Young Thug Seems To Take Credit For Lil Durk Verdict

BY Gabriel Bras Nevares
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Young Thug Take Credit Lil Durk Verdict
Young Thug performs Sunday, May 26, at Neon Desert Music Festival. Neon Desert Music Festival 2019 043. Briana Sanchez / El Paso Times / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Lil Durk's legal team had Brian Steel on its roster, the defense attorney who helped Young Thug walk free from the YSL RICO case.

Lil Durk just received a not guilty verdict on all counts in his murder-for-hire case, and his hip-hop peers are celebrating as a result. There was one particularly interesting comment Young Thug made about the verdict on Twitter, which had a few fans scratching their heads. But given past discussions about their defense-lawyer-in-common, Brian Steel, his intentions reveal themselves quickly.

"Thank me later," Thugger tweeted right after news of the acquittal broke. He also added the following tweets a few hours later: "Tell smurk to say something if I’m lying #Freesmurkio" and "I didn’t have to pay lol Brian does whatever I say on face asksmurk."

These comments refer to Young Thug's enlisting of Brian Steel for the Lil Durk trial, which he claimed earlier this month. For those unaware, amid speculation and reports about which hip-hop colleagues were financially assisting the Chicago rapper with his case, Thug blasted folks for worrying more about who's giving money rather than actual trial details. Then, he claimed Steel joined Durk's defense team only after his encouragement.

"If I didn’t say he was my brother my lawyer wouldn’t have even took the case," the Atlanta artist claimed. "I sent Brian to get with him and take the case. Stop making me the bad guy and pray harder for him cause I am."

Young Thug Reacts To Lil Durk Verdict

For those unaware, Brian Steel was Young Thug's lawyer in the YSL RICO trial, which eventually resulted in Thug walking away a free man with specific release conditions and other factors. Steel has quickly become a star in hip-hop cases, and it seems like Jeffery believes his advocacy was instrumental in securing Durk's verdict via Steel's work.

Many fans clowned Young Thug for these assumptions and statements. But at the end of the day, The Voice's supporters are just happy they got the outcome they wanted.

However, Lil Durk is not out of the legal woods yet. He still has to face another trial over racketeering-related charges the court previously severed from this recently finalized Los Angeles case.

Also, Durk's codefendants in the murder-for-hire case, OTF Dede and Browneyez, were found guilty of the stalking charges, but not guilty of the murder-for-hire charges in the case. Their sentence will reportedly emerge after Smurk's next trial wraps up.

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.

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