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Young Thug Backs Lil Durk as Trial Looms: “Free smurk please god”
Young Thug voiced support for Lil Durk as the Chicago rapper’s federal murder-for-hire trial was delayed to Aug. 20.
With Lil Durk now set to head to trial on federal murder-for-hire charges on Aug. 20, Young Thug has stepped in publicly with a simple message: he wants him free.
On Wednesday, May 13, Thug took to X and wrote, “Free smurk please god.” The post landed with a certain weight. Thug knows what it means to wait out a case from behind bars, and he’s not pretending otherwise.
Young Thug performs onstage during ComplexCon 2025 at the Las Vegas Convention Center on October 26, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker/Getty Images for Complex
There’s also a legal connection here that feels hard to ignore. Brian Steel, the attorney who represented Young Thug in the YSL RICO case, filed in March to join Lil Durk’s defense team in his federal murder-for-hire case. Steel helped secure Thugger’s plea deal in October 2024, which led to 15 years of probation and time served after more than two years in jail.
“I get very close to my clients. I meet their families,” Steel told Billboard in March. “Because if I’m going to defend somebody, I gotta be invested. I gotta believe in the person. I gotta make it where if I lose this case, it’s going to ruin my life.”
“I just want to help people, ethically and zealously. And I don’t want to hurt anybody, and God willing, something good will come out.”
Steel also appeared on Diddy’s defense team in April, before the Bad Boy founder was sentenced to 50 months in prison for violating federal prostitution laws.
Durk’s own case has been moving slowly since his arrest in October 2024, when federal agents detained the OTF rapper before they believed he was headed to a private flight to Italy. He was originally set to go to trial in April, but that date was pushed back and is now scheduled for Aug. 20.
Prosecutors say Durk orchestrated a retaliatory plot aimed at rival rapper Quando Rondo during a 2022 Los Angeles shooting. In their account, Rondo’s cousin, Lul Pap, real name Saviay’a Robinson, was killed in the crossfire. They also allege the attack was tied to revenge for the 2020 killing of King Von, Dayvon Bennett, who had been one of Durk’s closest collaborators.
Meanwhile, Thug has been making himself visible again. Last weekend, he appeared at Rolling Loud Orlando, popping up during multiple sets, including Ken Carson’s headlining performance that closed out the festival.
