criminal law | Definition, Types, Examples

In this assignment, we discuss the Criminal Law | Definition, Types, and Examples The drill is a pattern of Trap music, that originated in Southern Chicago. The significance of categorizing music in this form lies in the recognition of the violence and darkness in the lyrical content of Drill music. It is actually an exaggeration of the street style Hip Hop that has been popularised in Chicago only.

Running head: CRIMINAL LAW
Criminal Law
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Acknowledgement
Sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of those who have helped and encouraged me for
conducting this study. I am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance,
advice and patience have been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the …
[Mention your university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support
have made this thesis possible.
I would like to thank the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research
work helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, for whose mental support has helped me to complete this research
paper. Thank you.

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Abstract
Drill music is a style of Trap or Hip hop music which had a developed in the late 1990s in the
Southern states of USA. It originated in the southern side of Chicago. Drill music is often
considered violent and dark with aggressive lyrical content. It is said to be focused on the
criminal ordeals of the life that is experienced by the downtrodden people who are often the
victim of discrimination and disgrace. The songs based on real music mostly use abusive
language and slangs and talks about using violence bloodshed and weapons. The word ‘Drill’
is used is the name of the music for Drill stands for the slang word in context to the use of
automatic weapons. Therefore, it is essential to study the background of this genre of music
and to understand its impact. This paper discusses about the background of Drill music along
with its present scenario in the UK. By inspecting the origin, background and its
contemporaries, the present scenario of Drill music and its impact on the society can be
evaluated more judiciously. The study argues on the fact that whether Drill music has its
aggressive and dark reflection on the society and environment at large. The paper strives to
gather certain example of reaction of common people pertaining to the influence of Drill
music in the society, by the help of newspaper articles. In addition, the study also puts
forward certain argumentative points regarding the accusation of it shaping the environment
around. The paper strives to find out whether the allegation by the media pertaining to the
rising violent crime in the urban areas is a contribution of the Drill music.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................4
Chapter 2: Background and Foreground of Drill Music............................................................6
2.0 Overview..........................................................................................................................6
2.1 Background......................................................................................................................7
2.2 Foreground.......................................................................................................................9
Chapter 3: Does Drill Music Reflect the Environment?..........................................................11
3.0 Overview........................................................................................................................11
3.1 Drill music’s Reflection on the Environment................................................................11
3.2 Gestures of violence and protest....................................................................................13
3.3 Reactions of Society.......................................................................................................14
Chapter 4: Does Drill Music Shape the Environment?............................................................17
Chapter 5: Conclusion..............................................................................................................22
List of References....................................................................................................................27

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Drill is a pattern of Trap music, being originated in Southern Chicago. The
significance of categorising music in this form lies in the recognition of the violence and
darkness in the lyrical content of Drill music. It is actually an exaggeration of the street style
Hip Hop that has been popularised from Chicago only. The lyrics and the tone of this form of
music primarily revolve around crime as well as the daily ordeals associated with street life.
In fact the vulgarity associated with this form of music comes from the word itself which is a
street slang comma used in context of usage of the automatic weapons (Metro.co.uk 2019).
Drill music is a style of Trap or Hip hop music which had a developed in the late 1990s in the
Southern states of USA. It originated in the southern side of Chicago. Drill music is often
considered violent and dark with aggressive lyrical content. It is said to be focused on the
criminal ordeals of the life that is experienced by the downtrodden people who are often the
victim of discrimination and disgrace. The songs based on real music mostly use abusive
language and slangs and talks about using violence bloodshed and weapons. The word ‘Drill’
is used is the name of the music for Drill stands for the slang word in context to the use of
automatic weapons. The beat is this type of music is usually of slow tempo; however it uses
extreme rough and brutal words and actions (Muncie 2014).
The typical Drill music of Chicago was exposed to the international audience in 2012
when a number of YouTube music videos of Chief Keef were coveted and widely accepted
by the listeners (BBC News 2019). It was in 2012 after the videos went viral, Drill music
transcended out of the trappings of Chicago, its birth place where the count of homicides was
more than that of the number of homicides in Los Angeles and New York combined. It is
quite evidently recorded through feedback from people that Drill music, the dark and
aggressive derivative of trap and rap music is taking over the traditional as well as the urban

