RACE AND POLICING FORUM

Drilling down: an analysis of drill music in relation to race and policing

- Kieran Reidy -

The views and opinions expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not reflect the clinic’s policy or viewpoint on any of the issues raised. In this essay, I will attempt to examine the relationship between race and policing through the lens of drill music. Scrutinising the surveillance, suppression and out-right criminalisation of this genre can begin to expose unfair treatment by the police. This treatment will be illustrated as an extension of the over-policing of Black youth. It will be argued that the criminalisation of this subgenre aides the reproduction of racialised stereotypes of young Black boys as dangerous criminals whom the justice system must deal with1. Thus, I will breakdown the apparent ‘connection’ between violence and drill music. This essay will argue that drill aims to reflects the violent environment of inner-city life. Lastly, it will explore how drill offers a window into the lives of Black youth, showcasing deprivation and a lack of employment opportunities as stronger factors behind youth violence than drill music.

Drill: a brief overview

Drill is trap music, a subgenre of the better-known genre ‘Hip-Hop’. It originates from the streets of Chicago. Since 2012, its rhythmic beats and gritty lyrics has moved to UK, where it has grown in prominence. It is heavily shaped by its environment; born on the streets in poor neighbourhoods, it aims to give voice to the tough life of the inner city. Drill artists and crews carry out music videos in front of housing estates and sports cars, in tracksuits, designer clothing and often with ‘ballys’ (balaclavas). The dynamics of drill means that a reputation of violence needs to be secured, meaning drill lyrics can often involve threats and boasts of violence in a bid to gain ‘street authenticity’ from those within the scene and the audience. This dynamic can be hard for outsiders to understand, and unnerves the authorities, who, as will be demonstrated throughout this essay, take it literally and attempt to control in authoritative manner.

The policing of black music

Drill music is the latest in a long, unfortunate trail of Black musical subgenres that have been heavily policed and criminalised in the UK2. Early examples include raids on venues playing reggae and ska music3. In recent years, Grime has been subjected to punitive action in the shape of the controversial Risk Assessment Form 696. This form only requested information about events where ‘bashment, garage and R’n’B’ were being played (largely Black- dominated genres) and required the organisers of events to specify the make-up of the

1 Lambros Fatsis, ‘Grime: Criminal subculture or public counterculture? A critical investigation into the criminalization of Black musical subcultures in the UK’ (2019) 15(3), 447–461 Crime, Media, Culture https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659018784111 accessed 10/08/2020

2 Peter Fryer, Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain (Pluto 1984)

3 Paul Gilroy, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack. (Routledge 1987) ‘target audience’ 4. Despite changes to the 2009-11 Form, it was still discriminatory5. This was a racist attempt to control ‘Black’ music and stop its success. Later, the Metropolitan Police Authority recognised the form’s discriminatory nature6 and its use has since ceased. Even still, academics7 point out how despite the evidence stacked up against this Form as discriminatory, an apology was not forthcoming by the Met Police, a common trait in its relationship with the black community when it gets it wrong.

Drill is the latest subgenre to be penalised, and its treatment has been unsurprising. A tough- on-crime approach has been pursued by the Police, believing drill is causing a rise of serious youth violence in London8. Operation Domain has been launched, involving the monitoring and shutting down of drill music videos uploaded to YouTube. So far, 130 videos have been removed, whilst over 2000 videos are being monitored resulting in 20 convictions9. The Police have likened this tracking of drill videos to that used against terrorists, as a sort of boast. All this pooling and tracking of videos is done ‘without any proof that the targeted music videos were linked to specific acts of violence’10. Unless of course that proof is based upon a racialised assumption that young black men must be violent.

Not settling on just censoring these videos, the Met Police have also targeted drill artists with Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) under the Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014. CBOs impose a range of limitations on movement and association11. Recently, crew 101112 and artists Skengdo and AM have been handed CBOs. Interestingly, as noted by

4 London Metropolitan Police Service (2008). Promotion Event Risk Assessment Form 696, pp. 1, 3

5 London Metropolitan Police Service (2009). Promotion Event Risk Assessment Form 696, p. 2

6 Metropolitan Police Authority (2009). Developing From 696. Retrieved from http://policeauthority.org/ metropolitan/committees/cep/2009/091112/09/index.html .

