Earlier today (June 16), fans noticed that Young Thug‘s Instagram account had been wiped clean, leaving only a single entry that reveals a QR code and a short message (“BUSINESS IS BUSINESS”). Scanning said code leads to an equally cryptic website that contains a running countdown — one that’s set to reach zero next Thursday (June 22) at midnight.

Comments from other artists and producers have led to speculation that new music lies on the other side of the aforementioned deadline. If so, it would mark Thugger’s first official release since his sophomore LP, Punk, which made landfall in 2021 with a wealth of appearances from J. Cole, Gunna, Future, Juice WRLD, Post Malone, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, Doja Cat, and more. The project became Thug’s third No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 90,000 first-week album-equivalent units sold. Since then, the Young Stoner Life frontman provided his unique brand of bars for the likes of Elton John, Kanye West, Machine Gun Kelly, Rae Sremmurd, Calvin Harris, Lil Baby, and Metro Boomin.

As previously reported by REVOLT, Young Thug continues to fight RICO charges that have kept him behind bars for more than a year. In a message shared during HOT 97’s Summer Jam festival in 2022, the Atlanta talent expressed his appreciation to his many advocates. “I just want to say thank you to all of my friends and my family for coming out and supporting us,” he said. “You know, your support during this time means a lot to us, ya know.”

Thug continued, “You know, this isn’t just about me or YSL. I always use my music as a form of artistic expression, and now I see that Black artists and rappers don’t have that, you know, freedom. Everybody, please sign the ‘Protect Black Art’ petition and keep praying for us. I love you all.”