We are sitting down today with Brian Steele.
Thank you so much for
making time for us today.
How you doing? I'm OK how are you?
I'm doing well. I'm doing well.
You know, let's start off with
the national conversation that's
happening right now about rap lyrics,
whether they should be allowed
in courtrooms during cases and
whether they should not be.
We know New York is having this discussion.
Fulton County is having this discussion.
You know, LA, so many courtrooms nationwide.
What are your thoughts on that?
I don't.
Believe that unless the lyric.
Has a direct relation to the
supposed crime on trial and
there's evidence to support that,
the fact that somebody has created.
Words that are in a song or in a book.
Or in the movie they should
not be judged by their.
Work performance,
because that's storytelling.
So the problem I really have
with the lyrics from rap music.
Throughout our country.
And right here in Fulton County.
Is we don't do that with other
types of entertainment. Or artistry.
And that's really my problem.
Because to me, rap music.
Has been birthed by the struggle of
the inner city, poverty stricken,
oftentimes people of color.
And why are we targeting? That.
Group rather than a writer who talks
about a killing. Or drug dealing?
Or how about the white?
Songwriters.
Why does rap music oftentimes feel
like it's on trial as a genre?
It seems like it's racist to me.
Because otherwise I have no idea.
I don't know why other forms of
violent lyrics in country music
or in rock'n'roll, they don't seem
to get this type of attention.
Where do the lines blur when it comes to?
Lived reality and that storytelling
that we speak of, because that's
something that's also argued is like,
OK, is this someone's personal diary
or is this them telling a story from a
lens that they're storytelling through?
Unless there's direct evidence or
circumstantial evidence that's credible
and that's competent in a courtroom.
It's his storytelling. Otherwise,
if you look at it the other way,
it's going to have a chilling
effect on creativity.
When you got the call to represent
Young Thug as an attorney, what was
going through your mind at that time?
And I'm concerned with a human
being who's wrongly charged.
And I've had the pleasure of defending Mr.
Williams for approximately a decade,
maybe a little more so to me.
I know his family. I've defended
him in courtrooms multiple times.
I knew right away.
That he's been targeted.
For 10 years by the prosecution.
So my feeling was exactly what I said,
that this is a wrong prosecution
and I will defend him.
What do you feel like? He's being
targeted or he has been targeted for
a decade? Every time it's a
bad stop by the police officer.
It's a unlawful search warrant.
It is some charges that there
were multiple people there and
he had nothing to do with it.
So how many times do you have to be
wrongly prosecuted till you realize
that he's being wrongly targeted?
How hopefully.
Right now in conversations, you know.
We did hear the video that he made
to his fans during a concert where
he directly talked to his fans,
but how is he doing right now with
everything that he's going through?
He's. An amazing person who comes from.
Hunger and poverty.
And lack of opportunity.
He's extremely strong and he's
getting stronger every day now,
the indictment received
new charges recently.
Is that new evidence that came about?
You know, where did the
six new counts come from?
On the day of Mr. Williams arrest,
which is going to be Monday, May 9,
2022, law enforcement officers executed
a search warrant on the home that he
stays and he stays in many homes.
And in that home, allegedly there was
marijuana found, codeine found and.
One gun is supposed machine gun.
That's the allegations.
There were several people,
I don't remember the exact number,
81012 people in the home at that time.
There's multiple people in and
out of the house other than Mr.
Williams.
So what law enforcement officers
did was they then charged Mr.
Williams with these additional crimes.
As you said, the indictment was already out.
And now the prosecutor just added
those charges to this indictment.
And with the charges that are
listed, which are, you know,
very serious, you're saying your
client is completely innocent.
Mr. Williams. Is wrongly
charged on every single count.
I think that a person
like Jeffrey Williams.
Is a hero. Not a criminal.
And January 2023,
all of that will be told. Can
you give us examples of his community
service and commitment to his community?
He's done multiple concerts.
He donates every single
penny to the inner city.
He has come to relief of cities
and communities that have been
devastated by whatever it is,
violence or some sort of
flooding or whatever.
He'll put on a concert and donate
all the money to those communities
he has brought into communities.
Open house, just go to the store.
They will give you all of your food and
your clothing and the children's back.
The school needs he's come into
communities with hundreds of pairs of shoes.
Just show up and then find
the shoes that fit you.
He has given jobs to people
only in the inner communities.
He'll only hire from the inner communities
to in his studios or his rap label.
He has promoted and hired and signed
artists only from the inner cities.
To do rap and he has gone to children.
And not only sponsored the cheerleading
and the football team and the
basketball team and the baseball team,
but he goes and explains to them.
Don't don't be a rapper.
Go to school.
And go get a degree and be a
professional and he tells everyone
that there's this young man named.
Corey Jackson, Corey Jay.
If you have a Google him Umm,
you will see what Mr. Williams does.