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youth culture of London and its adjoining areas. It is also has been observed that the younger
generation are more influenced by rapper who are of their age and not much older, with
whom they could relate as to their in day-to-day life; some of whom may have got into
trouble with the police or have joined a particular gang for certain purposes. It has been
recorded that several kids from the southern part of London are stuck into serious
delinquency acts. DS Mike West put forwarded his view to the Independent, which clearly
mentions his disapproving gesture towards it (The Independent 2019). He says that the music
videos contains abusive and explicit language where one gang threatens the other, and are
absolutely unfit for teenagers to watch or listen to such things.
However, it needs to be noted that it is not new for media and the police to tag a
certain genre if music as aggressive and dark. Earlier in the early 19th century, there were a
bunch of respectable intellectuals who were upset with the increasing number of Music Halls
and Pubs where youngsters would go, drink and dance. The intellectuals were afraid of the
fact that the influence of American or global music as well as socialising with like-minded
people in a pub might diminish their culture and morals (Pearson 1983). Similarly, the media,
police and the politicians have, for decades, branded popular youth culture and youth music
as an influencing factor of Criminality and Violence in the society. Artists like Marilyn
Manson was a common target for allegations and blame pertaining to dissemination of
violence and crime. Therefore, it would be heavily judgmental to mark Drill music as the
source to all the violent and homicidal acts in and around the city, be it London or Chicago. It
is often argued by researchers and Drill music listeners that this genre of music is mostly
produced by the young, black and poor people who are socially as well as politically
marginalised. It is often commented that the major agenda behind such rough and dark
approach of such genre of music is to voice the emotions and frustrations of the backward
youths through music. An attempt to stop these youths to convey their frustration and anger

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by the help of music could possibly lead them back to the streets smuggling and selling drugs
and indulging into more vicious criminal activities (General 2006).
Therefore, the paper aims to discuss about the background of Drill music along with
its present scenario in the UK. By inspecting the origin, background and its contemporaries,
the present scenario of Drill music and its impact on the society can be evaluated more
judiciously. The study argues on the fact that whether Drill music has its aggressive and dark
reflection on the society and environment at large. The paper strives to gather certain
example of reaction of common people pertaining to the influence of Drill music in the
society, by the help of newspaper articles. In addition, the study also puts forward certain
argumentative points regarding the accusation of it shaping the environment around. The
paper strives to find out whether the allegation by the media pertaining to the rising violent
crime in the urban areas is a contribution of the Drill music. The Police have concluded that
this genre of music has been influencing violence, aggression, gang wars, homicide and
increasing rate of criminality.
Chapter 2: Background and Foreground of Drill Music
2.0 Overview
Drill music is a style of Trap or Hip hop music which had a developed in the late
1990s in the Southern states of USA. It originated in the southern side of Chicago. Drill
music is often considered violent and dark with aggressive lyrical content (Metro.co.uk
2019). It is said to be focused on the criminal ordeals of the life that is experienced by the
downtrodden people who are often the victim of discrimination and disgrace. The songs
based on real music mostly use abusive language and slangs and talks about using violence
bloodshed and weapons. The word ‘Drill’ is used is the name of the music for Drill stands for

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the slang word in context to the use of automatic weapons. The beat is this type of music is
usually of slow tempo; however it uses extreme rough and brutal words and actions. The New
York Times wrote on an article that this genre of music focuses on music based on violence
which is raw and unmediated focuses largely on anger and violence (Nytimes.com 2019).
The newspaper and it is saying that the Instinct of this music is to call out on the unforgiving,
tough and harsh life with the help of the concrete hard and joy less music; however there is
different opinion which describes Drill music as exuberant in its own darkness. Drill music
progressed in America and became a hit mainstream and regular in mid-2012 with the
success of music producers and rappers like Fredo Santana, Young Chop, Chief Keef and Lil
Reese. These music producers and rappers had captured significant presence on the internet
along with grabbing the interest of many fans locally (Brown 2005). This made the way for
media attention and gave the Drill musicians opportunities to get signed by major music
company labels. The Drill musicians are mostly known for their graphics and violent lyrical
content and also for their association with crime and violence in Chicago. Drill music found
its wings spreading towards south London district of Brixton in the early 2012 and need its
own regional sub-genre.
2.1 Background
To understand the background of Drill music in the United Kingdom, the real
birthplace of Drill music in the south side of Chicago needs to be explored first. Chicago as a
state has always been in the news for poverty issues, gang war and violence, which led to the
creation of this unique rap music subgenre known as ‘Drill’. The Chicago grill rap music is
known to be violent and grim, quite similar to Atlanta's famous Trap Music. If comparing
Trap and Drill music, the former is typically based on smuggling, selling and enjoying drugs
while the latter is way more violent and they are usually thrown at rival gangs quite like a

