Young Thug

• 1. Introduction

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  Young Thug was born Jeffery Lamar Williams on the 16th of August 1991, the tenth of eleven children raised in the Jonesboro South projects near Cleveland Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up just four doors down from his childhood friend Peewee Longway. The neighborhood also produced Waka Flocka Flame and Ludacris.

  In sixth grade, Williams was expelled for breaking a teacher's arm. That led to four years in juvenile prison. By the time he came out, he had something to say and an entirely new way of saying it.

  What emerged from those years was one of the most contested voices in modern music. Critics called his style "extraordinarily distinctive," a weird and experimental approach that had never existed before in rap. Jeff Weiss of the BBC called him the "most influential rapper of the 21st century." Not bad for someone who grew up four doors from a childhood friend in a Atlanta housing project.

  This is the story of how a kid from Jonesboro South remade the sound of hip-hop, navigated a labyrinth of label deals and legal trouble, and released his debut studio album on his 28th birthday while sitting atop the Billboard 200.

• 2. An Eccentric Voice Emerges

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  Young Thug's first documented recording was a guest appearance on rapper TruRoyal's song "She Can Go" in 2010. He followed that with three installments of a mixtape series called I Came from Nothing across 2011 and 2012. Those tapes caught the ear of fellow Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane, who signed him to 1017 Brick Squad Records in 2013.

  The fourth mixtape, 1017 Thug, landed on Pitchfork's Albums of the Year honorable mention list and Complex's 50 Best Albums of 2013. Fact magazine named it the best mixtape of the year outright. Rolling Stone ranked it fifth on its 10 Best Mixtapes list, and The Guardian placed it among The Five Best Mixtapes of 2013. A single track from that tape, "Picacho", appeared in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2013 and Pitchfork's Top 100 Tracks of the same year.

  In October 2013, he released his commercial debut single "Stoner", and the response was immediate enough to make other rappers want in. Wale, Jim Jones, Jadakiss, and Iamsu! all put out unofficial remixes. Williams was not flattered. He told them directly: "If you feel like my song isn't tough enough to the point where you have to freestyle... Don't think I'm happy that you're doing it because of who you are. I'm ready for war."

  That same October, he appeared on several tracks on Metro Boomin's 19 & Boomin, including "Some More", which was the first song he made with engineer Alex Tumay. Tumay would become his go-to collaborator for almost everything through Slime Season 2.

• 3. Label Chaos and Rising Stakes

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  In January 2014, Williams revealed he had been offered $8.5 million to sign with Future's Freebandz label. He didn't take it. By March of that year, rumors linked him to Cash Money Records and its CEO Birdman, though the label's publicist denied any deal. A representative for 1017 Distribution clarified on the 28th of March 2014, that Williams had signed only a management deal with Birdman's Rich Gang, and remained on 1017 Brick Squad.

  That same spring, he recorded several songs with Kanye West, who praised him for his ability to make songs quickly. Rolling Stone named him the "most exciting new voice of hip-hop" and "hip-hop's new crown prince" in its the 4th of December 2014 issue. He was also on the March 2014 cover of The Fader.

  In June 2014, Kevin Liles confirmed Williams had been officially signed to 300 Entertainment, the label he ran with Lyor Cohen. But the label situation kept shifting. By May 2015, after being affiliated at various points with Gucci Mane's 1017, Future's Freebandz, Lyor Cohen's 300, and Birdman's Rich Gang, Williams cut through the confusion himself: "I manage myself. I'm signed with Atlantic. I have a big, special deal with Atlantic, and it's only Atlantic. Birdman is my homie."

  Along the way, his planned debut album went through several name changes. He first announced it as Carter VI, a tribute to Lil Wayne. Wayne was unhappy, telling a concert audience in April 2015 to "stop listening" to Young Thug, and threatened lawsuits. Williams renamed the album Barter 6 and clarified it would be a mixtape. He then announced a separate debut album, to be titled Hy!£UN35, pronounced "HiTunes". None of those projects arrived under those names, but Barter 6 landed in 2015 to critical acclaim, along with the first two installments of his Slime Season mixtape series.

• 4. Fashion, Identity, and Image

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  Young Thug has worn women's clothing since age 12. It became as central to his public identity as his music. His wardrobe of painted fingernails, skintight jeans, and children's dresses worn as shirts prompted wide-ranging commentary from the media, including speculation about his sexuality.

  For a Calvin Klein campaign, he offered his own framing: "In my world, you can be a gangsta with a dress or you can be a gangsta with baggy pants."

  For the artwork of his 2016 self-titled mixtape Jeffery, he posed with his face obscured, wearing a dress designed by Italian designer Alessandro Trincone. The photo was taken by Garfield Lamond and went viral. The week of the mixtape's release, he announced he would change his name to "No, My Name Is Jeffery" for that week only.

  In February 2018, he briefly rebranded himself as "Sex." Vibe Magazine called him "one of the most unpredictable, charismatic, and outlandish personalities in hip-hop today." GQ described him as "at once a hero and an outsider and a leader of the psychedelic fashion movement of rap hippies." The media applied labels ranging from "fashion icon" to gender fluid and androgynous, while drawing comparisons to David Bowie, Prince, and Little Richard.

