COLLEGE PARK, Ga. – The 2025-2026 academic year is beginning again and for many Georgia students the classes and homework assignments aren’t the hardest part of being a student. At Skyview High School, the students are often on their last go-round with school, and anything positive to kick off the school year would be a good sight. Enter: Jeffery Williams.
Walking into a small anti-room at the back of the building, Williams, 33, was accompanied by his attorney Brian Steel and some security. Wearing a white tank top, blue shorts, a hat, and black-framed glasses, he immediately took a seat at the front of the room and began taking questions. He was at Skyview to talk to kids about what road not to take. A Grammy-nominated rapper and cultural influences on millions of people around the world, he has an interesting story to tell.
“I’m a superstar. My words mean something, but I have to do the right thing with them. People listen to me,” Williams said.
Williams told the students, parents, and school faculty in attendance that he believed it is good for him to talk directly to students before they get in trouble like he was in. Williams had to get judicial permission in order to be in Fulton County on Friday. He wants the students to think about how they act and be careful who they spend their time with.
“Gangs and guns, I think that’s lame. I wish I had someone like me to talk to me about that when I was in school,” Williams said.
Brought up on RICO charges back in 2022, Williams, most commonly known by his rap moniker Young Thug, was facing decades in prison. On the first morning of August, Young Thug was talking to young people about what not to do, so they don’t end up in the legal and life-altering predicament he was most recently involved in.
His message seemed clear: I messed up and I don’t ever want to go through that again.
“I feel like violence is not the thing. It’s corny, it’s not the thing to do,” Williams said. Gangs, it’s just not cool. I’m glad I have the opportunity for y’all to hear me say it.”
Asked what he thought it means for Williams to come to Skyview High School to talk to the students, parents, and faculty, the morning’s MC, Greg Clay, the executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Constituent Services and a board member at SkyView High School, said Williams was speaking to young people that have had similar academic situations from his.
“He is a former young person that went to an alternative school, so to speak to these students is important,” Clay said. “I think it’s inspirational and it speaks a lot to the opportunity we all have to becoming better and the commitment we all have to becoming better.”
During the visit, which lasted just under an hour, Williams shared stories from his scholastic past, and what he regrets from his past and present.
Williams, who said his biggest regret was dropping out of high school, took photos with students and answered more questions after the event was done. Kris Buchanan, a former student at Skyview and an admitted Young Thug super-fan, said he was excited when he learned The Atlanta-born rapper was coming to his former school.
“It put a smile on my face,” Buchanan, 19, said. “I’m just glad, because he could be out making $500,000 at a concert somewhere, and he’s hear to speak to us.”
Demetrius Sims, 18, is also a fan of Williams’ music and said he couldn’t believe he was here at Skyview.
“It feels great. He’s one of my idols,” Sims, who sat in the front row, said. “It’s a blessing to finally meet him.”
Wearing a black hood over his head and black jeans, Alijah Reed, 17, was inside the room an hour before Williams arrived. A student at Skyview, Reed said he often listens to Williams’ music before and after school.
“I feel like Young Thug’s music speaks to me,” Reed, a resident of Atlanta, said. “I think it’s cool that he’s coming here today. When he raps, it’s like you can feel it.”
Williams has children, and said he talks to them, including a 14-year-old son, about what he believes is right, he mentioned talking to God a number of times while at Skyview, and shared that he had plenty of private conversations with God during his incarceration.
“The impact that I have in Atlanta, I can only help if y’all listen, but you’ve got to listen,” Williams said. “The plan that God has got for you, you have to have sense in order to listen to it.”
Clay said there have been talks about working with Williams in the future.
The grandmother of a student at Skyview wanted to use her opportunity to ask Williams a question to thank him for showing up on a Friday. She was seated next to her granddaughter who is a student at Skyview.
“I know Young Thug from TV, but now I can say I’ve seen you in person,” she said. “Thank you for coming here today.”
