Young Thug

Jeffery Lamar Williams II—better known as Young Thug—emerged from Atlanta’s mixtape circuit in 2011 with a slurred, elastic style that would help redraw hip-hop’s boundaries. An eccentric vocalist and self-consciously strange dresser, he signed with Gucci Mane’s 1017 Records in 2013 and began assembling a catalog that felt both anarchic and precise. His 1017 Thug mixtape brought early praise, and his reputation as an influential architect of trap and a key popularizer of mumble rap would only grow.

In 2014, Thug turned his cult status into mainstream traction. Stoner and Danny Glover established him as a solo force, while guest appearances on T.I.’s About the Money, Tyga’s Hookah, and Rich Gang’s Lifestyle carried his voice into broader rotation. After signing with 300 Entertainment, he sustained an aggressive release schedule—including Barter 6 and the Slime Season series—cementing his position as one of the genre’s most influential risk-takers.

His reach extended beyond the underground when Camila Cabello’s Havana gave him his first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, and his contribution to Childish Gambino’s This Is America earned a Grammy for Song of the Year. Debut album So Much Fun topped the Billboard 200 in 2019; Punk and Business Is Business followed, the latter arriving in 2023 while he was jailed. Young Thug released his fourth album, UY Scuti, in 2025.