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threat or challenge. It is quite an interesting fact that Chicago, the birth place of Drill Music,
is known as “Chiraq Drillinois”. ‘Chiraq’ refers to the time when murders were so rampant in
Chicago that the number exceeded that of the war casualties in Iraq, while “Drillinois” is an
amalgamation of the word ‘Drill’ and the state ‘Illinois’ where Chicago is located. The music
here gives an illustration of the harsh reality of the impoverished human settlement and the
low standard of living of the people living in the Southside, Chicago. It originated in
Woodlawn neighbourhood of Southside Chicago called ‘Dro city’ along with the Lower East
Side and West Side of the city. ‘Pacman Dro’ of ‘Dro City’ is associated with the formation
of Drill music movement. It was popularised in early 2010s by music artists like Chief Keef
and King Louie and gave it an aggressive shape, which can be categorised as a descendant of
trap music, which has faded from its original version.
The typical Drill music of Chicago was exposed to the international audience in 2012
when a number of YouTube music videos of Chief Keef were coveted and widely accepted
by the listeners. It was in 2012 after the videos went viral, Drill music transcended out of the
trappings of Chicago, its birth place where the count of homicides was more than that of the
number of homicides in Los Angeles and New York combined (Hall 2012). As put forwarded
by Forrest Stuart, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, Drill music was just a sub-genre
of trap beat and rap music and had a local phenomena until the increasing number of
homicide in Chicago (Anderson, Carnagey and Eubanks 2003). He added that it is quite
evident that the music genre originating in Chicago highlights the issues of poverty,
masculine bravado and territorial gang rivalries would successfully influence the younger
population of a densely populated city which faces is similar social issues and conflicts
(Wolhuter, Olley and Denham 2008).

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Since the international exposure of Drill music in different locations of the globe, it
has adapted to the specific neighbourhoods and parts of the cities, like South London and has
being dominating over the previously established music genre of the area. Drill music is
known as the nephew of road rap which was pioneered by rappers like Nines and Giggs who
have produced music in collaboration with the famous Drill band 67. Drill music is said to be
sharing certain traits of Grime music, another much awaited and cherished cultural treasure
of London which too had received negative comments and feedbacks from the police and
media when it had made its mark in the city (Adorno 2015.). Grime and Drill contains the
same rebellious, aggressive and dark adolescence tone. Artist of both the genre prefer to have
all black tracksuit outfits and incorporates the same kind of African-Caribbean-British fused
slang and abuses in their music, which according to them helps to communicate to their
listeners and spread the social commentary (Hecker 2016). Therefore, by inspecting the
origin, background and its contemporaries, the present scenario of Drill music and its impact
on the society can be evaluated more judiciously.
2.2 Foreground
At present, one is more likely to come across a similar yet distorted trap beats buzzing
from the buses or School yards of South London. Ciaran Thapar, a youth worker have found
out an unusual phenomenon where he has noticed that after the schools finished for the day,
groups of teenagers gather at the bus stops or shops yelling various lyrics of different kinds of
trap and even Drill music in the busy street of South London. Many teenage students have
been heard of listening to Drill music and claims that it is what they have grown up around
(Anderson, Kinsey and Smith 2017).
It is quite evidently recorded through feedback from people that Drill music, the dark
and aggressive derivative of trap and rap music is taking over the traditional as well as the

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urban youth culture of London and its adjoining areas. It is also has been observed that the
younger generation are more influenced by rapper who are of their age and not much older,
with whom they could relate as to their in day-to-day life; some of whom may have got into
trouble with the police or have joined a particular gang for certain purposes. It has been
recorded that several kids from the southern part of London are stuck into serious
delinquency acts (Mawby and Walklate 1994).
Music Producer Carns Hill has been steering and producing Drill music in
collaboration with other fellow music producers. Hill is backed by several big names from
the music industry and the group has become one of the biggest influences of UK
Underground Music. According to the group of music producers the Drill musicians are the
voice of the youth in today’s world; they have matured and have formed bands like So Solid
Crew, Like Gigs Before Them, 67, Rodney P, et cetera. The present bands of Drill musicians
are often compared as well as related with their lineage of past Drill music and its musicians
in South London over the last two decades.
The Drill outfits of the main artists (LD, Monkey, ASAP, Liquez and Dimzy) of the
popular Drill band 67’s are popular and increase among the teenagers in South London and
other places where Drill music is becoming a hit. The Drill music musicians have being
successful to transcend their logic behind producing Drill music and to overlook the paradise
of postcode loyalty that affects and plagues the music. There are several loyal fans of others
genre of music who completely refuses to listen to it or me sometimes it made of listening to
artist who are from the rival section of the town. The fact that the music produced by 67
under Carns Hill's guidance which contains high quality hood videos and sheer quantity of
addictive output have resulted to the undeniable rise of the band as well as the music genre.

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Chapter 3: Does Drill Music Reflect the Environment?
3.0 Overview
Drill is a pattern of Trap music, being originated in Southern Chicago. The
significance of categorising music in this form lies in the recognition of the violence and
darkness in the lyrical content of Drill music. It is actually an exaggeration of the street style
Hip Hop that has been popularised from Chicago only. The lyrics and the tone of this form of
music primarily revolve around crime as well as the daily ordeals associated with street life.
In fact the vulgarity associated with this form of music comes from the word itself which is a
street slang comma used in context of usage of the automatic weapons. The beats in Drill
music are of slow tempo which usually 60 to 70 beats every minute. The style of rapping
associated with Drill music has a very deadpan delivery and in most instances it is not
concerned with punch lines or the metaphors. A recent report has been published by the New
York Times focusing on the societal inspirations that drive Drill music. The report confirms
that the genre is emphatically focused on violence and the music that is delivered is
absolutely unmediated as well as raw. The audience cannot persons any bright spots in either
the lyrics or the background score with the latter giving a feeling of angle and violence to the
listener (Bbc.com, 2018).
3.1 Drill music’s Reflection on the Environment
As highlighted by researchers like Wakefield (2018), most section of the society and
especially the young people who have a taste for vibrant music tends to call Drill music
tough, unforgiving as well as concrete hard. Hence, there is an essence of joylessness. The
exuberant symphony of music is missing from the form of Drill music according to Rowney
(2018). However, in sharp contrast other researchers like Muncie (2019), promulgate that the

