Introducing: King Slime

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
In May of twenty twenty two, the arrest of Young
Thug sent chock waves through the hip hop world. In
the city of Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Police arrested the rapper Young Thug, whose real name is
Jeffrey Williams. Authorities rated the rappers Bucket Harper, and twenty
eight other defendants charged in a fifty six count indictment
a legend street gang. Over the past decade, Jeffrey Williams,
the rapper Young Thug, has become an internationally famous rap star,
and his record label YSL, which stands for Young Stoner Life,

(00:31):
was turning out new hit artists.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
But police alange that over those same ten years, Williams
was building a criminal enterprise also called YSL, where Young
Slime Life, a violent Atlanta street gang accused of committing
a slew of crimes, including murder. All they say at
William's behest, He's the one directing truffic.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
He is the one they're all afraid of.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
He's the one that's King Swan. I'm Christina Lee, a
music journalist who has covered Atlanta's hip hop scene for
over a decade.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
And I'm George Cheaty, a crime in politics reporter based
in Atlanta, as the historic and controversial jury trial of
one of music's most iconic artists begins. We're examining the
case from all sides.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
From the studio.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
One day, I get a knock on my door. He
was like, I'm Young Thug Man.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
He was like, I'm gonna change your line.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
To the streets. Young thug As the artist is known worldwide,
but in the city of Atlanta Leaveland Avenue, he's the
people's champ.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Well, go inside the case with investigators. We don't care
what you call yourself. You can be the girl Scouts.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
If you the girl Scouts outside of Walmart, pull out
of guns and you gon't buy these cookies, that's criminal
gang activity.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
And sit down with the district attorney overseeing the prosecution.
It's so interesting you talk about snitching because everybody hard
right till they sitting in that seat.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, examine the indictment's controversial use of lyrics social media
as evidence.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
It's only been black rap artists who have been prosecuted
based on their lyrics. It does indicate systemic racism.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
And meet the defense attorneys who call this the craziest
trial in Atlanta's history.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yes, it's legal. Doesn't mean it's right. We'll dive deep
into the issues that have led us to this trial
in this town at this time.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
It's inevitable that it's going to spread when you've got
combatants that don't see a bright future for themselves and
know that it's a killer be killed world out there,
and we'll uncover secrets about the people at the center
of this case. Hope. I'm saying to.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Liz, all of this before a single juror has been selected.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
This is King Slime.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
The prosecution of Young Thug and ysl.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Listen to King Slime, launching August fifteenth, on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.