Drill is a style of rap music originating from Chicago in 2010. It is defined by its dark, violent, lyrical content, and ominous trap-influenced beats and characterised by its booming basslines. It is generally affiliated with gangs situated in socioeconomically-deprived neighbourhoods in London. Some influential drill artists are CGM’s Digga D, Homerton’s Unknown T, and OFB’s Bandokay.
The issue put across by London police forces is that UK drill groups often engage in violent disputes, referring to these in songs and music videos; potentially glorifying violence. Numerous lives have been lost as a consequence of these disputes such as Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck, 19, stabbed to death at a Wood Green hair salon in 2019 by rival gang members resulting in three being sentenced to 21 years in jail.
These events are becoming all too common, summed up by a young boy living in North London in a documentary about drill music and knife crime titled ‘Terms and Conditions’, "These days if someone gets stabbed no-one really cares, unless it's the family. It's just another young person getting stabbed."
Analysing these tragedies, it is easy to conclude that gang-based violence is increasing, but is there a direct correlation between the genre and knife-crime? The common consensus among rappers such as AM and Skengdo is that the although drill may describe crime, it doesn’t encourage violence and therefore there is not an issues as long as listeners treat the music with maturity.
In conclusion, while crime is on the rise, drill is not the only contributing factor and there is more to drill than just knife-crime.
