New York City Mayor, Eric Adams, expressed his worry about the violence glorified and encouraged by drill rap a day after making an impassioned address about the death of 18-year-old drill rapper Jayquan McKenley, nicknamed Chii Wvttz.
In the first week of February, Chii was shot and died in Bedford-Stuyvesant. In a news conference conducted on Friday, February 11, the former police officer stated that he had no idea what drill rap was until his son shared a few videos with him.
In recent years, a number of rappers have been slain after being shot. VNZA, an artist, was assassinated in Missouri in June. Supa Gates, a Brooklyn rapper, suffered a similar fate after being shot many times on April 11 at St John’s Place near Troy Avenue in Crown Heights.
In July 2021, Chicago rapper KTS Dre made news after being shot 64 times in the head and other portions of his body. Another hip-hop musician killed in an attempted robbery in May 2021 was Bay Area rapper Mike Darole. Edai, a Chicago drill rapper, was also shot and murdered after being shot six times.
What exactly is Drill Rap?
Drill rap is a hip-hop subgenre distinguished by dark, aggressive, and explicit lyrics interwoven with inspired beats. The rappers include Lil Durk, Lil Reese, Fredo Santana, Young Chop, G Herbo, Lil Bibby, and Chief Keef. Drill music musicians have been widely recognized for their lyrical style and affiliation with violence in Chicago.
According to reports, the sub-genre originally gained popularity in the United Kingdom in 2012. It quickly made its way to the United States, where it became popular in regional scenes such as Australian, Spanish, Irish, Dutch, and Brooklyn drills.
‘I had no idea what drill rapping was’
According to Complex, the New York City Mayor stated in a news conference that he intends to remove drill music videos from social media sites. “I had no idea what drill rapping was but I called my son, and he sent me some videos, and it is alarming. We are going to pull together the social media companies and sit down with them, and state that you have a civic and corporate responsibility”, it stated.
He then likened the violent music videos to former President Donald Trump’s remarks. Following last year’s insurgency at the United States Capitol, the former President was barred from using Twitter. “We pulled Trump off Twitter because of what he was spewing, yet we are allowing music, displaying of guns, violence, we are allowing it to stay on the site because of look at the victims”.
He continued, “We’re bringing them in, we’re going to show exactly what is being displayed, and we are alarmed by it. We are alarmed by the use of social media to really over-proliferate this violence in our communities.”
‘What a dumb solution’, says Twitter
One commenter responded to Eric Adams’ comments about drill rap by saying, “Worry about the mess up at Rikers Island and housing all the homeless sleeping on subway seats first priorities.”
Another mocked the mayor, adding, “This would literally be impossible if everyone simply posted drill.”
“What a stupid solution,” one person remarked, while another added, “This would be a huge First Amendment infringement, and the courts would overturn this in a hurry if he did it.” Plus, that would be much outside a mayor’s power in the first place. I despise mayors who believe they are gods.”
“Drill rap they still getting active without music it’s a lifestyle,” one person said, while another concluded, “There’s more violence in the news than in a song or video.”