Jeffery Williams and Sergio Kitchens quickly became one of the hottest rap duos not just out of Atlanta, but across the whole genre in the late 2010s. As Young Thug and Gunna, respectively, they cranked out hit after hit, with the former's influence on the latter and their personal friendship resulting in undeniable chemistry. Despite a lot of legal roadblocks, challenges, and conflicts, the main public narrative maintained an air of support and brotherhood between them. So why do folks think – or perhaps know – that the "Hot" collaborators are now beefing with each other?
As you may imagine, the YSL RICO case threw a huge wrench into their relationship, especially following Gunna's plea deal almost two years ago. Snitching narratives ensued, defenses emerged, and Young Thug was all quiet about the whole ordeal... Until now, allegedly. With all this in mind, we're here to break down the history of their bond, their eventual success as label-bound collaborators, and their actions and developments during and after their stints in the YSL RICO trial that caused such public disarray with fans. While their relationship is still up in the air without a full-blown (and not deleted) statement from both sides, things don't look too promising for any advocates for their unity. How did this happen?
They Met In 2015
Gunna first met in Young Thug in 2015 through mutual friend and community leader Keith "King" Troup. Wunna went to Thugger's "With That" music video shoot for his Barter 6 project in the south side of Atlanta in 2015, and from there, they formed a close friendship that eventually evolved into a collaborative relationship. Troup sadly passed away in December 2015, something that the "Sold Out Dates" rapper says strengthened his familial bond with his "Halftime" mentor.
August 26, 2016: Young Thug Introduces Gunna To The World
On August 26, 2016, Young Thug released his beloved mixtape JEFFERY, which featured superstar rappers like Travis Scott, Gucci Mane, and more. But this also became Gunna's first introduction to a massive audience following an earlier mixtape under a different artist name from 2013. He appeared on the track "Floyd Mayweather" alongside La Flame and Guwop.
October 14, 2016: Drip Season & YSL Records Launch
The official connections for these next two events are a bit confusing, but here's what we can gather. On October 14, 2016, Gunna released his debut mixtape under this artist name, Drip Season, and featured Young Thug on the track "Cop Me A Foreign." This mixtape was released under YSL Records, which Thugger would officially announce as his new record label just a few weeks later on November 15. Furthermore, this social media announcement explained it as an imprint of 300 Entertainment. While it seems odd to have a project come out under a label that its founder announced weeks later, we presume that they still had some paperwork to sort out concerning these official launches that wouldn't have impacted Drip Season's release.
February 2017: Wunna Is Officially YSL
We told you this timeline is a tad confusing, didn't we? Around February 2017, Young Thug and YSL Records officially announced that they signed Gunna to the imprint. Looking back, it's unclear whether or not this was already public knowledge given Drip Season and the JEFFERY feature, but regardless, this is when things were set in stone for good. Also, the details of this record deal and how they relate to his subsequent release schedule are unclear when it comes to financial agreements, rights, number and nature of releases, etc. Nevertheless, the College Park native went into full gear with various albums and mixtapes under the label, including Drip Season 2 that year, Drip Harder with Lil Baby in 2018, 2020's WUNNA, and 2022's DS4EVER. And of course, Thug's featured on all of them.
May 9, 2022: The YSL RICO Indictment
This is when the tale of Young Thug and Gunna takes a turn for the worse. On May 9, 2022, federal authorities indicted them along with 26 other YSL affiliates in a sprawling RICO case alleging various furtherances of criminal activity. Police arrested Thugger that same day, who faced the brunt of the charges as the purported leader of the supposed "gang." On the other hand, Wunna turned himself in to authorities two days later on May 11. He faced a single count of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The court denied both of them bond on several occasions as the rap world reacted to this shocking and stake-heavy move by prosecutors.
December 14, 2022: Gunna Takes A Plea Deal
Then, Gunna's career took its most significant turn since its inception. On December 14, 2022, he took an Alford plea deal in the Young Thug and YSL RICO trial, which means that he pleaded guilty to his count of conspiracy to violate the RICO act while maintaining his claim of innocence. Authorities released him from prison the very same day. The Drip Or Drown spitter then put out a statement denying any sort of testimony, cooperation, interview, or other processes that would make him a "snitch," as allegations about that behavior quickly emerged from the hip-hop world and beyond.
