YouTube Removes a Bunch of Drill Rap Music Videos After U.K. Police Complain

[StringerBell]

http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2018/05/youtube-removes-drill-rap-music-videos-after-u-k-police-complain/

Up to 30 drill music videos from U.K. rap artists have been removed from YouTube following complaints from the Metropolitan police of London that the videos reportedly incite violence.

According to a report from The Guardian, U.K. police believe gangs are using the videos to threaten each other. “The gangs try to outrival each other with the filming and content—what looks like a music video can actually contain explicit language with gangs threatening each other,” Mike West of the Metropolitan police told BBC. “There are gestures of violence, with hand signals suggesting they are firing weapons and graphic descriptions of what they would do to each other.”

U.K. drill music is based off of the style of rap which originated in Chicago in the early 2010s with artists such as Chief Keef and King Louie. Police now believe the popularity of drill music in the U.K. is responsible for the rise in gang violence across London.

“Drill music is associated with lyrics which are about glamorizing serious violence: murder, stabbings,” Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick told LBC radio. “They describe the stabbings in great detail, joy and excitement. Extreme violence against women is often talked about."

While police asked YouTube to take down 50 to 60 music videos, the website is believed to have removed around 30 videos, although police say they have a database of more than 1,400 videos they can use as an attempt to reduce violent crime.

“We have developed policies specifically to help tackle videos related to knife crime in the UK and are continuing to work constructively with experts on this issue," a spokesperson for YouTube said. “We work with the Metropolitan police, the mayor’s office for policing and crime, the Home Office and community groups to understand this issue and ensure we are able to take action on gang-related content that infringe our community guidelines or break the law."

Following the removal of the videos, the London drill crew, 1011, set up a petition calling for police to stop banning them from YouTube. Described as a "fast rising collective of young talented musicians," the group claims they are being targeted by police "with orders to stop their promotional use of YouTube."

Pressplay, a company that promotes drill videos, as well as 1011's videos, said the videos will likely be back on YouTube in the next few weeks.

 

[5th Letter]

They were trash anyway (I don’t need to hear the songs to know that they were trash)

 

[Maywood]

@Starbucks

 

[5 Grand]

While I believe in freedom of speech and I don't condone censorship, I must admit that the sheer magnitude of Drill/Trap/Gangsta rap has a negative influence on the younger, impressionable generation of teenagers.

When I was a teenager we had NWA and the Geto Boys, but we also had De La Soul, Public Enemy, Salt N Pepa, MC Hammer and a bunch of other groups. There was a variety and Gangsta rap was just one piece of the puzzle. Nowadays it seems like almost every rapper/rap group talks about smoking weed, selling drugs, carrying guns and being proud to go to jail, as if going to jail is a rite of passage.

There's very few rappers that encourage the youth to stay on the straight and narrow path, finish school and to be proud of your heritage.

I know I sound like an old fart but Gangsta rap really has had a negative effect on the youth. I'm in a group on Facebook where unsigned rappers post videos. Almost all of them start off with the unsigned rapper smoking a blunt. And then they start rapping about shooting people and being a thug.


Drill/Trap/Gangsta has gotten boring. When NWA came out it was new and different. Its been 30 years and rapping about being a gangsta/drug dealer has gotten played out. Its time for some new ideas.

 

[Starbucks]

@Starbucks

I think it's only right because no matter what anybody says it does have an influence even if the influence is just 2% that 2% influence is still there and any negativity in the grand scheme of things is bad

It's like @konceptjones gets at me for cheering this lifestyle and gang culture but no way can i cheer on this type of non rightous behaviour when it becomes an epidemic where there is over 50 murders in London already this year due to gang activity

 

[freethewave]

So the fag police who made the complaint don't like Scorsese movies or watch shows like Breaking bad. Ol' it's only bad if we don't watch

 

[5 Grand]

So the fag police who made the complaint don't like Scorsese movies or watch shows like Breaking bad. Ol' it's only bad if we don't watch

Yeah but movies like The Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, Menace to Society, etc. only come out once in a while. Its not like every movie in Hollywood has drugs, violence and misogyny. On any given day you can go to the movie theatre and there might be one or two violent movies, but its not like violent movies outnumber the non-violent movies.

Also, Black movies (movies with a Black director and Black cast) aren't all violent either. Tyler Perry movies usually aren't violent. And Ice Cube movies are usually comedies. They played Barbershop a few weeks ago on cable. That movie portrayed an almost all Black cast and there wasn't any violence.

My point is you can make music/movies about Black culture without excessive cursing and excessive violence.

 

[huey]

i dont see how this would be a productive gang violence deterrent

 

[StringerBell]

https://pitchfork.com/news/london-rap-group-banned-from-making-music-without-police-permission/

London Rap Group Banned From Making Music Without Police Permission

In the unprecedented UK ruling, the drill crew 1011 are being closely monitored by authorities

In an unprecedented court order, the west London drill group 1011 are now banned from recording or performing music without first receiving police permission, as the Guardian reports. In a ruling handed down yesterday at Kingston Crown Court, the group’s five members must get authorization from London’s police headquarters Scotland Yard for the next three years.

The group has also been forbidden to reference their own “gang” or rivals and prohibited from using lyrics officers believe may “encourage violence.” They must notify police within 24 hours of releasing new videos, as well as allowing police to attend any performance. The members are also only allowed to meet with each other in public to record or perform music.

The criminal behavior order (CBO) follows the group’s recent sentences for admitting conspiracy to commit violent disorder—they were arrested in November 2017 with machetes and other weapons while allegedly planning an attack on a rival group. They face imprisonment if the CBO is breached.