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Speaker 1: In May of twenty twenty two, the arrest of Young

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Speaker 1: Thug sent chock waves through the hip hop world. In

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Speaker 1: the city of Atlanta.

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Speaker 2: Police arrested the rapper Young Thug, whose real name is

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Speaker 2: Jeffrey Williams. Authorities rated the rappers Bucket Harper, and twenty

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Speaker 2: eight other defendants charged in a fifty six count indictment

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Speaker 2: a legend street gang. Over the past decade, Jeffrey Williams,

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Speaker 2: the rapper Young Thug, has become an internationally famous rap star,

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Speaker 2: and his record label YSL, which stands for Young Stoner Life,

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Speaker 2: was turning out new hit artists.

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Speaker 1: But police alange that over those same ten years, Williams

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Speaker 1: was building a criminal enterprise also called YSL, where Young

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Speaker 1: Slime Life, a violent Atlanta street gang accused of committing

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Speaker 1: a slew of crimes, including murder. All they say at

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Speaker 1: William's behest, He's the one directing truffic.

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Speaker 3: He is the one they're all afraid of.

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Speaker 2: He's the one that's King Swan. I'm Christina Lee, a

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Speaker 2: music journalist who has covered Atlanta's hip hop scene for

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Speaker 2: over a decade.

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Speaker 1: And I'm George Cheaty, a crime in politics reporter based

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Speaker 1: in Atlanta, as the historic and controversial jury trial of

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Speaker 1: one of music's most iconic artists begins. We're examining the

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Speaker 1: case from all sides.

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Speaker 2: From the studio.

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Speaker 1: One day, I get a knock on my door. He

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Speaker 1: was like, I'm Young Thug Man.

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Speaker 2: He was like, I'm gonna change your line.

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Speaker 1: To the streets. Young thug As the artist is known worldwide,

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Speaker 1: but in the city of Atlanta Leaveland Avenue, he's the

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Speaker 1: people's champ.

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Speaker 2: Well, go inside the case with investigators. We don't care

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Speaker 2: what you call yourself. You can be the girl Scouts.

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Speaker 3: If you the girl Scouts outside of Walmart, pull out

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Speaker 3: of guns and you gon't buy these cookies, that's criminal

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Speaker 3: gang activity.

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Speaker 1: And sit down with the district attorney overseeing the prosecution.

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Speaker 1: It's so interesting you talk about snitching because everybody hard

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Speaker 1: right till they sitting in that seat.

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Speaker 2: Well, examine the indictment's controversial use of lyrics social media

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Speaker 2: as evidence.

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Speaker 3: It's only been black rap artists who have been prosecuted

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Speaker 3: based on their lyrics. It does indicate systemic racism.

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Speaker 1: And meet the defense attorneys who call this the craziest

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Speaker 1: trial in Atlanta's history.

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's legal. Doesn't mean it's right. We'll dive deep

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Speaker 2: into the issues that have led us to this trial

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Speaker 2: in this town at this time.

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Speaker 1: It's inevitable that it's going to spread when you've got

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Speaker 1: combatants that don't see a bright future for themselves and

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Speaker 1: know that it's a killer be killed world out there,

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Speaker 1: and we'll uncover secrets about the people at the center

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Speaker 1: of this case. Hope. I'm saying to.

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Speaker 2: Liz, all of this before a single juror has been selected.

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Speaker 1: This is King Slime.

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Speaker 2: The prosecution of Young Thug and ysl.

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Speaker 1: Listen to King Slime, launching August fifteenth, on the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.