7 Lambros Fatsis, ‘Policing the beats: The criminalisation of UK drill and grime music by the London Metropolitan Police’ (2019) 67(6) 130013 The Sociological Review https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0038026119842480 accessed 13/08/20

8 Sean Morrison, ‘gang members “to be treated like terror suspects” under new measures to tackle violence’ (Evening Standard, 30th May 2018) https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/london-gang- members-to-be-treated-like-terror-suspects-under-new-measures-to-tackle-violent-crime- a3850626.html

9 Jim Edwards, ‘YouTube deleted 130 rap videos to help police fight street gangs responsible for thousands of stabbings’ (Business Insider, 29th June 2019) https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-drill- rap-videos-banned-by-police-2019-6?r=US&IR=T

10 Dan Hancox, ‘The Drill and Knife Crime Story Is a Classic Chicken-and-Egg Dilemma’ (Vice, 31st May 2018) https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/nek3qm/drill-knife-crime-violence-london-long-read

11 Lizzie Dearden, ‘Police targeting drill music videos in controversial crackdown on social that ‘incites violence’ (Independent, 29TH May 2018) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/drill-music- stabbings-london-youtube-violence-police-knife-crime-gangs-a8373241.html

12 Shereener Browne & Anthony Hudson QC, ‘Kill Drill: The death of freedom of expression’ (IndexOnCensorship, 19th June 2018) http://www.indexoncensorship.org/2018/06/kill-drill- the-death-of-freedom-of-expression/#1 academic Lambros Fatis, this was handed to the artists after allegedly inciting violence against rival gangs, meaning drill group 410 were classified as a gang under the Policing and Crime Act 2009. A group of musicians equated to a gang, for what reason? Academics and lawyers have long criticised this approach as an unfair suppression of artistic expression13.

Linking violence to drill gangs

The authorities have long settled on their standpoint that drill music is synonymous with violence and fuels violent youth crime. Cressida Dick has openly argued this very point14, whilst the media have linked drill directly to gangs15, as have the judiciary16. Drill music is in the dock and if you were to prosecute it you would cry out that violence pervades every fibre of its being. Music videos aim to be intimidating, often featuring large groups of youth dressed in hoods, tracksuits and balaclavas. Some videos possess groups who would not have looked out of place in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Lyrics are undoubtedly violent; ‘Dip’, ‘ching’ and ‘chef’ (slang for stabbing) appear numerously throughout songs, let alone the whole of the subgenre (listen to Harlem Spartans song Jugg and you will get a flavour). Threats of violence and taunts are commonplace throughout the subgenre and have had devasting consequences. For example, drillers Nino and KK, connected to the B- Side gang, were arrested for the murder of a producer connected to a rival drill crew ‘Splash’17. This could be held aloft as a definitive example that drill music escalates gang tensions. In another example, drill artist M Trap 0 was arrested for the killing of Jermaine Goupall in which he predicted this act in a song18. Again, this could be evidenced that threats in drill songs are not empty ones and should be dealt with seriously.

Some academic research has illustrated how drill music can inflate tensions as taunts and threats can be shared and viewed multiple times, thus leading to real-life consequences

13‘Stop criminalising our musicians’ (Guardian, 3rd February 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/law/ 2019/feb/03/stop-criminalising-our-musicians

14 Nick Ferrari, ‘Britain's most senior police officer has called on social media companies to remove controversial drill music videos to help reduce gang crime in London’ (LBC, 18TH May 2018) https:// www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/nick-ferrari/met-police-chief-calls-on-youtube-drill-music/

15 Harriet Sergeant, ‘Drill, the brutal rap that fuels gang murder’ (The Spectator, 12TH April 2018) https://harrietsergeant.com/2018/04/14/drill-the-brutal-rap-that-fuels-gang-murder/

16 Telegraph Reporters, ‘YouTube drill music is to blame for escalating gang violence, judge says’ (The Telegraph, 3rd May 2018) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/03/youtube-drill- music-blame-escalating-gang-violence-judge-says/

17 Mike Sullivan, ‘Youtube Rappers Caged’ (The Sun, 30th November 2017) https://www.thesun.co.uk/ news/5032913/youtube-rappers-sentenced-murder-of-dean-pascal-modeste/

