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Rb Hip Hop

Travis Scott, Sexyy Red, T.I. & More React to Young Thug’s Release After YSL RICO Case

The hip-hop community is celebrating after news broke that Young Thug will be released from custody after receiving 15 years probation and no prison time.

Young Thug performs at halftime during the Boston Celtics v Atlanta Hawks game at State Farm Arena on November 17, 2021 in Atlanta.

Young Thug performs at halftime during the Boston Celtics v Atlanta Hawks game at State Farm Arena on November 17, 2021 in Atlanta.

Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Young Thug is officially returning home after pleading guilty in a criminal case accusing him of leading a violent Atlanta street gang. The rapper was sentenced to 15 years probation and no prison time on Thursday (Oct. 31).

Thug (real name Jeffery Williams) pleaded guilty in Georgia to several counts, including possession of drugs and firearms, and pleaded no contest to others including the racketeering accusations that alleged he was the leader of a criminal gang, Young Slime Life. Thug has been in custody for two years after he along with 27 others were arrested in May 2022 as part of a sprawling 56-count indictment for violations of Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).


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Before his sentencing, Young Thug told the court he takes “full responsibility for my crimes and for my charges,” adding, “I know what I bring to the table and I know what I am. I know the heights I’ve reached and I know the impact I’ve got on people in the community.”

Following the news, Travis Scott took to his Instagram Stories to write that his “bruddda otw home” with a series of brown hearts. Similarly, Metro Boomin shared a series of photos of Thug to his Stories.

“Welcome Home lil bruddah, It’s been too long… Time to get back to it!!!” T.I. wrote on Instagram alongside photos of the duo. On X, Sexyy Red wrote, “THEY LET TWIN OUT!!!,” in reference to the duo’s physical resemblance.

Kevin Liles, the CEO of 300 Entertainment which houses Thug’s YSL Records, wrote on Instagram, “Words can’t express the incredible happiness and relief I feel to learn of Jeffery’s freedom. There will be a time to discuss the criminalization of hip-hop lyrics and the use of bond denial as a weapon against defendants, but in this moment everyone should feel nothing but joy that this amazing artist and even better man can hug his children, parents, siblings, and other loved ones tonight.”

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This article was originally published by Billboard U.S.

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Mariah Carey kicks off the 2025 holiday season.
Courtesy Photo

Mariah Carey kicks off the 2025 holiday season.

Pop

In This Season of Giving, Mariah Carey Shares Throwback Clip From 1994 Manifesting a Potential Christmas Classic One Day: ‘So Grateful’

MC only had to wait 25 years for her all-time holiday classic "All I Want For Christmas Is You" to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Mariah Carey is the undisputed Queen of Christmas. The pop singer has lorded over the holiday charts for the past six years with her ubiquitous wintertime classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” It seems hard to believe it now if you’ve been anywhere near a store since Halloween, but the yuletide favorite that was released in 1994 did not chart until 2000 and did not hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 until 2019, fully 25 years after it first hit our ears.

Now, as the holidays really ramp up, the best-selling Christmas song of all time in the U.S. seems like a no-brainer to top the charts every year. But on Tuesday (Dec. 9), MC gave thanks for how it all started in a throwback video she re-posted from a fan feed of an interview she did in 1994 in which she was asked if she hopes one of the songs from her first holiday album, that year’s Merry Christmas, might some day be as ubiquitous as such standards as “White Christmas” or “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.
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