37,400 Speaker 7: a crowd rapping every word to this song about you 741 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:41,279 Speaker 7: talking about people not messing with you anymore because they 742 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:44,440 Speaker 7: think you're a rat, and people thinking you turned your 743 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:47,320 Speaker 7: back on your best friend without knowing the full. 744 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:48,120 Speaker 3: Context of the situation. 745 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:52,200 Speaker 7: To have fans who might have been included in that 746 00:39:52,239 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 7: group that he is rapping about earlier in the year 747 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:56,840 Speaker 7: to still be so loyal to him, to like know 748 00:39:56,960 --> 00:40:00,600 Speaker 7: these words so well. You know, people realize that they 749 00:40:00,680 --> 00:40:04,760 Speaker 7: care about the music more than they do these street 750 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:07,640 Speaker 7: politics that they don't actually live by, but they want 751 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:11,000 Speaker 7: to kind of act like they do for the timeline. 752 00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:14,000 Speaker 7: That was really the moment that solidified for me that 753 00:40:14,280 --> 00:40:17,319 Speaker 7: the music can really overpower any of the narratives that 754 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:18,120 Speaker 7: Twitter may have. 755 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:21,640 Speaker 1: Since it's released from Fulton County Jail, Gunna has been 756 00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:24,960 Speaker 1: spotted in Beverly Hills more than Atlanta. From Damn near 757 00:40:25,040 --> 00:40:28,319 Speaker 1: the beginning of his music catalog. He's long fantasized about 758 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 1: hanging out on the West Coast. Here's another snippet from 759 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:34,839 Speaker 1: Caught Me at Feign, his twenty sixteen track featuring Young Thug. 760 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,640 Speaker 3: Here's how to do mentioning than hims. 761 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:42,160 Speaker 7: I won not takeing a fuck I. 762 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:48,240 Speaker 1: Feel years later in A Gift and a Curse. Beverly 763 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:52,120 Speaker 1: Hills is where Gunna sounds the most free. My personal 764 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: favorite moment is that transition from fuck You Mean to 765 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:59,080 Speaker 1: another song called Rodeo Drive. I've run both songs back 766 00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:13,120 Speaker 1: for those few seconds alone, especially while driving around in Atlanta, 767 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:16,879 Speaker 1: and I imagine this would have been my favorite moment 768 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 1: to see live at Barclays. In the context of the album, 769 00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,080 Speaker 1: the beat switch feels like a flash forward to a 770 00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:26,920 Speaker 1: time when the YSL trial is some distant memory. When 771 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,480 Speaker 1: Gunna performs this at Barclays, he wears a custom winged 772 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:34,279 Speaker 1: and feather top with matching wooly trousers. As Fucking Me 773 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:38,080 Speaker 1: winds down, though Gunna removes his top, revealing his bare 774 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:43,000 Speaker 1: chest underneath. On cue with the beat switch, there are pyrotechnics, 775 00:41:43,000 --> 00:41:47,360 Speaker 1: the crowd mashes and sinc phones recording, and Gunna starts 776 00:41:47,360 --> 00:42:02,480 Speaker 1: skipping He's light on his feet. In his concert review, 777 00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:05,440 Speaker 1: Jordan Rose was impressed by Gunn's return to the stage, 778 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,040 Speaker 1: most notably because of where it took place. 779 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:09,920 Speaker 7: To come out on the other side and have such 780 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:13,520 Speaker 7: a successful show in New York, not even Atlanta. I 781 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:15,279 Speaker 7: think that was also the biggest thing of like it, 782 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:17,719 Speaker 7: not even being in his home state. It could have 783 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:20,640 Speaker 7: very easily just been a dud. I think all just 784 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:27,399 Speaker 7: plays into how Gunna's ability and his talent overshadows what 785 00:42:27,440 --> 00:42:31,280 Speaker 7: people think they should think about him. 786 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:34,160 Speaker 1: But we couldn't help but wonder whether a show like 787 00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:38,040 Speaker 1: this was possible in Atlanta. My journalist colleagues here say 788 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:40,120 Speaker 1: it would have likely been too risky. 789 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:42,640 Speaker 8: They said, or DJ played a song in the club 790 00:42:43,200 --> 00:42:45,840 Speaker 8: that was a Gunner record and everyone stopped dancing. 791 00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:48,640 Speaker 6: I don't know if that was true or not. You 792 00:42:48,719 --> 00:42:50,120 Speaker 6: know how you can make things look. 793 00:42:51,000 --> 00:42:54,279 Speaker 8: But there was always this feeling that Atlanta had yet 794 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:58,840 Speaker 8: to re embrace Kinna completely and again like, I don't know, 795 00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:01,680 Speaker 8: I feel like when I'm out, I haven't felt his 796 00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 8: presence in the same way that I feel his presence 797 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:06,120 Speaker 8: a lie, you know, through the influencers on TikTok or 798 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,759 Speaker 8: his influence in like conversations like this where we're kind 799 00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:13,799 Speaker 8: of trying to understand where he stands now, and I 800 00:43:13,840 --> 00:43:14,319 Speaker 8: think that. 801 00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:17,280 Speaker 6: That is still it's still weighs on what he's able 802 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:17,640 Speaker 6: to do. 803 00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:19,680 Speaker 8: It's not he's not out of the clear in that 804 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:24,000 Speaker 8: sense yet, especially here. So I think that there's something 805 00:43:24,040 --> 00:43:25,799 Speaker 8: that Atlanta is still kind of processing. 