18 Nadeem Badshah, ‘Three jailed for life for stabbing teenager to death in south London’ (Guardian, 15th February 2018) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/15/three-jailed-stabbing-teenager-south-london- jermaine-goupall such as fatalities. As drill audiences grow, the possibility for tensions grow. This much is admitted by artist Blitz in his song Tomorrow: ‘these little net nerds are just fantasising, commenting and gossiping on which gangs are riding’. This problem has been exacerbated by social media19, where disrespect of one’s status can be shared and replayed many times, leading to retaliation (although the authors of this study note this is only the case for a minority involved in drill). Therefore, to argue that drill is not violent would be naïve and a misjudgement. However, the acceptance of this fact should not be the catalyst for racialised motivations of demonising and scapegoating drill as the source of serious youth violence. To interpret drill as nothing more than an incitement of violence substitutes deeper understanding of the nuances of the subgenre for racist stereotypes20.

A literal view does misunderstand the nuances of drill. As academic Jonathan Ilan asserts, to understand drill you must adopt a ‘street literate’ view of it21. As previously mentioned, success in the subgenre is measured by the amount of views gained on YouTube and other platforms. Street authenticity must be cultivated through building a violent reputation. However, this violence, which comes in the forms of hand gestures and lyrics, often carries only performative and symbolic quality. It needs to appear violent in order to build up a street authenticity; this can be achieved therefore by rapping in a violent manner to delineate a violent image22. In fact, real-life acts of violence can impede your drill career; just ask Headie One23.

Therefore, by adopting a street literate view of drill music, it allows you to understand that often violent lyrics are not intended as real-life threats but are ‘phatic’24 and rhetorical. Rhetoric is deployed across society, from TV shows to video games where it is obvious to not take what you see and hear in a literal sense. You would not see a teenager playing Call of Duty on Xbox and think it is some sort of recruitment drive to become a soldier! Rarely are such simplistic interpretations, such as that drill music is just merely a violent racket fuelling gang violence, espoused on any other group in society except for these young Black men

19Keir Irwin-Rogers and Craig Pinkney, ‘Social Media as a Catalyst and Trigger for Youth Violence’ (2017) https://cdn.catch-22.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Social-Media-as-a-Catalyst- and-Trigger_Exec-Summary.pdf accessed 29/08/20

20 Jonathan Ilan, ‘Digital Street Culture Decoded: Why Criminalizing Drill Music is Street Illiterate and Counterproductive’ (2020) ORCID: 0000-0002-4080-2898 The British Journal of Criminology accessed 25/08/20

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid.

23 Ben Beaumont-Thomas, ‘UK drill rapper Headie One jailed for six months for carrying knife’ (Guardian, 8th Jan 2020) https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jan/08/uk-drill-rapper-headie- one-jailed-for-six-months-for-carrying-knife

24 Vincent Miller, ‘New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture’ (2008) 14(4): 387-400 Convergence https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856508094659 engaged in drill music. This simplistic viewpoint is dangerous, but crucial to the Police and Government as it allows them to place the blame of increasing youth crime at the feet of drill artists whilst at the same time diverting attention away from disastrous management of these problems by the authority.

Horrific killings between rival drill gangs (as evidenced above) is not a cast-iron trend. Whilst drill has influenced murders and inflated tensions, it should not be seen as the key to unlocking the puzzle against gang/youth violence. To think this is to mask over the root causes of the problem, which have been routinely neglected in favour of elevating secondary factors and condemning a portion of society for their own problems. Suppressing a music genre, portraying it as wholly violent is a much easier solution than tackling the uncomfortable socio-economic truths actually causing youth violence.

In a twist of hypocrisy, this condemnation comes from some of the worst offenders regarding the use of violent language: politicians. In the inner London estate of the Houses of Parliament, politicians have long engaged in using threatening language25. George Osborne, the former Chancellor, has said previously “I will not rest until [she] is chopped up in bags in my freezer” and “[she’s] a dead woman walking”. Jess Phillips MP has been documented using violent language by saying “I won’t knife you in the back I’ll knife you in the front”. Why should politicians be able to get away with this whilst Black youth are being criminalised for arguably the same thing? One may argue that there is no proof that a politician would act upon these threats, but Police have acted against drillers before without any proof that the music videos are directly linked to acts of violence26. Instead, accusations are made freely against drill where politicians lazily point to it as a mythical cause of serious youth violence, rather than the myriad of problems that have caused youth violence for decades. One rule for one, a different rule for another.

