I have noticed that the New York scene has pretty much taken over Drill Music. Correct me if I am wrong. I could be wrong, because Lil Durk and Chief Keef are still two of the biggest names. When it comes to UK Drill, that was hot. Digga D is a good example of what happened to Drill.
Lets be clear, drill music has been a controversial genre of Hip-Hop across the board, but in the UK, it went into a different realm. In the early 2010s, it took off, gaining popularity in urban areas like London, Birmingham, and Manchester. Like their American counterparts, they had the dark and aggressive lyrics mixed in with street life and gang culture. Much of it represented real stuff that was going on. A bit too real.
It did not take too long for officials in the UK to convince the public that drill songs promoted violence and caused an increase in crime. The decided to act. In 2018, the police in London got it legislated that drill artists oftentimes need police permission before releasing new songs.
This move was criticized by some as an infringement on freedom of expression. The cops defended the move. Chief superintendent Kevin Southworth said, “When in this instance you see a particular genre of music being used specifically to goad, to incite, to provoke, to inflame, that can only lead to acts of very serious violence being committed, that’s when it becomes a matter for the police. We’re not in the business of killing anyone’s fun, we’re not in the business of killing anyone’s artistic expression – we are in the business of stopping people being killed.” OK.
Digga D got caught up in this. All this time, I think he was the example they used as what is wrong with the Drill coming out of the UK. The Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) rocked his world. He had all sorts of restrictions on music and movement. If he rapped about specific violence, people or places…back to jail you go. And that is what happened. He went back in the bing.
That said, Tion Wayne just dropped this and it goes hard. He’s moving hard, but pivoted a bit. He pays tribute to late Punjab star Sidhu Moose Wala, who was murdered in 2022.
Tion had a different range, as some of his songs are very pop-sounding. Not all, but some.