Young Thug has opened up about his extensive incarceration while fighting his YSL RICO case, the trial itself and his distance from Gunna in his first interview since his release in 2024.
After spending over two years behind bars as part of Georgia’s high-profile YSL RICO case, Young Thug is finally speaking out in a rare and raw interview with GQ.
Of the many topics the Atlanta rapper reflected on, which include his upcoming album UY SCUTI, Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s rap beef and more, one of the most moving subjects he spoke about was the surreal experience of incarceration.
For Thugger, jail wasn’t just confinement—it was a wake-up call.
“I think I’m too big for jail,” Young Thug told GQ, “But I think like I’m not too big for God.”
Comparing his time in confinement to divine intervention, Thug viewed his incarceration as something spiritually orchestrated.
“God could put the biggest person in there I feel like I’m taller than the jail, but somehow he could just like squish me in there,” he said. “I think it was like God, a God thing, just showing me like, you know, situations, real friends and who you with, who with you and how to move and how to be.”
The time away gave him perspective and left him questioning why he had to be removed from the world to receive the message.
“I always felt like I was a good guy,” he said. “so why do I gotta go to jail for you to show me something?”
At another point during the interview, Thug shared his remarks about the YSL case concerning the prosecution’s use of rap lyrics as incriminating evidence.
For Thug, it was both as surreal and frustrating as his incarceration in the first place.
“It felt kind of crazy and cool,” he responded when asked how it felt to have his lyrics used against him as evidence. “Like ‘oh, everybody listens to me,’ but crazy—like the First f###### Amendment is freedom of speech. It’s wild.”
He joked about not being sure which exact amendment it was but was clear on the principle that artists should be able to express themselves without weaponizing it in court.
In doing so, he also made a straightforward admission about his relationship with Gunna—a co-defendant in the YSL RICO case- before Gunna accepted an Alford plea during early proceedings in late 2022.
“I know everybody wondering that,” Thug said when asked about what kind of terms he and Gunna were on. “I don’t know.”
Thug’s bombshell admission about Gunna follows recent speculation about his status and future at YSL Records, considering the deterioration of his relationship with the label’s mastermind.
Check out the full interview in the post above.
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