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lyrics and setting of Drill music is based on stark societal truth and the exuberance of Drill
music is not in the melodious anus that it is lacking, but rather in the darkness that it wants to
portray through its demeaning nature of presentation. Drill music is not able to attract the
aged group of music listeners and has its reflections mostly on the young population. Initially
its impact was concentrated mostly upon the younger practitioners of music. Music
researchers like Barton (2018) are of the opinion that initially this music was being
popularized among the outrageous and violent youth in Chicago the Gang war that was waste
in Chicago and involve the young people particularly, had set the backdrop that provided the
society with this form of music. The war and death that took place in Chicago at that time has
been wonderful reflected in the verses of Drill music (Johnson, Jackson and Gatto 1995.).
However, the content of Drill music has become more generalized and the mainstream of the
society with the typical forms of entertainment are trying to adopt it. Hence, with the nature
of content still remaining the same and reflecting the stark truths and harsh elements of the
society, the usage and implementation of Drill music in various forms has been accepted and
popularised worldwide. In the current day some of the very famous Drill rappers Chief Keef,
Fredo Santana, King Louie, Montana of 300, Famous Dex and so on (Bbc.com 2018).
The vast reflections of Drill music on the society and the great negative impact that it
creates has made it stereotyped. Much violent crime has been fuelled as an outcome of the
dark lyrics of Drill music. Gang disputes as well as postcode loyalties are often exhibited in
the music videos of Drill songs and many rival parties of such Gang Wars post footages from
such video in order to mock each other. However, researchers like Savage (2018), informed
that most of the Drill artists are nowadays not associated with the societal influence that
might influence them to create such music, but since they have gained their recognition by
creating such music, they tend to keep the legacy on. However, in short contrast other
researchers like Regelski (2017), suggest that the mainstream rappers who are taking up this

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genre should portray less violence and show the meaningfulness of life. In this context there
is always an ongoing debate between various researchers who suggest on one hand that Drill
music should retain its originality and invisible part of the world it is created it should portray
the hard truths that reflects the periods in the society and the limitations also.
3.2 Gestures of violence and protest
A lot of violent music videos of Drill music have been patrolled. Although researchers
like Pinkney and Robinson-Edwards (2018), gives an overview that a lot of Drill rapping
have been incorporated into mainstream music recently, the recent social occurrences show
that many steps have been taken so for in order to check the spread of such music in the
society. As per the reports provided by one of the leading Global video streaming app
YouTube, shows that the reflections of Drill music on many individuals have been
detrimental. People have derived inspiration of indulging into criminal acts as an outcome of
listening to such violent music. As a sign of protest, recently many Senior Police officers in
UK have asked YouTube to delete most of such violent Drill music videos from their playlist.
Reports published by YouTube shows that already 30 vulgar and violent will music videos
have been removed already. As per the Revelations of them police commissioner of London,
some of the Drill music videos have been fuelling surge up in the number of murders and
other forms of criminal violence in the city (Drillarchive.com, 2019). That is why police and
other model traffic in agencies have joined hands to single out Drill music.
The most perceived perception among the youth in the society is that Drill music
glamorizes violence. There are various accounts of taking drugs in the videos of Drill music
and this gives the youth and ocean that they also need to adopt that in order to gain ecstasy. In
the month of February of 2017, a 17 year old emerging rapper named Simpson had been
sentenced to life imprisonment after he was caught in the act of stabbing a 15 year old to

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death who had criticized violence and related contents in the Drill music video that he had
released over YouTube. In fact the court has analysed that there was significant impact of the
kind of vulgarity that is exhibited in Drill music videos in the way he stamped the 15 year old
before killing her by breath-taking.
3.3 Reactions of Society
In the last 2 years researchers like Prior (2018), have analysed that the level of
violence exhibited in the Drill music videos has increased vehemently. This is by the video
streaming channel authority that was forced to take down 50 to 60 such music videos as it
was well apprehended that they could incite violence. Researchers like Manyame (2016),
give the opinion that sharing hard truths of the society is on one side and filming of two guns
trying to outrival Each Other is on the other side. According to them, the letter is certainly not
acceptable by the society. In fact psychologists like Batty (2018), perceive that the explicit
language that is reflected in the music lyrics incorporating plans and threatening are certainly
bound to influence the youth in a negative way. The rappers and pop music superstars are
idealized by a large section of the society would be automatically negatively esteemed as an
outcome of watching those videos. There are gestures of high violence with constant display
of firing weapons and the graphic descriptions of threats and other forms of violence are
certainly not the whole some picture of the society as the music videos are attempting to
portrait.
Some contrasting perception has been raised by various platforms of the society also.
Researchers like Cureton (2017), give example of Press play, a company that is indulged into
promoting Drill rap music videos. A spokesperson of the company inform to that forced by
the local police they had to bring down 10 videos that they had posted on their official
Instagram page. It is the same agency who informed to that such regulation from the police