He does a countless times where he
takes a child who's basically homeless.
And their family.
And he doesn't want any credit.
Hmm. And that young man today.
Goes around our country. He's 15.
He goes around our country.
And, he tells people,
hustle doesn't mean sell drugs.
Hustle means get up every day.
Put on clean clothing as best you can.
Let's get an education.
This is what you do with your money.
Then,
if you're ever lucky enough to get money,
don't gamble it away. Invest it.
Tell us about how important it was to hear.
Cory Jay's personal experience
with Young Thug in the courtroom,
that heartfelt message that he shared.
That's just Mr. Williams.
I could, I could bring
countless people like that.
This is just Mr. Williams.
When you're dealing
and you fought for Corey to be heard,
I remember you know,
the judge was like, hey, is,
is, is this a different kind of
voice that we haven't heard yet?
You were like, let the kid talk like,
you know, if, if, if he can
have an opportunity to be heard,
let him get up on the stand and to be heard.
How important was that to
you? It's important because the court is
hearing. The prosecutors say that. Mr.
Williams is in charge of a criminal St
gang and by his word, people can die.
That's basically what he's saying,
and that's just not true.
So I thought that everybody that
we put up at that bond hearing.
Is important.
For the court to know about
and a jury to know about,
why is Mr. Williams so relatable
to the youth in Atlanta?
Because he is the hope. And he's
trying to get others out of poverty.
That's his mission in life.
What are the negative connotations
that comes with being a rapper that may
not always reflect who the rapper is
for people like you who are informed?
People in the rap industry, it's.
It's show business. It's it's an act.
They are performers.
So and they're performing all the time,
much like I guess.
Professional wrestlers,
we don't even know their real names.
They're performing all the time.
That's not the human being, though.
That's not, you know,
them with their family members
or with their community members.
That's what you're asking,
so for people who say.
There's a tweet Young Thug that says it all.
Those people are really misinformed and
I expect that they will change their
opinion if they're interested in learning
come January 2023 because Jeffrey Williams,
Jeffrey Williams is a father.
He's a son.
He is a genius.
And he committed none of these crimes
when he, in a courtroom is
being called king slime.
That the allegations of Wysl is connected to,
according to Prosecution,
Street gang activity of crime of
felonies of all these different
things tell us about.
What the next few months
really means to you?
We spend every day. Working our case.
And putting it into a ability with
witnesses to tell a truthful story and
the prosecutions theory will not hold up
in court because the truth will come out.
Do you feel like nationwide there should
be a standard on lyrics in courtrooms
or should it be handled state by state?
I think it should be handled case
by case and much like the honorable
United States Congressman Hank Johnson.
Just um. Presented a bill to Congress.
And he gives the criteria.
On when a lyric can be used in a courtroom,
and that's what it should be.
It should be that it should never
be used in a courtroom unless the
prosecution show that that lyric
is a admission or confession.
If the right verdict is rendered,
it would show that.
Prosecutors should back off.
Targeting people.
Who defeated the odds against them?
And put them in the right context.
These people are doing good
for the community.
When you saw the petition for protect
black art, what came to your mind?
It's sad that we even need a
petition to protect black art.
I can't believe that in 2022 this
is where we are in our country.
However, with that being said,
it's a good thing and people have to.
Realize that we are discriminating.
When we go after a certain type of music,
it is wrong to do rap
music helps our community.
And if you don't like it,
don't listen to it.
But that's for everybody.
That's why it's America.
When was the first time that you met
a Young Thug? You said you've been
representing him for 10 years now.
I believe that's an approximation.
But yeah, it's probably true.
I'm really proud of him.
You know, I know his whole family.
I know his brothers and sisters.
I know his children.
And to see. All of his work.
He's a workaholic.
He he will stay 48 hours,
72 hours in a studio and
just continually write.
He's constantly helping other artists.
Jeffrey Williams gets it.
He gets it that people need help.
And he's in a position,
fortunately for him,
where he can help other people.
Until recently.
For someone like him,
who does mean so much to his
community that he came up out of,
why is he under attack?
Why is he being targeted?
He's he's like the easy target.
So if somebody gets arrested and gets
in trouble and they want to deal law
enforcement officers all too eager to say,
well, tell us about Mr.
Williams. Is he involved in this?
What do you know about him?
That's the problem with this case.
It's it's coming from the word
of people who are getting deals.
To say, yeah, he he was there.
I saw him around or he gave the
order or I heard from someone
else he gave the order.
That's what this case is about.
You're not going to hear any
confession of Jeffrey Williams.
So every time there is a potential
link to anything, his name comes
up. But when you target a human being
who's so well known and you make it so
easy for the other person to say ohh,
you mean I could be released from this?
This location that I don't want to be.
All I have to say is I know
some about Jeffrey Williams.
That's pretty scary.