A street literate understanding is crucial to understanding drill and to disassembling the link between drill and violence. This link is not as clear cut as the authorities make believe, and whilst not disregarding it completely, a more open-minded approach should be taken by authorities, not a stereotypical one.

A reflection, not a cause

What critics of drill fail to grasp is that this subgenre is shaped and influenced by the environment it is brought up in. In this sense, drill artists are attempting to broadcast the violence and criminalisation that they experience, not cause. It allows heavily stigmatised,

25 Symeon Brown, ‘What do drill musicians make of MPs’ violent rhetoric’ (Channel 4, 23rd October 2018) https://www.channel4.com/news/what-do-drill-musicians-make-of-mps-violent-rhetoric-watch- the-music-video

26Dan Hancox, ‘The Drill and Knife Crime Story Is a Classic Chicken-and-Egg Dilemma’ (Vice, 31st May 2018) https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/nek3qm/drill-knife-crime-violence-london-long-read young black men from inner-city deprivation to manipulate and channel the violence and poverty they experience into something productive (god forbid maybe even positive) such as making music. To this end, reshaping the trauma they experience, drill can be seen on a deeper level as a form of therapy for a lot of youth who engage in it. They want to tell their story and pack no punches with it. This music is the messenger of violence, and as everyone knows you should not shoot the messenger. Or even worse, scapegoat the messenger and blame it for the very thing it is trying to highlight.

Therefore, when you see drill in the perspective that it chronicles the daily struggle of urban life, and see beyond the façade of violent lyrics, you see that it can be a window into the lives of black, urban youth. If you pay attention to the themes rapped in songs, you find that black artists point to more reputable causes of violence than that mustered up by the authorities. You understand that if drill’s environment is violent, the genre itself will be violent. Artists within the scene know this, and want to reflect, through music, the lives they live.

Therefore, in the next section, I will examine some of the key themes that shape the relationship between race and policing through the prism of drill lyrics. This will serve the purpose of understanding where the violence of drill stems from; allow for an analysis of the fraught relationship between the Police and black youth and what has caused this; and lastly to highlight other factors which bear greater responsibility than drill for causing youth violence. This will be able to provide a snapshot of the forces that are shaping how drill music is perceived and policed. It is not done so in isolation; instead, drill is a battle amongst a bigger war being waged against Black youth. These forces need to be broken down and understood.

Key themes of drill

The criminalisation of drill music is a battle amidst a war pursued against gangs. The Police have launched many anti-gang operations, such as Operation Shield and Trident, as well as other measures such as the gang matrix and increased use of stop and search. This assault on gangs has long been riddled with inconsistencies and questionable practices. Firstly, the Police tend to view all youth violence in ‘gang neighbourhoods’ as gang-related27. But even in the worst hit areas, those in gangs will still be in the minority. Also, a belief has grown that a concerted assault on gangs, through a range of tough-on-crime measures, is the most effective way to reduce serious youth violence. However, this is not evidenced in the statistics; in 2016, ¾ of knife crimes were not gang-related in London28. This is corroborated by a report from Amnesty International in 2018 which noted no concrete connection between

27 Alex S. Vitale, The End of Policing (Verso 2018)

28 Nadia Khomami, ‘Most London knife crime no longer gang-related, police says’ (Guardian, 13th October 2016) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/13/most-london-knife-no-longer-gang- related-police-say knife crime and gang membership, debunking the racialised narrative that gangs are solely behind the wave of knife crime. Instead, knives are increasingly being carried for other reasons, such as protection and status.

Arresting and incarcerating those in gangs is not working. Juvenile reoffending is high29 as those arrested are likely to retreat to the gang for economic reasons30 as a result of a lack of legitimate employment. A tough-on-crime approach does not work to solve the problem of gangs engaged in criminal activity, whereas a public health approach involving drug treatment, improved educational access and employment are all more likely to lead to less reoffending than prison will31. Glasgow is an example of this. It was once labelled the ‘Chicago of Britain’ due to its notoriety with violent gangs32. A tough stance was not the secret ingredient to ridding itself of this title; instead it was a public health approach that was the most successful in tacking serious violence and drug dealing. This shows that the Policing of gangs in the UK, and especially London, is ineffective, which undermines the draconian stance against drill music.

