Due to Young Thug’s RICO arrest he was unable to perform at the Hot 97 Summer Jam 2022 on Sunday June 12th, however, the rapper still had an impact inside MetLife Stadium. Prior to Fivio Foreign, the Summer Jam’s main act of the night going on stage. A video was played inside of the stadium, which displayed Polo G, G Herbo, and DJ Khaled amongst others expressing their support for Thugga and Gunna who are in both arrested under RICO charges and encouraged fans to push for artistic expression within rap music. At the end of the video Young Thug spoke to his fans from behind bars stating “I just want to say thank you to all of my friends and my family for coming out and supporting us,”. Furthermore, Thug said; “You know, your support during this time means a lot to us, ya know.”. Thug also made mention of ‘Rap Music on Trial: Project Black Art, a petition that was started by music executives Julie Greenwald and Kevin Liles. The petition is calling on lawmakers to stop rap lyrics from being used as evidence in court in order to convict rap artists of crimes. Thug ended the video in saying, “You know, this isn’t just about me or YSL, I always use my music as a form of artistic expression, and now I see that Black artists and rappers don’t have that, you know, freedom; Everybody please sign the ‘Protect Black Art’ petition and keep praying for us. I love you all.”
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