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was the outcome of some recent occurrences of violence which is perceived to have taken
place because of watching such violent music videos only. However, they are in absolute
difference of the overall genre of the Drill music. That is why the spokesperson also informed
that the clips after some minor editing and omission of some selective scenes from the videos,
will be posted back on their Instagram handle in two or three weeks. Another fan club
Society of Drill music and Drill musicians has also launched and online petition to prevent
YouTube from bringing down the Drill music videos. It is remarkable that the petition was
able to gather 5, 000 signatures from people who incorporated not only youth but also person
from various professional fields as well as corporate figures also. The platform posted online
that the violent nature of Drill music allows the listeners to associate the frustration and anger
they have in their regular societal lives with that portrayed in the music videos or described in
the lyrics. In fact researchers like Petermon (2016), also advocate the same Fact and further
inform that this association helps people to relax their anger and concentrate on the more
positive aspects of life. A person in general needs a source to deliver their anger. An instance
can be provided here:
If a person is having a personal grudge against someone else and he or she is in a
mental state of verbally or physically abusing the other person, he or she will find relief on
watching Drill music videos or rap songs (St. Lawrence and Joyner 1991.). As, researchers
like Hanson (2018), describe, people will find relief and can pacify their angle if they watch
others performing the acts of vulgarity that they might be wanting to commit themselves.
Many defenders of Drill music have also advocated the fact that parallely supporting
this form of music they do not want to portray themselves as agents who support the
incitement of violence in the society and neither want to make their voice heard like so
(Roberts, Christenson and Gentile 2003). That is why they also want to convey a message to

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the upcoming Drill musicians with portrait request of not showing a relevant violent content
in the music videos or use unnecessary abusing or slang words in the lyrics if they do not
have any strong social message or relation to any hard or stark facts of the society
(Drillarchive.com 2019).
Many upcoming Drill rappers are creating Drill music videos that simply become an
outburst of the personal frustration in their lives. Researchers like Marino (2016), who
support Drill music on one hand, have showed active distaste against such music and music
videos that has been created to unnecessarily make an outburst of personal anger, on the other
hand. Many musicians are not able to recognise the potential that such videos have in the
context of influencing people to commit crime. From this perspective, the drive against Drill
music can be supported but that would be disrespecting the form of art of music, which have
a high level of social relevance that Drill music has (Johnson, Trawalter and Dovidio 2000).
Researchers like Krueger and Wilson (2018), have found out alternative ways of
screening irrelevant Drill music videos and advocating the essential ones. They have pointed
out that the maximum success has been gained buy Drill music videos from the form of
online streaming. Popular Drill music videos have been viewed more than million times. In
this context the same authors perceive that if Drill music videos or songs can be absorbed into
the mainstream media and can be shot over television, radio as well as other social platforms,
the vulgar videos or songs will be automatically filtered (Pettus 2017). Online channels do
not pay attention to filter the content that users upload scenes the users have a freedom of
uploading content until they are scammed or reported against. However, traditional media has
an ocean to filter content as they are much more careful about the impact that the content we
show will be creating on the society.

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Chapter 4: Does Drill Music Shape the Environment?
In order to exhibit the ways in which Drill music is shaping the society, the most
searched websites like Drillarchive.com request special mention. The previous section of the
report talks about the adverse impact of some deadly music videos that are created over Drill
music. However, researchers like Goldberg (2018), are of the opinion that it is not the
Immoral Trafficking or social police that is screening the content and justifying the relevancy
of Drill music on the society, rather the picture is much contrasted to that (Tropeano 2006). In
reality, Drill music videos and songs are readily available in many websites like Drill
music.com and Drill-archive.com where most of the videos which have been deleted from
YouTube and other song streaming websites are mostly searched for. Domain based analytic
review shows that the most stereotyped videos that have been banned by global media are
still in walk among the people. A competition mix it evident that people have downloaded the
blacklisted videos at least 35 to 40% more than Bosch Drill music videos that have been
accepted by the mainstream media (Tcsnetwork.co.uk 2019). This automatically shows that
people have already frame the perception that violence and gory are the most significant
features of Drill music videos and so are extremist language and slang words along with
social abuse, so far as the lyrics of such music is concerned. Hills, the emerging Drill
musicians know very well that without using such content in their song or music videos they
will not be able to popularize their creations among the masses. Naturally, from an economic
perspective the musicians will be more enticed to use such content in videos. This is a typical
example of the ways in which Drill music is shaping the society.
Significant instances from the dark web videos show that people are creating videos
of Murder, rape and other forms of supporters in order to make videos for their Drill songs.
The typical wave of the 90s Gangsta Rap which has created a moral panic in the society