Even more troubling is the fact that the pursuit of gangs has been marred with racial discrimination. The term ‘gang’ has become synonymous with black youth. It has been used as a ‘red herring’33 by the authorities to hide the root causes driving crime. It allows for the prolongation of racialised policing through the continuous surveillance and criminalisation of black youth. For example, on the Met’s Gang Matrix, 72% of those identified as responsible for ‘gang flagged violence’ are Black, despite Black people only making up 27% of those responsible for youth violence34. This is a significant disparity and shows that innocent people with no affiliations to a gang are being uploaded to the matrix. Even worse, this matrix is deemed to have breach data protection laws35.

29 David Lammy, The Lammy Review https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lammy-review-final- report

30 Ibid. (Vitale)

31 Susan Pennell and Roni Melton “evaluation of a task force approach to gangs,” Responding to gangs: Evaluation and Research (Washington, DC: United States Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, 2002)

32 Andrew Davies, City of Gangs: Glasgow and The Rise of The British Gangster (Hodder & Stoughton 2014)

33 ‘What is the Gangs Matrix?’ (Amnesty International, 18th May 2020) https://www.amnesty.org.uk/ london-trident-gangs-matrix-metropolitan-police

34 Ibid.

35 ‘ICO finds Metropolitan Police Service’s Gangs Matrix breached data protection laws’ (Information Commissioner’s Office, 16th November 2018) https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-and-events/news- and-blogs/2018/11/ico-finds-metropolitan-police-service-s-gangs-matrix-breached-data-protection- laws/?fbclid=IwAR0V-QZZl_XH7PQVPPUAPM9kUZSlGhj22qlngJIGJjcItrByOCCjEPeStC8 When new scenes such as drill spring up, this ‘War on gangs’ informs the way these scenes are policed, and Black artists have long expressed their frustrations. For example, MizOrMac of Harlem Spartans, in Kent Nizzy expressed: ‘life in Kent nizzy (not easy) when CID (Criminal Investigation Department) trying to lock my city’… ‘f*ck Trident’. Similar sentiment is shared by Chinxsy X Yung C, in F*ck Trident: ‘these Trident are on to me, officer why you wan do me’. Violent lyrics, or merely broadcasting their current predicament? Black artists know the score. Despite a long history of gangs in Britain since the 1860s36 (where the perpetrators were not black), Black youth have been obsessively targeted regardless. Sadly, drill artists are now the latest members to be encapsulated into the ‘gang’ category.

Stop and search has been the most prevalent tool used by the Police in this war on gangs. Support for it is unwavering; Met Chief Cressida Dick has described it as a “hugely powerful” tool in fighting knife crime37. Stop and search has also received continuous political support and in 2019 limitations upon its use were relaxed significantly38. This brought about changes to s.60 powers by allowing stops to become suspicion-less. As a result, Government data showed that in 2019, Black people in England and Wales were 40 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the Police than White people39. Even if you were to believe the trope of Black on Black violence, these numbers are staggering. Even during the Coronavirus pandemic, stop and search rose in London by 40%, despite lockdown measures restricting people’s movements. Again, Black people were disproportionally stopped. This campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic was justified in trying to clamp down on gangs and drug dealers, but only 1/5 stops resulted in further action being taken, such as arrest40.

Its discriminatory nature is not surprising when looking at its history. It is a history cloaked in colonialism. Powers to stop and search people originate from the 1824 Vagrancy Act and the 1839 Metropolitan Act which formed a major part in colonial policing. This power has since been adopted by the Police in the UK who have hung onto it with ferocious loyalty.

36Akala, Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire (Two Roads 2019)

37Mark Townsend, ‘Stop and search won’t help to beat knife crime, Met chief is told’ (Guardian, 20th May 2017) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/20/stop-and-search-cressida-dick-knife- crime

38 ‘Greater powers for police to use stop and search to tackle violent crime’ (Gov.UK, 31st March 2019) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/greater-powers-for-police-to-use-stop-and-search-to-tackle- violent-crime.