However, court footage shows that Gunna answered "Yes" to a couple of key questions while accepting his plea deal in the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. He affirmed that YSL is both a record label and allegedly a gang, that he had knowledge of crimes allegedly committed by its affiliates, that guns and drugs found by police during a search on a car that he was in along with Young Thug were not his, that YSL is allegedly a gang that must end, and that he furthered the alleged crimes of the collective through his music.
June 16, 2023: Wunna Drops, And Young Thug Follows
About six months after Gunna's plea deal, he dropped his comeback album a Gift & a Curse via YSL Records with no features on June 16, 2024. The album continues to speak on the YSL RICO case and against allegedly false snitching allegations, which some rappers like Lil Durk and Lil Baby seemingly espoused through subliminal lyrics. That's in addition to the broader conversation labeling him as a "snitch." The LP was a commercial success and held hit singles like "fukumean." A week later on June 23, Young Thug dropped an album of his own, BUSINESS IN BUSINESS, while still in jail on RICO charges.
It's important to note that neither Gunna nor Young Thug featured on each other's projects from this year. In addition, while Thugger remained silent on his relationship with Wunna, his "DOLLAZ ON MY HEAD" collaborator has remained publicly supportive of Thug and YSL ever since his plea deal. This came amid unconfirmed and seemingly misguided rumors that Wunna wanted to leave YSL Records, plus the discussion around the snitching allegations that the hip-hop community and beyond engaged in.
May 10, 2024: One Of Wun
Amid Young Thug's trial in the YSL RICO case, Gunna dropped yet another album on May 10, 2024. One Of Wun featured artists like Offset and Roddy Ricch, and some fans speculated that some of its lyrics responded to rappers calling him a "snitch." The new record was released via YSL Records once more.
June 24, 2024: Gunna Is Still On YSL Records
As if the little text under an album on Spotify wasn't enough, Gunna clarified his presence on Young Thug's YSL Records via a video interview with the streaming platform's RapCaviar playlist division, published on June 24, 2024 amid his tour. "I'm still signed to YSL," he shared outside of his mother's house. "I'm still providing. We're still pushing. No paperwork has been changed, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, whatever's been getting and how we've been pushing this s**t, it's still going."
August 4, 2024: YSL Co-Founder Defends Wunna
Via an Instagram Story post on August 4, 2024, YSL cofounder YSL Mondo retracted his previous claims that Gunna was a "snitch." This was the latest defense of Wunna against the snitching allegations in his direction by key collective members before Young Thug's release. For example, Thug's father Jeffery Williams Sr. publicly expressed his support for him on multiple occasions, even popping out for one of his concerts and asking other rappers to stop speaking about him and the snitching allegations.
October 31, 2024: Young Thug Is Free
As a Halloween treat, fans learned that they might finally find an answer to the Young Thug and Gunna rumors. On October 31, 2024, Thugger entered a plea deal in the YSL RICO case that resulted in his freedom that very same day, with 15 years of probation to follow. As part of his release conditions, he and his lawyer Brian Steel asked if he could maintain his working relationships with Wunna and with Thug's biological brother Unfoonk, who was also a codefendant in the YSL RICO case. This was because one of the probation guidelines barred contact with YSL affiliates, but Judge Paige Reese Whitaker approved both exceptions. In the "bread & butter" artist's case, it was due to his contractual obligation to YSL Records.
November 9, 2024: Thugger Fans The Flames Of The Feud
Finally, we arrive at our current juncture and the most solid piece of "evidence" supporting Young Thug and Gunna's beef. On November 9, 2024, the former tweeted and then quickly deleted the following message toward the latter: "Stop acting like we friends on the internet, I don't know u my guy." This followed some other curious social media messages from Thugger about collaborating with Lil Baby (a previous supposed Wunna critic) to "drop one on these rats." Given the deletion of the tweet and its emergence so soon after his release from prison, many fans speculated that someone hacked his Twitter account to cause false division.
No matter whether Young Thug intended to publish this tweet shading Gunna or not, the message seems to have stuck. Wunna's brother reportedly responded to this deleted tweet with the following message: "Trust and believe the feeling is mutual [blue P emoji]." Until we get a clear and direct statement from both rappers, it seems like this iconic rap camaraderie is over... For now.