From New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro. This is the Daily. As a racketeering trial begins in Atlanta, much of the focus is on the high profile defendant, the best-selling rapper Young Thug.

But as my colleague Joe Cosckereli explains,

in a very real sense,

hip-hop itself is on trial. It's Tuesday, December 5th. Joe, tell us about this trial that began last week in Atlanta.

This is a crazy trial.

You've probably heard of Fawnee Willis. She's the district attorney in Fulton County, which covers a lot of Atlanta.

And she's become a national figure over the last few months, largely because she brought a criminal

racketeering case, or RICO, as it's more commonly known against President Trump and his allies

like Rudy Giuliani.

Right, we've covered it extensively on the show.

Right, and that's about their efforts in Georgia specifically

to overturn the presidential election in 2020.

She's using that same legal strategy against criminal street

gangs and one in particular she says is run by young Thug or Jeffrey Williams

who's one of the most successful and

influential rappers of his time.

And that's what puts them in your world because you are a music writer at the times.

Yes, I have been covering music here for 10 years and because of that timing, that means I've covered a lot of rap music.

We are in an era where hip-hop is the most popular genre in the country and probably the world and Atlanta is really its beating heart and has been for a long time.

I wrote a book called Rap Capital about the city of Atlanta and I spent a lot of time in Atlanta

with rappers and specifically in Cleveland Avenue which is the neighborhood

that Young Thug and his friends and collaborators and associates come from.

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