Young Thug

Early life and first mixtapes

Jeffery Lamar Williams II was born on August 16, 1991, in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up in the city as one of eleven children and started recording around 2010, with an early guest spot on a track by the Atlanta rapper TruRoyal. Between 2011 and 2012 he released three volumes of the I Came from Nothing mixtape series, regional projects that began to spread his high-pitched, hard-to-categorize voice through Atlanta's rap underground.

Those tapes reached Gucci Mane, who signed him to 1017 Brick Squad Records in 2013. The label mixtape 1017 Thug, issued that February, featured the cult single 'Picacho' and made Thug one of the year's most talked-about newcomers. He spent the rest of 2013 releasing loose songs and guest verses, building the work habits that would define the decade to come.

Breakthrough years, 2014 to 2016

The singles 'Stoner' and 'Danny Glover' broke through in 2014, and 'Stoner' was later certified gold. The Rich Gang mixtape with Rich Homie Quan, anchored by 'Lifestyle,' made Thug a fixture beyond Atlanta, and later that year he signed with 300 Entertainment, the Atlantic-distributed label founded by Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles.

Barter 6 followed in April 2015, retitled from an earlier concept after Lil Wayne objected; it entered the Billboard 200 at No. 22. The Slime Season mixtapes arrived in September 2015, October 2015, and March 2016, and in August 2016 he issued JEFFERY, a self-titled project whose cover photograph showed him in a ruffled dress. Pitchfork scored JEFFERY 8.5 out of 10, Metacritic tallied an 82 from professional reviews, and the mixtape reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200.

Artistry, fashion, and influence

Reviewers have spent a decade trying to pin down Young Thug's vocal style: he slides between rapping, singing, and pure sound, treating ad-libs as part of the composition rather than decoration. On records like Barter 6 he switches cadence mid-line, and on JEFFERY he bends melody until the words nearly disappear. The approach, sometimes filed under mumble rap, pushed melodic, texture-first delivery into the mainstream of hip-hop.

His image has been equally disruptive. The JEFFERY cover, with its gender-fluid styling, became one of the decade's most discussed rap artworks, and his taste in clothes helped loosen the genre's sartorial rules. Writing for the BBC, critics have traced his mannerisms across modern rap, naming Gunna, Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, and Playboi Carti among the artists working in his wake.

Albums, charts, and collaborations

So Much Fun, released on August 16, 2019, became his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, opening with 131,000 equivalent album units. The set introduced the J. Cole and Travis Scott collaboration 'The London' and the Gunna team-up 'Hot' to the Hot 100's upper rungs. As a vocalist for hire he appears on Camila Cabello's 'Havana,' Post Malone's 'Goodbyes,' Childish Gambino's 'This Is America,' and Drake's 'Way 2 Sexy,' three of which topped the Hot 100.

Punk arrived in October 2021 and debuted at No. 1, as had the YSL compilation Slime Language 2 that April. Business Is Business followed in June 2023 at No. 3, with Drake, Travis Scott, Future, and Lil Uzi Vert among its guests, and UY Scuti, his fourth studio album, entered the Billboard 200 at No. 6 in September 2025. Reviews of UY Scuti were mixed, with Rolling Stone calling it a frustrating comeback and Pitchfork arguing it chased virality over craft.

Young Stoner Life Records

Thug also runs Young Stoner Life (YSL) Records, the imprint he launched in 2016. The label has been a home for Gunna, Lil Keed, and other Atlanta artists, and it gave him a platform beyond his solo work. NME has described him as a mogul whose co-signs shape the sound of the city, and his early support helped bring Lil Baby and Gunna to wider attention.

The label's Slime Language compilations, issued in 2018, 2021, and 2026, gather its roster in showcase form. Slime Language 2, co-billed with Gunna, debuted at No. 1 in 2021. Thug has also fronted commercial mixtapes with Future, including 2017's Super Slimey, and with Chris Brown on 2020's Slime & B, whose single 'Go Crazy' became one of his biggest hits.

The YSL racketeering case

In May 2022, Young Thug was indicted in Fulton County alongside 27 associates under Georgia's RICO Act. Prosecutors argued that YSL functioned as the criminal street gang Young Slime Life; his defense team insisted that YSL was the name of his record label and that the group's artistic ties were being recast as criminal ones. The case became a flashpoint for national debate about rap lyrics used as evidence.

Jury selection started in January 2023, and the proceeding that followed became the longest criminal trial in Georgia history. Months of delays, hostile witnesses, and procedural disputes whittled the defendant list; the original judge was recused in July 2024 over allegations of improper contact with a prosecution witness, and three co-defendants pleaded guilty that October.

On October 31, 2024, Young Thug pleaded guilty to one gang charge, three drug charges, and two gun charges, and pleaded no contest to racketeering conspiracy and a second gang count. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker sentenced him to 40 years, commuted the custodial portion to time served, and ordered 15 years of probation with conditions that included 100 hours of community service and restrictions on living in metro Atlanta for much of the probation term. He left the Fulton County Jail that night, after more than 900 days in custody.

UY Scuti and the return to touring

From custody he had already overseen the June 2023 release of Business Is Business. Following his release in October 2024 he kept a low profile until UY Scuti arrived on September 26, 2025, named for a red supergiant star. The album's bleached-skin cover art and its opening track sparked widespread debate, reviews ran from mixed to negative, and the project still opened at No. 6 on the Billboard 200.

In 2026 he returned to major stages, and in July he announced The New Generation Tour. The run is scheduled to begin September 1 in Rogers, Arkansas, and end October 24 in Paris, with YSL artists Tezzus, 1300saint, Iyrus, Yume, Biggs, Unky, and Diamond* on the bill and Nav appearing on U.S. dates.