Prosecutors in Atlanta said Monday that rapper Young Thug was the “proclaimed leader” of a gang that “moved like a pack” to commit crimes, as opening statements in a long-delayed racketeering case got underway. Controversy and hiccups have dogged the sprawling trial alleging criminal conspiracy since jury selection began in January, notably over the state’s presentation of rap lyrics as evidence. The US state of Georgia holds that Young Thug’s record label, YSL, is a front for a crime ring, arguing that the defendants belong to a branch of the Bloods street gang identified as Young Slime Life, or YSL. “The evidence will show that YSL checks all of the boxes for being a criminal street gang,” said Fulton County prosecutor Adriane Love as she delivered the government’s statement, which she began by quoting Rudyard Kipling’s “Law of the Jungle.” Love addressed the issue of songwriting head on: “We didn’t chase the lyrics to solve the murder, we chased the murder and found the lyrics.” S