ABC News Studios is releasing an hour-long documentary titled “Rap Trap” on the criminal case against Young Thug and Gunna, to air on Hulu Feb. 23.

ABC News Studios is releasing an hour-long documentary titled “Rap Trap” on the criminal case against Young Thug and Gunna, to air on Hulu Feb. 23.

“While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way,” he said in a statement following his release from jail.

As for Young Thug, the YSL leader has suffered a string of bad luck during the jury selection process in the RICO trial. Thug’s lawyer Brian Steele previously claimed that a potential juror had attempted to reach out to him via email. While the contents of the message weren’t disclosed during the hearing, it was enough for the judge to order an investigation.

ABC News Studios is releasing an hour-long documentary titled Rap Trap: Hip-Hop on Trial on the criminal case against Young Thug and Gunna, to air on Hulu Feb. 23. The doc will explore the debate around whether or not rap lyrics should be permitted in criminal prosecutions, and the subsequent effects on artists’ free speech rights.

Rap Trap: Hip-Hop on Trial will feature interviews with 300 Entertainment CEO Kevin Liles, Young Thug’s ex-girlfriend Jerrika Karlae and artists including will.i.am, Fat Joe and Killer Mike. “Rap music is judged unlike any other genre like Black people are judged unlike any other people,” says rapper and activist Killer Mike in the trailer.

The documentary will also dive into the case of activist and former No Limit rapper McKinley “Mac” Phipps Jr., who served 21 years in prison for a crime he says he did not commit. Phipps and his family are interviewed for the show, opening up about the lasting impact of the case. Additional interviews include scholar Michael Eric Dyson and Erik Nielson, co-author of Rap on Trial.

He was sentenced to five years with one year served due to the time he spent behind bars after being arrested last May as part of the sweeping indictment against YSL, which prosecutors allege is a “criminal street gang” behind a series of violent crimes.

The DS4Ever rapper has faced an onslaught of snitching allegations since pleading out, but has insisted from day one that he never ratted on anyone.

Most recently in January, Thug and one of his 13 co-defendants were accused of exchanging drugs while court was in session.

In a motion filed by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on January 19, Khalieff Adams allegedly handed Thug a single Percocet pill in the middle of court proceedings, with the entire incident being captured on closed-circuit cameras inside the Fulton County Superior Courthouse.

In May 2022, Young Thug and Gunna were among 28 people indicted in Georgia on conspiracy to violate the state’s RICO act and street gang charges, according to documents obtained by Billboard. The state was building the case since 2012, according to jail records. The indictment heavily cited Thug’s lyrics, something that became a heated point of debate in connection to racism and free speech.

The indictment directly quoted from Young Thug’s music, including a 2018 video in which he rapped, “I never killed anybody but got something to do with that body.” While prosecutors claim such statements were made “in furtherance” of the gang’s criminal enterprise, critics say that pulling on rap lyrics — a known form of creative expression — only furthers racial biases against young Black men that can have permanent consequences.

In the midst of the Georgia case, California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation statute into law that aims to restrict prosecutors’ usage of rap lyrics as criminal evidence against the artists who wrote them. Titled the Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act, the move had extensive music industry support, including Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., Mitch Glazier, the chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, 300 Entertainment CEO Liles, among others.

Airing February 23 on Hulu, the doc will feature interviews with 300 Entertainment CEO Kevin Liles, Young Thug’s ex-girlfriend Jerrika Karlae and other artists including Fat Joe, Killer Mike and will.i.am.

“Rap music is judged unlike any other genre like Black people are judged unlike any other people,” Killer Mike says in the trailer for the documentary, which can be viewed below.

It was announced last May that numerous lyrics from Young Thug will be used by prosecutors in his RICO trial, including from his songs “Anybody,” “Take it to Trial,” “Ski” and “Slatty.”

The prosecution has argued that the lyrics are “preserving, protecting and enhancing the reputation, power, and territory of the enterprise [YSL].”