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through its portrayal of battles between the mods and the rockers has returned in the form of
UK rap Drill (Caplan 1985). Many well-known musicians are creating songs in order to insult
or defame other Musicians of the same genre all some other famous personalities. As
researchers like Çamcı (2016), uphold, the person that it is a form of moral trafficking that
they are doing and their action is actually an emblem of protest that the person to be their
moral responsibility. However, such incitement or threatening over popular media forms like
re music is actually turning into real life violence in many instances. the police findings in
UK has revealed that the death of 16 to 17 Drill rappers aged under 19 have taken place
recently and interestingly a database fact shows that all of them has taken up their music as a
weapon of personally abusing some or the other agency or personality whom they had grudge
against (Ter Bogt Keijsers and Meeus 2013). In this context, researchers like Pinkney,
Densley and Irwin-Rogers (2018), have reached an adverse opinion. They feel that people in
society and nowadays are broad enough in terms of psychology to be claimed as Global
citizens and if they are having information in general about what is going on in almost all
parts of the world. Naturally they are more aware of the consequences, either negative or
positive of whatever comes their way. Hence, they feel that stabbing Drill musicians or
stopping them from creating their work cannot result into the reduction of crime. The
awareness of the listeners has to be raised instead, according to them (Lozon and Bensimon
2014). Examples have been provided by the same researchers. They define that if a film or a
video game has violent content, the parents prohibit their children from watching or playing
them. This is because if one section of the society that is under-aged or less matured, and is
not being able to recognise what is wrong and what is right, there is definitely a more mature
section or segment in the society who has the capability to distinguish fact from fantasy.
Naturally the people who understand the detrimental impact of such music should take up
steps to prevent others from watching such music videos for listening to such music.

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However, researchers like Thompson (2016), have opined in short contrast that the likability
of Drill music is not restricted to any particular segment or a section of society and it is not
definitely the age factor that determines the likeability of Drill music. Dias identified the role
of Chief Keef, in order to advocate their statement. Chief Keef is the personality who helped
in pioneering the section of Drill musicians in the US and he is the first Drill musician who is
US based in the genre of UK Drill music. The popularity of Drill music in US is not restricted
to age or profession. All the, instances of real life violence accounting out of vulgar music
videos of Rap Drill have not been so vehemently reported in the country, the popularity of
Drill music is unanimous among people of all ages in the USA society (Purcell 2015.). The
track named ‘I don't like’, sung by Chief Keef in the year 2012 started to spread the
popularity of the Drill music in USA (Sharman and Dingle 2015).
Drill music is particularly shaping the perception of the young generation. There are
instances of influence of other high pitch music forms like African pop and dancehall music
as well as the relatively carefree Afro swing and the Afro trap styles (Cochran 2015).
However, influence of such music forms has not been as vast as it has been the case with
Drill music in UK and in parts of US. Nevertheless, in the developing nations of Asia also
will music has become increasingly popular with Drill rap being gradually incorporated into
mainstream music (Cundiff 2013). Now, Drill songs with exuberance of Clans and
detrimental language that openly advocates moral degradation is created not only in English
but also in other popular parts of the world in local languages. Drill songs in Japanese,
Chinese as well as other Asian as well as African languages have also become popular. First
rising Drill musician Abra Cadabra speaks of machetes as well as a “rambizzy” which is a
slang word for Rambo. Such linguistics where used in one of his most famous songs named
robbery. However, in front of the medium he has refused to accept that he actually glorified
real violence true the making of such a song. Otherwise also, Drill music has also enticed the

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society to take up territorial violence and territorial abusing. This is why beef is always a
significant component of music. Irrespective of whether it is a big song or one Tupac song
come tutorial competition and territorial culture is always staked. In fact Abra Cadabra
professed the scene in a public interview. Naturally it is evident that for Drill musicians using
slang words or abusing language in songs is a part of the popular culture that they have
simply inherited. They do not possess that by contributing every single song to the society
they are adding to the violence and vulgarity (Clark and Giacomantonio 2013).
In fact, instance of another popular Drill singer, Giggs, can be provided. He is one of
the most successful Drill musicians who have been able to reach the top 3 chart of UK more
than once. However, Plank (2018), identify that he is music videos also given by scenes of
shooting and the very popular song named ‘Let’s Lurk’ have ample evidences of shooting
and murdering. The name of weapons has been explicitly used and how destruction has been
caused by the use of specific weapons have been described in a very derogatory manner in
the song. In fact there is also the incidence of drug usage and drug abusing both of which has
been positively portrayed in the lyrics like:
“Man just rolled up, pepper then doughnut”
Other researchers like Williams (2019), have perceived Drill music to a different angle of
potential danger. They are of the opinion that since the Drill music videos are a platform that
always or in most of the instances portray games fighting against each other or other larger
form of gang wars, such embodiments like the criminal gangs derived positive inspiration
from these songs and also feel empowered by power as well as authority. This sense of
criminal empowerment is hosted more and more when the general public shows enthusiastic
support against such gory music videos. In the same context, researchers like Swindells and
de Bézenac (2016), inform that when violent music videos of will music get more than 10 to

