ATLANTA — Drake's new album released Thursday night is drawing, well, what you might call mixed reviews - but there's at least one moment in "Honestly, Nevermind" that Atlanta fans will appreciate.
On the song, "Sticky," Drake shows his support for Atlanta's Young Thug, who is currently in jail after being indicted in a RICO street gang case in May.
"Free Big Slime out the cage," Drake says on the song.
"Slime" is a frequent motif in Young Thug's music and a moniker he adopts in various forms. Prosecutors in Fulton County have alleged - in part citing his references to "slime" in music and social posts - that he is the leader of the Young Slime Life street gang.
"He is the one they're all afraid of, he's the one that's King Slime, he's pulling the shots," a prosecutor said during a bond hearing earlier this month.
The rapper's attorneys have said that his YSL record label - Young Stoner Life - has no association with criminal activity and argue that hip hop culture itself is being targeted with the indictment. Other rappers on the label have stood behind Young Thug and called YSL a "family."
Young Thug, whose legal name is Jeffrey Williams, was denied bond in the hearing on June 2. Without a further legal development, he is set to remain in jail through trial, which isn't expected to begin until early January.
In May, trap music historian and the author of "Trap History," A.R. Shaw, spoke to 11Alive's Shiba Russell about the use of Young Thug's lyrics in the case and the impact of the case on Atlanta's rap culture.
"We don't see this in any other entertainment except rap music where lyrics are used in the courtroom," Shaw said. "It is definitely worrisome because we don't know what the prosecutors will use as far as lyrics. And a lot of times when it comes to rap, a lot of times (it's) hyperbole."
He also highlighted the stature that Young Thug has in the community around Cleveland Avenue in south Atlanta.
"Young Thug has done things as well. He's worked with the Atlanta foodbank to provide food for individuals in the city. Also, Young Thug and Gunna, they teamed up last year to give bond for nonviolent inmates in the Fulton County Jail - so we've seen them give back," Shaw said. "We've seen that these kids at McNail Middle School know that someone who comes from their community came back and gave them something that no one had ever given. At the end of the day, they're all entertainers. Hopefully the kids in this case who look up to them can see that (and) the good that they've done and actually take from that."