Get it parade on Cleveland ready (even though he’s basically banned from this area, but we’ll talk about that shortly). Young Thug’s RICO trial has been ongoing for nearly two and a half years now, a saga that has seen Thug and his YSL associates incarcerated since May 2022. Since then, all sorts of drama has unfolded, from a plea that saw Gunna released and then ostracized for appearing to cooperate with law enforcement, prosecutors citing chart-topping songs as proof of gang affiliation as Thug endearingly banged on his radiators, and bizarre events in court too numerous to even unpack. Through it all, the trial proceeded at a glacial pace, derailing more and more (the courtside hand signs thrown by LeBron James and Serena Williams were cited at one point), while Thug and his colleagues languished, their future uncertain. .

The events of the past few weeks have court reporters predicting a mistrial, but today things have accelerated. Atlanta writer Jewel Wicker, who covered the case for most of its duration, reported that today the presiding judge asked if Young Thug wanted to enter a no-bargain plea since he and the State were at an impasse. From there, things moved pretty quickly, Thug and his lawyer Brian Steele rejected the prosecution’s plea offer, which was a sentence of 45 years in prison, with 25 to be served in custody, followed by 20 years of probation.

Instead, Thug moved forward with his plea and left the sentencing to Judge Whitaker, who ultimately ruled leniently with 40 years in prison, with five to be served in prison, but those five years were commuted to sentence purged. All this to say, Young Thug is coming home.

He faces some pretty serious problems probation stipulations though. He’s essentially banned from the Atlanta metro area, so the parade Drake sang about throwing for him around the city when the day comes probably isn’t happening. Thug also has to do four presentations or concerts a year to promote anti-gang initiatives, and he can only travel for his job, which is making music or performing on stage. He is to have no contact with gang members or any of his YSL co-defendants, with the exception of his brother and Gunna. The latter is interesting, because Thug, through Steele, has specifically pushed to maintain contact with Gunna, even though a significant portion of the rap community has spent the last two years wondering what his true personal position is since Gunna took his Alford Plea and got released.

We will see how Thug moves forward with his freedom, with Gunna and with his music now that it clearly can no longer take the same forms as before. Either way, this first song will be a major moment in what has already been a memorable year for hip-hop.