39 Mark Townsend, ‘Black people ‘40 times more likely’ to be stopped and searched in UK (Guardian, 4th May 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019/may/04/stop-and-search-new-row-racial-bias

40 Martin Beckford, ‘Stop-and-search use in London rose 40% in lockdown, figures show’ (Guardian, 25th August 2020) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/25/stop-and-search-use-in-london- rose-40-in-lockdown-figures-show Not only is this a discriminatory measure, but its effectiveness has also been questioned. Whilst the Met have argued it helps to secure over 3,000 arrests each year, research conducted by the Government has shown that stop and search is largely ineffective in reducing street crime41. This is corroborated by a slew of empirical studies which come to the same conclusion42.What it does effectively do however, is contribute significantly to the marginalisation and criminalisation of those from ethnic minorities, depleting trust between these communities and the police. Grime and drill lyrics provide anecdotal evidence of this. Big Narstie, in Pain Therapy mocks: ‘Feds love to stop man, I must be buff’ whilst JME in 96 F*ckries shares his experience: ‘frequently get stopped by the gammon [police]’.

However, due to stop and search being such a sweeping, indiscriminate practice, it is not only Black youth who are targeted, but the whole community. Recently, the Police had to apologise to athlete Bianca Williams after she was stopped and searched43, whilst a black Police inspector44 is planning to sue the Metropolitan Police, whom he has served for 22 years, after he was stopped by officers for what he believes to be no other reason than due to his skin colour! This shows that you can become successful, move up the societal ladder, have a respectable job and dedication to a career and yet still get stopped for nothing more than having the wrong skin colour.

This discriminatory measure has been a major factor in fostering hostility between Black community (Black youth in particular) and the Police. It is a form of social engineering45 which has its roots less in fighting crime, and more in suppressing and criminalising those from ethnic minority communities. Black music artists are right to want to draw attention to this issue, as invariably they are the ones mostly likely to be affected.

Artists have also broadcasted the violence of Policing. An example is provided by MoStack in On My Ones: ‘now my heart keeps skipping cause there’s black lives missing cause the feds keep killing’ whilst the song All You paints a similarly despairing picture: ‘Told the fed I can’t breathe, and the copper pulled the baton, the shit we go through, man, you wouldn’t even fathom’. The death of George Floyd shook the world and brought attention to Police

41 Home Office, ‘Do initiatives involving substantial increases in stop and search reduce crime? Assessing the impact of Operation BLUNT 2’ (2016) https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508661/stop-search-operation-blunt-2.pdf

42Michael Shiner, Zoe Carre, Rebekah Delsol and Niamh Eastwood, ‘The Colour of Injustice: ‘Race’, drugs and law enforcement in England and Wales’ (LSE, StopWatch & Release, 2013) https:// www.release.org.uk/publications/ColourOfInjustice

43Bianca Williams: Met refers British sprinter stop-and-search (BBC, 7th July 2020) https:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-53327052

44 Vickram Dodd, ‘Black Met inspector stopped by police while driving home from work’ (Guardian, 18th August 2020) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/18/black-met-police-inspector- stopped-by-officers-while-driving-home-from-work

45 Akala, Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire, (Two Roads 2019) brutality. Police violence in the UK goes under the radar due to the continuous comparison to the USA. Granted, UK Police violence is not on the same scale, but it is not entirely innocent. Black music artists have long tried to raise attention to the police brutality and violence meted out against the black community at home, and they have legitimate grounds for their claims.

Responding to and apprehending violent criminals will always require force to be used by the Police. This use of force at times may be questionable and the Police will get it wrong, like in every profession. Perfection is unattainable, and the Police will always need to possess sufficient powers to detain suspects. Thinking otherwise leans on the side of naivety and fanciful thinking. However, Police violence against the black community is more than just ‘force gone wrong’. Enough evidence can be displayed to show that this is a systematic problem which cannot be discarded as isolated incidents or by simple comparison to the USA.

For example, data up until 2018/19 shows that over a 10-year period, Black people accounted for 8% of deaths in Police custody46, despite only constituting 3% of the population (based on 2011 census data, figure may have risen). According to statistics, the Police are 5 times more likely to use force on black people than their white counterparts47. Exploring this deeper, the Police were 6 times more likely to handcuff, 11 times more likely to use a firearm and 8 times more likely to use a baton against black people than white people. This is too high. It must be explained.

