Young Thug spoke to students at Emory Law School and encouraged them to pursue careers as criminal defense lawyers. His lawyer Brian Steel recently met with students and put the rapper on a FaceTime call. Young Thug praised his work and highlighted that it was thanks to Steel that his life took a turn for the better.
“We had a situation that was daunting towards my life, and I think that the justice system could be bad,” the rapper said, according to BET. “You know, sometimes it could be bad, and you gotta always look at it, like, they’re there to put us in prison, and you guys are here to keep us from prison.”
@rmckz_ Really appreciated the words of encouragement!
“Brian Steel is the best person possible. He’s very pedagogical, and he should be a professor,” Young Thug added. “I think you guys should become lawyers. I think it’s very important to help people out of the situations they’re in the best you can. I mean, what side do you wanna be on? You wanna put people in prison for mistakes? Because everybody makes mistakes, we’re human. And everybody in this classroom, you always need to know that you’re one mistake away.”
Currently hearing from Attorney Brian Steel and @youngthug (via FaceTime) in class at Emory Law School. #YSL #YSLTrial pic.twitter.com/9vNJ0KzAvX
— Greear Webb (@greearwebb) November 6, 2024
As Blavity reported, Young Thug was detained for over 900 days under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute. He was released on Oct. 31 after pleading guilty to gang, drug and gun charges in the YSL Rico trial, which is the state’s longest-running criminal trial in Georgia’s history. Young Thug was indicted in 2022 for allegedly leading Young Slime Life, a gang accused of multiple crimes including murder, armed robbery, drug dealing and carjacking.
The rapper was sentenced to 15 years on probation and avoided a 45-year prison sentence. He was released on house arrest and faces no prison time.
Judge Paige Reese Whitaker encouraged him to use his influence for good.
“I know you’re talented, and if you choose to continue to rap, you need to try to use your influence to let kids know that is not the way to go and that there are ways out of poverty besides hooking up with the powerful guy at the end of the street selling drugs,” she told Young Thug, according to Billboard.