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12 million views and even more likes on YouTube, The Criminal forces in the society
definitely get a positive feed and an empowering message from that. However comma
researchers like Boschi et al. (2017) have strongly counted this opinion. Which is the rap
singers of Drill music claiming that the constant narrative of what is spoken in the rap songs
are certainly not what they want to do in the real context of the society. Naturally, they hold
the singers in a position where their credibility and livelihood are at stake. According to
them, it is everything to that sucks singers have accepted Drill Music as a means of staying at
the helm of fame.
Another reason, as assessed by Draves (2018), that drives the immense popularity of
Drill rap is that in most of the music videos middle class population is portrayed as because
of which the audiences pertaining to the same class can easily associate them with the content
of the song or the videos. Again, the middle class citizen are mostly traced down to acts of
violence, other assaulted criminality, drug dealing, racing and so on and lastly they are been
portrayed as escapists as well. This evidently seems like it has been created as fictional
presentation. Nevertheless, researchers like Patton et al. (2017), strongly demand that for the
creation of such music, a shadow of violence can be very contextual and seems real also.
Naturally, the same researchers feel that even if a small percentage of the society growth
mind-set they will start idealizing the rock musicians as agents of crime and criminal acts as
the pathway to fame and easy popularity. This is where, the example of junior Simpson can
be contextualised again. He had bend down lyrics regarding life attacks before he committed
the act of killing the 15 year old along with his three friends. Naturally, there is an essence of
crime in the creation of every Drill music video. In the court hearing where Simpson was
sentenced, a significant quotation of the father of the victim can be discussed here. He held
the opinion that Drill music has been the source of the development of demonic mind-set in
Simpson. Researchers like Gates (2017), find that his song was an assertion and glorification

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and to some extent a self-justification of what he was going to do in the recent future. If this
aspect is to be held true, it can be easily commented that all the Drill musicians are
advocating criminology and criminal acts in some way or the other and not only that but they
are also enticing their listeners to advocate the same.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
Therefore to conclude, it can be broadly stated that the branding of Drill music with
violence, aggression, darkness and crime by the media and police has gave it a concrete shape
which now reflects as a vicious thing, ganging up to fight and create violence in the society.
That is how it is been marked by the media through the various articles published almost
every day on the newspaper. The most perceived perception among the youth in the society is
that Drill music glamorizes violence. There are various accounts of taking drugs in the videos
of Drill music and this gives the youth and ocean that they also need to adopt that in order to
gain ecstasy.
Drill music is not able to attract the aged group of music listeners and has its
reflections mostly on the young population. Initially its impact was concentrated mostly upon
the younger practitioners of music. Music researchers are of the opinion that initially this
music was being popularized among the outrageous and violent youth in Chicago the Gang
war that was waste in Chicago and involve the young people particularly had set the
backdrop that provided the society with this form of music. The war and death that took place
in Chicago at that time has been wonderful reflected in the verses of Drill music. However,
the content of Drill music has become more generalized and the mainstream of the society
with the typical forms of entertainment are trying to adopt it. Many upcoming Drill rappers
are creating Drill music videos that simply become an outburst of the personal frustration in
their lives. Researchers who on one hand support Drill music, have showed active distaste

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against such music and music videos that has been created to unnecessarily make an outburst
of personal anger, on the other hand. Many musicians are not able to recognise the potential
that such videos have in the context of influencing people to commit crime. From this
perspective, the drive against Drill music can be supported but that would be disrespecting
the form of art of music, which have a high level of social relevance that Drill music has
The vast reflections of Drill music on the society and the great negative impact that it
creates has made it stereotyped. Much violent crime has been fuelled as an outcome of the
dark lyrics of Drill music. Gang disputes as well as postcode loyalties are often exhibited in
the music videos of Drill songs and many rival parties of such Gang Wars post footages from
such video in order to mock each other. However, researchers informed that most of the Drill
artists are nowadays not associated with the societal influence that might influence them to
create such music, but since they have gained their recognition by creating such music, they
tend to keep the legacy on. People have derived inspiration of indulging into criminal acts as
an outcome of listening to such violent music. As a sign of protest, recently many Senior
Police officers in UK have asked YouTube to delete most of such violent Drill music videos
from their playlist. Reports published by YouTube shows that already 30 vulgar and violent
will music videos have been removed already. As per the Revelations of them police
commissioner of London, some of the Drill music videos have been fuelling surge up in the
number of murders and other forms of criminal violence in the city. That is why police and
other model traffic in agencies have joined hands to single out Drill music
The awareness among the listeners is required to be raised instead, according to the
researchers. Examples have been provided by the same researchers. They defined that if a
film or a video game has violent content, the parents should prohibit their children from
watching or playing them. This is because if one section of the society that is under-aged or