Despite over 1,700 people dying in Police custody since 1990, not one Police officer has been convicted over a death in Police custody since 1969, although there have been numerous verdicts declaring unlawful killings48. This again points a common theme in UK Policing; a lack of accountability. The overuse of force against the Black community is bad enough, but what is worse is that there is never any culpability for their actions. This helps to foster the growing distrust of the Police force in the Black community. You only have to look at the bubbling discontent that found a release after the death of Mark Duggan. As Deborah Coles from INQUEST puts it, “these are not isolated tragedies, but part of a systematic problem and synonymous with state violence, structural racism, injustice and impunity”49. Drillers are right to want to highlight it.

46 ‘George Floyd death: How many black people die in police custody in England and Wales?’ (BBC, 3rd June 2020) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/52890363

47 Annie Gouk, ‘All the data on black people and the police in England and Wales’ (InYourArea, 5th June 2020) https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/news/black-people-are-being-disproportionately-targeted- by-police/

48 Paula Akpan, ‘Say Their Names: 12 Victims of Police and State Brutality in the UK’ (Vice, June 25 2020) https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qj4j8x/remembering-police-brutality-victims-uk

49 Ibid. These lyrics have allowed for an exploration of the thorny relationship between the Police and Black musicians. When you understand that drill music is an artistic expression of one’s environment, you can see the forces shaping the music of black youth. Is it any wonder that their relationship with and lyrics about the Police is hostile when they are compelled by such racist practices? At first glance, drill is uncontrollable, crass and violent. Dig a little deeper, shift your perspective, and you see that it offers well-founded critiques of the Police and their environment. The Police would do well to listen to these lyrics if they are serious about building up the relationship between themselves and the Black community, rather than suppress, criminalise and marginalise their voices.

If the Police and the Government are serious about tackling youth violence, they must look to the root causes. Music artists are all too aware of their living conditions and their limited prospects in society. A common aspiration amongst drill artist is to become successful enough to get out of the violent areas they live in, which ironically often involves immersing themselves in the violence of drill and building up a threating persona. This is expressed perfectly by artist Abracadbra in Hood Politics: ‘Everyday I rap about the chinging and splashing [stabbings], Funnily enough it got me out the trap [participating in crime]’.

The forces of deprivation, poverty and austerity are some of the most prevalent factors leading to serious youth violence yet are often dismissed in the strategy of tackling this problem. Studies have shown that a range of socio-economic factors such as poverty50, deprivation and poor mental health51 provide stronger and more convincing links to serious youth violence than any racialised arguments of ‘Black-on-Black’ violence or gangs causing thia violence. Unsurprisingly, economic arguments are continuously downplayed and substituted for the preferred political ideology of neoliberalism catalysed by the Thatcher Government in the late 20th century. Politicians, such as David Cameron, have chosen to blame Black culture and music for glorifying knife crime52 whilst Tony Blair more bluntly chose to ignore deprivation and poverty as factors, squarely blaming Black culture for the rise in youth violence, and instead of government shouldering the responsibility, he called on the entire black community to53. Imagine the outrage if a politician came out and asked the community of white, middle-aged catholic men to call out paedophilia which has plagued the Catholic Church and bear responsibility for it.

50 ‘'Poverty link' to youth violence - London mayor’ (BBC, 15TH July 2019) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ uk-48982989

51‘The link between poverty and violent crime’ (City Hall Blog, 16th July 2019) https:// www.london.gov.uk/city-hall-blog/link-between-poverty-and-violent-crime

52 Nigel Morris, Radio 1 DJs encouraging gun crime, says Cameron’ (Independent, 8TH June 2006) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/radio-1-djs-encouraging-gun-crime-says- cameron-481491.html

53 Patrick Wintour and Vikram Dodd, ‘Blair blames spate of murders on black culture’ (Guardian, 12th April 2007) https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/apr/12/ukcrime.race The axe of austerity which the Conservative Government has wielded for years has hacked the Black community the hardest54. £1bn has been cut from youth funding since 2010/1155. In London, cuts have amounted to 63%, involving the shutdown of youth clubs integral to the development of children who perhaps cannot afford to go to fee-paying clubs and sports teams, giving them a sense of purpose and key social skills that can be carried through life. These clubs also act as crime deterrent. Many successful people, like Crystal Palace footballer Wilfried Zaha56, have noted the positive role youth clubs played in their early years.

