Music

Young Thug’s rise in pop culture stemmed from the “post-verbal” brilliance of his indecipherable yet captivating delivery; he has now plummeted to a low point in his career, thanks to crystal-clear audio clips that seemingly expose him going against his own word. Since being released from jail on a plea deal last year, Thug has repeatedly derided Gunna, his onetime friend and YSL trial codefendant, as a “rat” for his 2022 Alford Plea deal. But, after online sleuths uncovered a two-hour 2015 interrogation where he told cops that his friend Jimmy “Peewee Roscoe” Winfrey gave drugs to Lil Wayne, he’s facing the same “snitch” allegations from rap fans on social media, as well as from other rappers in Atlanta. 

For the past week, Thug’s been the target of rap media figures like DJ Akademiks and Wack 100, who’ve been discussing the audio clips and his street credibility in hours-long livestreams. It will be difficult for Thug and the Atlanta rap scene at large to regain its former standing in the music world, and it’s hard not to feel like the damage is self-inflicted. If Thug had come home from prison and refrained from mentioning Gunna, these clips may have never been released by fan pages like X account @Gunnaupdates.

It’s unclear how the videos surfaced online. When Rolling Stone sent an X direct message to the @Gunnaupdates account, which posted some of the first clips of the footage, they replied that “a few fans have been sitting on these for a while now,” and noted that they are available via a public records request. Days later, they claimed, “Every blog gets [the clips] from here first, but I can’t give my sources.” Via email, a representative for the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that individuals can obtain public records, such as jail calls, through an Open Records Request. Last year, some of Thug’s jail calls with his girlfriend, Mariah The Scientist, also appeared online.

It was initially unclear how Thug felt about Gunna after his Alford Plea, where he affirmed to Judge Glenda J. Kendrick that YSL was a gang that “must end.” One of Thug’s associates, YSL Mondo, told Rolling Stone in January 2023 that there were elements of the case that Thug was “disappointed about,” but declined to specify. Soon after Gunna came home, artists like Lil Baby and Meek Mill, as well as Thug’s sister Dolly, unfollowed him on Instagram. In September of 2023, Thug’s father said he loved Gunna, who, in his estimation, “hasn’t done anything whatsoever that can hurt us on this case.” After Thug’s release, the YSL labelhead told GQ, “I know everybody wonders” about their relationship, then said, “I don’t know” where they stand. 

However, Thug’s true feelings were soon revealed. Last November, he posted to X, “Gunna stop acting like we friends on the internet, I don’t know u my guy.” In July, he posted, “If u a rapper and a rat, u just gotta go gospel twin.” During the Diddy trial, he derided Kid Cudi as a “rat” for testifying about Combs allegedly blowing up his car. Fans went from wondering when his Uy Scuti album was dropping to pondering why he’s so obsessed with snitching. In August, a track leaked from Lil Baby’s upcoming project, where Thug raps, “Only reason I fucked with you Gunna, it was cause of Troup,” referring to Keith “King” Troup, a late figure in the Atlanta hip-hop scene who united him with Gunna. 

The recently released footage further culled the depths of his ire for Gunna. In one clip, he asked label executives to drop his Business Is Business album the same day as Gunna’s The Last Wun album to “torment” him, adding, “I literally don’t hate nobody in the entire world but him, I literally hate him, I swear to God.” During an extended phone call with 21 Savage, he admitted that at one point he thought about keeping things civil with Gunna publicly, but he didn’t want to contradict Lil Baby and Durk’s previous distancing from Gunna. Elsewhere in the conversation, Thug said that his lawyer Brian Steel told him Gunna’s plea made their defense more difficult; it was previously reported that his Alford Plea would only affect other defendants if Gunna testified, which he didn’t. Thug also claimed that Gunna offered to write a statement for Steel stating he was “tricked” into the Alford Plea, then didn’t “answer the phone” when called to do so. Steel declined to comment on Thug’s claims.

Many are noting Thug’s hypocrisy in his public frustration with Gunna. While arguing with Atlanta rapper Ralo on X, he posted that he made an “honest mistake” in implicating Roscoe in drug dealing, while Gunna similarly rapped, “Lawyers and the D.A. did some sneaky shit, I fell for it” on his single, “Bread & Butter.” Thug was upset at Gunna’s plea deal, but recently posted on X that he told his brother Unfoonk to take a plea deal right after Gunna because he “ain’t wanna put my mama through that again.” 

The reductive street code has blackballed Gunna in the rap game, with Offset and Roddy Ricch being the sole rapper collaborators on his two post-release albums. In 2021, the last full year before the YSL indictment, he featured on seven songs with other artists. Since his release, he’s done just three features, with Toosii being the only rapper. 

During his jail call with Thug, 21 Savage expressed that while he didn’t like Gunna’s plea, he wouldn’t go public about it because he didn’t want Atlanta to look bad — it’s happened anyway. Thug’s calls are likely to further shake up a scene that was already cratering. He called Quality Control CEO Pierre “P” Thomas a “rat,” and called Gucci Mane “soft” for being cool with him. He told Lil Durk, Atlanta-based before his incarceration, to “shut that cap ass shit up” after he shouted him out online but didn’t clear a verse. He opined that the Migos catalog is “making no munyun,” called producer Wheezy “stupid and retarded,” and talked down on Kendrick Lamar for not giving him a verse for his Business Is Business album, implying he needed to collaborate with him to widen his fanbase; Kendrick’s recent world tour says otherwise.

Last week, Ralo took to social media to call Thug a divisive figure who had previously talked down on Rich Homie Quan and YFN Lucci to peers in a similar manner. In 2016, he began clashing with Future for reasons that were unclear before they squashed things. Today, he posted to X, “Bashing me only goin fuck that rap community up more, I’m the [glue] to this fake ass game.” He might be better served by taking his own advice before dissing so many of his fellow rappers on publicly retrievable jail calls.

During a 2012 Reddit AMA, Thug revealed a pragmatic approach to his career: “I make a product for a certain audience and I’m good at it. Supply and demand, simple economics. I don’t do this because I love the attention, I do this because I have a certain skill set that now allows me to get paid without the threat of doing federal time.”

However, over the past decade or so, street rap has sought to become “bigger and better” for consumers. It wasn’t enough for artists to merely depict the streets. Black death is a rising commodity, and fans eager for the most potent hit of vicarious awe want artists to give them a frontline glimpse of nihilism. That encourages too many artists to portray the most ignorant images they can to rap fans and media personalities who’ve collectively cultivated a fandom of rap as a criminal racket. Talented artists are being goaded to risk their freedom, embodying a lifestyle that terrorizes communities and corrupts young minds to devalue human life — and if the worst happens, they’ll be called fools for giving onlookers what they ask for.

In the eyes of many fans, discussions about musical quality have given way to conversations about who snitched; pondering an artist’s potential has been replaced by RICO speculation. Even though artists make their fortune as musicians, they flex that their adherence to the street code supercedes any desire to grow beyond petty street politics. That‘s led to an artist like Thug wanting to be perceived as a gangster more than a savvy businessman, even with a precarious 15-year probation over his head.

Gangster rap and all its variants have flown way too close to the sun. Thug and Gunna could’ve come out of the YSL trial together as a stronger-than-ever unit. But instead, the justice system, public perception, and ego drove a wedge through one of Atlanta’s last great rap movements. During his call with Thug, 21 noted that the city doesn’t feel the same after so much death and incarceration; more infighting isn’t the remedy. We don’t need Thug or any of his peers to be the most street artist in the world, because we don’t need the streets. Hopefully, the Atlanta rap scene can realize that and prioritize the music before it’s too late.