What do gentrification in Atlanta, an 85-acre police training facility, and the trial against Young Thug's YSL have to do with one another? Everything.

Now more than ever, the Black South's urban landscape shows us the high stakes of an abolitionist future. It's in the music, and it's in the trees.

Part I:

How 'the shadow of state abandonment' fostered then foiled Young Thug's YSL

Atlanta's YSL (Young Stoner Life) project has been about place-making as much as it's been about making music. But what happens when the state interferes?

by Justin A. Davis February 9, 2023March 5, 2023

Part II:

Cop City, Gentrification, and Young Thug: Atlanta's uneven war over greenspace in 'The City of the Forest'

The ongoing YSL trial that swept up a suite of Atlanta rappers from Young Thug to Gunna reveals how gentrification under the guise of urban renewal and the police state sustain each other.

by Justin A. Davis February 9, 2023March 5, 2023

This two-part series is a part of pop justice, Scalawag's newsletter that wrestles with the way popular culture warps our understanding of justice—and stalls abolition. Subscribe to pop justice for more in-depth perspectives like this.