This has invariably worsened poverty. Data for the most income-deprived 10% of neighbourhoods shows that Black people at 19.8% were the most likely to live in them, whilst White people were the least likely to at 8.7%. In terms of the most employment- deprived 10% of neighbourhoods, Black people were the most likely to live in them at 12.4%, whilst also topping the list for most likely to live in a high-crime area and most likely to face barriers to housing and services57. These are the forces shaping the lives of Black youth around the country.

Since 2012, crime figures for youth violence has been rising. It is clear why the authorities have wanted to scapegoat drill since its emergence in the same year. However, the big ugly cloud of austerity has been a major force causing this storm. Drill is a mere gentle breeze in comparison. As it has been throughout the history of gang violence, deprivation is the most common factor. Drill was not around during the street robberies of 1860s, the era of the ‘Peaky Blinders’ nor at the boom of crime in Glasgow. But poverty was. In this respect, the Government should also be held responsible for the conditions they create, and for influencing the way Policing is carried out.

Conclusion: what is to be lost?

This essay has attempted to examine the relationship between race and policing through the lens of drill music. I have attempted to illustrate how, notwithstanding it as a factor, the link between drill and violence is nevertheless misunderstood and exaggerated. Adopting a

54 Amelia Gentleman, ‘Austerity has fuelled racial inequality in the UK, says UN expert’ (Guardian, 14th June 2019) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/14/austerity-has-fuelled-racial-inequality- in-the-uk-says-un-expert

55 Neil Puffett, ‘Youth services 'suffer £1bn funding cut in less than a decade'’ (January 20 2020) https://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/article/youth-services-suffer-1bn-funding-cut-in-less-than-a-decade

56 Reuben Pinder, ‘Tackling Youth Crime with Wilfried Zaha’ (Joe, 2020) https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/ tackling-youth-crime-with-wilfried-zaha-241445

57‘People living in deprived neighbourhoods’ (Gov.UK, 2019) https://www.ethnicity-facts- figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/demographics/people-living-in-deprived- neighbourhoods/latest purely literal interpretation of it inhibits deeper understanding of the nuances at play. Instead, drill music is an angry voice of the over-criminalised, marginalised and suppressed in society who have been scapegoated continuously as the stimulus for violence. This is portrayed in the examination of how Black music, including drill, has been over-policed. This criminalisation of drill is argued as an extension of the ‘war on gangs’. By seeing drill as an artistic expression, you see it broadcast violence, but not cause it. Drill also serves a window into examining deeper the relationship between Black youth and the Police, and the socio- economic forces which provide a stronger explanation of youth violence than the emergence of Drill music does. The case of drill music demonstrates the extent to which historical patterns of racism and suspicion can be reproduced as new technologies emerge58.

There is a lot to be lost in the suppression of drill music. It has weakened further the severe mistrust of the Police in the Black community, and only offers to further alienate them. More seriously, it undermines freedom of expression, an integral part of modern democracy. The Human Rights Act 2000 enshrines in law article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which preserves the right of Freedom of Expression. This includes “not only the inoffensive but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and the provocative provided it does not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having”59. This should epitomise the approach taken. Censorship via removal of YouTube videos, the handing out of CBOs and the push for anti-terrorist like legislation to control Drill poses a real risk to this freedom.

Suppression also obstructs the career opportunities that drill provides. It can provide for a range of creative careers, such as music producing, video production and graphic design. This can give people an outlet from crime. For Drillminister, ‘the music might create opportunities for legitimate revenue and a comfortable lifestyle that isn’t always available to working-class black men’60. Economic opportunities are few and far between in inner-city estates, so the appeal to drill music is understandable. It should be allowed as a legitimate career that can improve people’s socio-economic outcomes. There is a hell of a lot to lose.

58 J. Ilan, ‘Digital Street Culture Decoded: Why Criminalizing Drill Music is Street Illiterate and Counterproductive’ (2020) The British Journal of Criminology doi: 10.1093/bjc/azz086 accessed 10/08/20

59Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions [1999] 7 BHRC 375 at 383 [20] (Sedley LJ)

60 Nadine White, ‘‘Drill Music Isn’t To Blame For Violence – It's Our Way Of Escaping Poverty’, Says Rapper’ (Huff Post, 18th November 2018) https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/drillminister-music- knife-crime_uk_5beb2141e4b044bbb1a9b1fe Bibliography

Cases Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions [1999] 7 BHRC 375 at 383 [20]

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