• 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.

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