806 00:43:26,680 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 12: Even if he thinks it's cool, there's enough debate growing 807 00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:32,319 Speaker 12: around on if he's a snitch or not, Like no 808 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:35,680 Speaker 12: rapper is safe. I don't think any artist should willingly 809 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,680 Speaker 12: put himself in danger like that, because it doesn't even 810 00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:41,120 Speaker 12: have to be someone from YASL or someone who's affiliated 811 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,080 Speaker 12: with why Cel. It could be someone who just feels 812 00:43:43,120 --> 00:43:45,200 Speaker 12: like they got something to prove or want to go 813 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:48,280 Speaker 12: viral and now rip Gunna. 814 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:48,719 Speaker 3: You know. 815 00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:50,759 Speaker 13: The other thing I think about too is you know, 816 00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:53,960 Speaker 13: he got probation, which sounds to people like nothing, but 817 00:43:54,080 --> 00:43:57,399 Speaker 13: probation is actually a big deal when you're especially when 818 00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:01,919 Speaker 13: your entire social network is indicted with Rico chargers. I mean, 819 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:05,560 Speaker 13: you cannot associate with a convicted felon if you're on probation. 820 00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:09,160 Speaker 1: For example, that's King Slime, producer Tommy andres like that's a. 821 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,320 Speaker 13: Big deal for some of these guys, right like you, 822 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:14,759 Speaker 13: you almost have to get away in order to not 823 00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:18,879 Speaker 13: like run the risk of violating your probation in some way. 824 00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:21,000 Speaker 12: And that may be why we haven't heard young Thugs 825 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,120 Speaker 12: say anything about Gunna as well, because I know that, 826 00:44:23,200 --> 00:44:25,239 Speaker 12: like you said that in the in the plea, he's 827 00:44:25,239 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 12: not allowed to even contact Thug, So I don't know 828 00:44:27,680 --> 00:44:29,319 Speaker 12: what that looks like. But on the same hand, he's 829 00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:32,160 Speaker 12: saying he's having banners that say free Thug at hassowed 830 00:44:32,200 --> 00:44:35,279 Speaker 12: out concerts, So I don't it's weird. 831 00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:38,040 Speaker 3: I don't know how they're allowed to tiptoe around these things. 832 00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:43,839 Speaker 12: But speaking of probation, Umfunk got arrested again because he 833 00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:46,759 Speaker 12: violated his probation after taking that out for plea. 834 00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:50,600 Speaker 1: So after Young Thug's older brother on Funk violated the 835 00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:53,880 Speaker 1: turns of his probation in summer twenty twenty three, he 836 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:56,200 Speaker 1: was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. 837 00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:58,359 Speaker 3: So it's reird they will take you back. 838 00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:02,759 Speaker 1: And with that sort of looming large, Joshua could see 839 00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:06,640 Speaker 1: why Gunna's first concert in two years wasn't a proper homecoming. 840 00:45:07,080 --> 00:45:10,800 Speaker 12: I've been having a hard time saying that Atlanta's the 841 00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:15,120 Speaker 12: capital of hip hop still, like I think, undisputed, like 842 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:22,160 Speaker 12: it probably since twenty fourteen, it was Atlanta, no doubt, 843 00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:24,520 Speaker 12: no one sustained it as long as Atlanta has and 844 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:26,200 Speaker 12: even how it's become a hub for people to move 845 00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:29,080 Speaker 12: here to make it in music, like you got people 846 00:45:29,120 --> 00:45:31,360 Speaker 12: like Yet and Jack Carlow making it off of the. 847 00:45:31,360 --> 00:45:32,840 Speaker 3: Connections that they made in Atlanta. 848 00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:36,560 Speaker 12: What happens when all these major players are gone, and 849 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:38,080 Speaker 12: what happens for the futures, just like you know what, 850 00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:39,759 Speaker 12: I'm gonna do a drake, I'm gonna bow out for 851 00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,040 Speaker 12: a little bit. I'm gonnasappear. IM gonna let y'all handle it. 852 00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:44,960 Speaker 12: I don't know if the infrastructure is strong enough here 853 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:49,640 Speaker 12: for that to continue without the people like Thug and Gun. 854 00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:51,759 Speaker 12: Like I said, Gunna moves away and doesn't ever come 855 00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:55,239 Speaker 12: back to Atlanta. Maybe he stays on Rodeo's drive, you know, 856 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:59,360 Speaker 12: maybe he's just constantly in La. 857 00:45:58,320 --> 00:45:59,520 Speaker 3: I wonder what that looks like. 858 00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:02,880 Speaker 12: I can see this being the shift to somewhere else, 859 00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:04,640 Speaker 12: and that may be a good thing for the genre. 860 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:07,759 Speaker 3: It may be time for like new sounds, new ideas. 861 00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:09,719 Speaker 12: It could be a beautiful thing, but right now it's 862 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:11,080 Speaker 12: kind of like bittersweet. 863 00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:20,279 Speaker 2: King Slime is a production of iHeart Podcasts and Hairloom Media. 864 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:24,120 Speaker 1: It's written and produced by George Cheedy, Christina Lee, and Tommy. 865 00:46:23,840 --> 00:46:28,200 Speaker 2: Andres, mixing sound design and original music by Evan Tire 866 00:46:28,520 --> 00:46:29,560 Speaker 2: and Taylor Chaicogne. 867 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:32,440 Speaker 1: The executive producer and editor is Tommy Andres. 868 00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:34,759 Speaker 2: Our theme music is by Done Deal. 869 00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:37,160 Speaker 1: Special thanks to Tyler Klay and. 870 00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:42,200 Speaker 2: To the Atlanta News outlets, eleven Alive, WSBTV, Atlanta News First, 871 00:46:42,320 --> 00:46:43,080 Speaker 2: and Fox five. 872 00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:47,120 Speaker 1: For more shows from iHeart Podcasts, visit the iHeartRadio app, 873 00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:50,600 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.