Young Thug Artistfacts

August 16, 1991
Young Thug (Jeffery Lamar Williams) grew up in Atlanta's Jonesboro South housing projects, a rough patch of the city that also produced rap heavyweights like Waka Flocka Flame and Ludacris.
One of 11 siblings, he was expelled from school in the sixth grade after breaking a teacher's arm in a scuffle, landing him in juvenile detention for four years.
His breakthrough came in 2013 with 1017 Thug, a mixtape released after he signed with Gucci Mane's 1017 Records. Critics praised its surreal energy and Thug's unorthodox delivery.
His eccentricity has always extended beyond music. His 2016 mixtape Jeffery arrived with cover art showing him in a billowing lavender Alessandro Trincone dress. Some fans balked, but Thug was unfazed, explaining: "You could be a gangster in a dress."
Vocally, Thugger treats his voice like an instrument, more saxophone than singer. He stretches syllables, slips into squeals, and often records verses in a stream-of-consciousness blur before ever writing them down.
His nickname "Thugger" comes from a childhood moniker, but he's also toyed with rebranding. In 2016 he announced he'd change his stage name to "No, My Name is Jeffery," though it didn't stick.
He is the founder of Young Stoner Life (YSL) Records, home to many prominent Atlanta rappers.
Young Thug's legal issues became an unavoidable part of his story. In May 2022, he was arrested on RICO charges alongside fellow YSL members, accused of running the label as a criminal enterprise. After more than two years behind bars, Thug was released in October 2024 under a plea deal for time served and probation. His first post-prison album, Uy Scuti, leaned into the experience, opening with audio from the prosecutor who once called him "the most dangerous of the 28."
Thug's output borders on manic. Future once joked he had "a million" Thug songs stashed away, an almost believable number given his habit of recording dozens of tracks in a single day. That obsessive productivity continued even during his incarceration: while awaiting trial in 2023, he was reportedly scribbling lyrics in his cell.
Young Thug attended Booker T. Washington High School, the first public school for African Americans in Georgia. Other famous pupils include Martin Luther King Jr., Lena Horne and Lil Baby. Young Thug was one grade above Lil Baby at Booker T. Washington, and they knew each other.

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