Rapper Young Thug’s racketeering trial has begun with Georgia prosecutors accusing him of being a gang leader in charge of a “wolf pack”.
The Atlanta rapper, born Jeffery Lamar Williams, is accused of co-founding a violent street gang in his hometown.
Prosecutors are using the critically-acclaimed performer’s own lyrics as evidence of the gang’s existence.
Some are watching for the parallels to the Georgia case developing against former President Donald Trump.
Mr Williams, 32, has been in jail since his arrest in May 2022 on charges that include participating in criminal street gang activity and conspiring to violate a federal law aimed at combatting organised crime.
Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love told the jury the rapper oversaw dozens of crimes that created a “crater” in Fulton County. That crater “sucked in the youth, innocence and even the lives of some of its youngest members”, she alleged.
Mrs Love’s colourful opening statement, which was interrupted several times by defence attorneys, began with a passage from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. “The strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack,” she said, as she introduced the concept of Mr Williams’ alleged “wolf pack”.
Prosecutors in Fulton County argued that the rapper’s music label YSL is not a true business, despite its success at producing Grammy-winning talent. Instead, they allege, it is a street gang affiliated with the US-based Bloods gang enterprise.
In an indictment in May, the district attorney’s office tied the YSL men charged to a series of felony offences, including murder, armed robbery and carjacking.
If found guilty, Mr Williams could face decades in prison.
Georgia prosecutors used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Act – famously used in mafia prosecutions – to charge the rapper and 27 associates who were allegedly involved in the criminal enterprise at various levels.
Fulton County prosecutors also cited the Rico Act to prosecute Mr Trump and his 18 co-defendants for allegedly attempting to pressure state officials to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
A handful of Mr Williams’ YSL co-defendants took plea deals or had their cases separated from the trial over the 10-month jury selection process, which was finally completed in early November.
Prosecutors say they plan to call up to 400 witnesses and that the investigation into YSL has been ongoing for roughly 10 years.
During that period, Young Thug – who co-wrote the critically acclaimed Donald Glover song This is America – has been a growing force in hip-hop.
This month the judge overseeing the trial ruled that prosecutors will be allowed to use some rap lyrics as evidence that crimes had been committed by the defendants.
That lyrics from his songs are being used as evidence in the case has raised questions about free speech, artistic expression and racial bias, but prosecutors dismissed those arguments.
“I have some legal advice: don’t confess to crimes on rap lyrics if you do not want them used – or at least get out of my county,” the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in a September 2022 news conference.
Popular rappers such as Killer Mike, Lil Wayne, and TI could be among those to testify in the trial.
The trial, expected to around six months, will also be watched for its parallels to Mr Trump’s election fraud case in the state.
The indictment against Mr Trump and his co-defendants in the case also uses Rico laws to allege the former president “unlawfully conspired” to change the election outcome while participating in a “criminal enterprise”.