  His Fall 2016 Calvin Klein campaign placed him alongside Frank Ocean. That kind of mainstream platform, alongside repeated critical recognition for his style, showed how far the conversation about gender and masculinity in hip-hop had moved by the mid-2010s.

• 5. Chart Peaks and Collaborations

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  August 2017 brought Williams his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100: a guest appearance on Camila Cabello's "Havana." The following year, he co-wrote and provided background vocals on Childish Gambino's "This Is America", which debuted at number one on the Hot 100 for the 19th of May 2018. That contribution earned him the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

  His debut studio album So Much Fun arrived on the 16th of August 2019, his 28th birthday. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. The album's track listing included Future, Machine Gun Kelly, Gunna, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, J. Cole, Travis Scott, and others. The single "The London," featuring J. Cole and Travis Scott, was one of two top-20 Billboard Hot 100 hits from the project.

  In 2020, the collaborative mixtape Slime & B, with Chris Brown, produced the single "Go Crazy", which peaked at number three on the Hot 100. It was his highest-charting single as a lead artist up to that point. On September 25 of that year, Travis Scott's "Franchise", featuring Williams alongside British rapper M.I.A., debuted at number one. Then in September 2021, Drake's "Way 2 Sexy" featuring Williams and Future hit number one as well, giving him a third number-one single.

  His second studio album Punk was released on the 15th of October 2021. The YSL Records compilation Slime Language 2, released the 16th of April 2021 alongside Gunna, also debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it a landmark year commercially. By the end of 2020 alone, Williams had fourteen chart entries on the Hot 100 from collaborations across the year.

• 6. The RICO Trial

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  On the 9th of May 2022, Williams was arrested in Atlanta on gang-related charges. He and Gunna were among 28 people associated with YSL charged in a 56-count Georgia RICO Act indictment filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. A subsequent search of his home added seven additional felony counts.

  Williams was held without bail, denied bond multiple times. He remained in custody at the Cobb County Jail. While incarcerated, his social media accounts posted a QR code in June 2023 that led to a countdown, and on June 23, his third studio album Business Is Business was released. The album featured Drake, Travis Scott, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, and 21 Savage, and was executive-produced by Metro Boomin. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, moving 89,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.

  The criminal trial formally began on the 27th of November 2023, and stretched well past a year, making it the longest criminal trial in Georgia history. In December 2023, a co-defendant named Shannon Stillwell was stabbed multiple times in a fight at the Fulton County Jail, delaying the proceedings until January 2024.

  On the 31st of October 2024, Williams accepted a plea deal and pleaded no contest to several charges. He was sentenced to 40 years: 5 years in prison commuted to time served, 15 years of probation, and a backloaded 20 years if probation is violated. His release came with conditions including a ten-year ban from the Metro Atlanta area, a prohibition on making gang-related music, four annual anti-gang presentations for the city of Atlanta, and no contact with known gang members or co-defendants, with the exception of Gunna and his biological brother.

• 7. Life Beyond the Studio

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  Williams has six children by four women: three sons and three daughters. He became a father at 17. In April 2015, he became engaged to Jerrika Karlae, whose mother managed the late Young Dolph. They broke up in December 2020.

  In September 2016, following the release of Jeffery, he bought his first home in Buckhead, Atlanta. The property is more than 11,000 square feet, with six bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, a full bar, a theater room, and a four-car garage.

  During a concert livestream in April 2020, he described a health crisis that had occurred around that time. He said his body went numb and he could not move, and that he was eventually taken from his bed by paramedics. "I went to the hospital and I had found out that I had liver and kidney failure. And I kinda had sorta passed away, like I kinda died," he told viewers.

  In 2021, he began dating singer-songwriter Mariah the Scientist. They briefly ended their relationship in October 2025, then got engaged two months later during a concert in Atlanta.

  On the philanthropic side, in June 2017 he donated all proceeds from a sold-out concert to Planned Parenthood, writing on Twitter: "I was a teenage parent. Planned+unplanned parenthood is beautiful." In November 2021, Kobalt Music Group announced a new global publishing deal with Williams, covering publishing administration, global sync, and creative services worldwide.

• 8. UY Scuti and What Comes Next

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  Following his release from jail in late 2024, Williams appeared on tracks alongside Future on Lil Baby's WHAM in January 2025, marking his first official release since his jail term. Two months later, in March, he appeared on Playboi Carti's Music, alongside Ty Dolla Sign.

  In April 2025, he announced his fourth studio album, UY Scuti. It was released on the 26th of September 2025, and debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, his ninth top-ten entry on that chart. Critics gave it mixed reviews, finding it disjointed. The album generated controversy on two fronts: the cover art, which depicts Williams in whiteface, and the opening track "Ninja", in which he repeatedly uses the racial slur nigger. Pitchfork described that choice as "bottom-of-the-barrel edgelord trolling."

  Starting in August 2025, leaked jail calls attributed to Williams began circulating, allegedly containing comments that disrespected figures including Gunna, Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Drake, among others. The calls also reportedly included suggestions that Business Is Business, along with Gunna's A Gift & a Curse and DS4Ever, had their Billboard numbers inflated by fake streams.

  His probation conditions, including the ten-year ban from Metro Atlanta and the requirement to make four annual anti-gang presentations for the city, will shape how Williams navigates the next phase of a career that has already moved through more upheaval than most artists encounter across an entire lifetime.