24CRIMINAL LAW
less matured, and is not being able to recognise what is wrong and what is right, there is
definitely a more mature section or segment in the society who has the capability to
distinguish fact from fantasy. Naturally the people who understand the detrimental impact of
such music should take up steps to prevent others from watching such music videos for
listening to such music. However, researchers have opined in short contrast that the likability
of Drill music is not restricted to any particular segment or a section of society and it is not
definitely the age factor that determines the likeability of Drill music. Chief Keef is the
personality who helped in pioneering the section of Drill musicians in the US and he is the
first Drill musician who is US based in the genre of UK Drill music. The popularity of Drill
music in US is not restricted to age or profession. All the, instances of real life violence
accounting out of vulgar music videos of Rap Drill have not been so vehemently reported in
the country, the popularity of Drill music is unanimous among people of all ages in the USA
society.
Many researchers have perceived Drill music to a different angle of potential danger.
They are of the opinion that since the Drill music videos are a platform that always or in most
of the instances portray games fighting against each other or other larger form of gang wars,
such embodiments like the criminal gangs derived positive inspiration from these songs and
also feel empowered by power as well as authority. This sense of criminal empowerment is
hosted more and more when the general public shows enthusiastic support against such gory
music videos.
Drill music is particularly shaping the perception of the young generation. There are
instances of influence of other high pitch music forms like African pop and dancehall music
as well as the relatively carefree Afro swing and the Afro trap styles. However, influence of
such music forms has not been as vast as it has been the case with Drill music in UK and in

25CRIMINAL LAW
parts of US. Nevertheless, in the developing nations of Asia also will music has become
increasingly popular with Drill rap being gradually incorporated into mainstream music.
Now, Drill songs with exuberance of Clans and detrimental language that openly advocates
moral degradation is created not only in English but also in other popular parts of the world
in local languages. Psychologists perceive that the explicit language that is reflected in the
music lyrics incorporating plans and threatening are certainly bound to influence the youth in
a negative way. The rappers and pop music superstars are idealized by a large section of the
society would be automatically negatively esteemed as an outcome of watching those videos.
There are gestures of high violence with constant display of firing weapons and the graphic
descriptions of threats and other forms of violence are certainly not the whole some picture of
the society as the music videos are attempting to portrait. Some contrasting perception has
been raised by various platforms of the society also. Researchers gave example of Press play,
a company that is indulged into promoting Drill rap music videos. A spokesperson of the
company inform to that forced by the local police they had to bring down 10 videos that they
had posted on their official Instagram page. It is the same agency who informed to that such
regulation from the police was the outcome of some recent occurrences of violence which is
perceived to have taken place because of watching such violent music videos only. However,
they are in absolute difference of the overall genre of the Drill music. That is why the
spokesperson also informed that the clips after some minor editing and omission of some
selective scenes from the videos, will be posted back on their Instagram handle in two or
three weeks.
Therefore, it can be held by studying the background as well as the foreground of
Drill music that it does reflect on the present day environment of the society. The use of
abusive, dark and violent lyrics affects the young minds and fills them with negativity about
life and surrounding. It is influencing the youths to indulge into crime and walk on the path of

26CRIMINAL LAW
darkness and criminality by encouraging them to be a part of gang wars. At several instances,
students have been arrested with arms. Mass murders at schools, colleges and at other public
places have been often blamed as a result of rage and anger coming out of inferiority
complex, a feeling of backwardness, ignored and unloved. Bullying at schools and colleges
often lead young individuals to take the route of violence or self-harm. Youths find it
comforting to resort to something they could relate to, pertaining to their personal grief and
issues. Thus, even if Drill music is portrayed as a dark and devilish form of art, yet it needs to
be understood that it cannot be alleged as the sole reason behind all the homicide, murder or
other crimes in and around London or Chicago. Although, violent lyrics of Drill music are
way too aggressive and instigating to start an outrageous gang war, yet there are several other
reasons that actually start one. In addition, as far as the media and the police authority is
concerned, they are projecting the form of music as evil and problematic, only as to put the
blame on it for the sake of put a closure into their investigation on the matter. However, the
fact that this genre of music does influence the youth to see the world negatively, cannot be
overlooked. Additionally, the abusive and slangs in the lyrics of the Drill songs are certainly
obnoxious for sophisticate listeners. Therefore, a balance between the choice of words and
dissemination of cruel and brutal ideas is suggested to be curtailed. This would help certainly
keep the Drill and other similar music genre artists free from legal allegations as to wrongly
influencing the younger generation and spreading hatred in the society.

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