Drill Music Linked to 1 in 4 Murders of Young People in London

A high percentage of homicides in London where the victim is under 35 are still being linked to drill music, despite claims the genre is being unfairly targeted

A police forensics officer at the scene of a shooting which killed two people, including Lamar Scott, better known as drill artist Perm, in Brixton, south London on Oct. 30, 2022. PA

The percentage of homicides involving people under 35 in London which appear to be linked to drill music remains worryingly high, according to analysis by The Epoch Times.

From April 2022 to March 2023, according to Statista, there were 112 homicides in London, and at least eight of them appeared linked to drill music disputes.

In the year up until March 2022, the figure was 11 out of 124, and between April 2020—March 2021, it was 18 out of 119, compared to 18 out of 144 in the previous year.

Over the past four years, between 25 and 36 percent of homicides involving people aged under 35 had a connection with drill music, although the data which was analysed and collated by The Epoch Times was incomplete. (The data first appeared on the Totalcrime website under Murderbook 2022—2023).

In 2021, the Policy Exchange think tank published a report called Knife Crime in the Capital, which stated, “Over the past four years, around 45 percent of murders in London where the victim was under 35 were linked to gangs, and in many cases drill music.”

The report was criticised by a group of 49 criminologists and social scientists who wrote an open letter which said, “Drill music, gangs (a term that is very vaguely defined) and social media are all blamed for knife crime in London, committing grave causation-correlation errors.”

But since then, there have been a number of high-profile drill-related murders in the capital, including those of Lamar Scott, 27, whose drill persona was Perm, who was shot in Brixton in Oct. 2022 and Ronaldo Scott, aka Skengroy, who was stabbed a short distance away in Sep. 2023.

A video grab of two men in dark clothing seen running away from the scene of the murder of Ronaldo 'Skengroy' Scott in Brixton, London, on Sep. 4, 2023. Metropolitan Police

Five men are due to go on trial next week for the murder of Saydi Abu Sheikh, a drill rapper better known as Giddy, who was gunned down in Oct. 2022.

Rachel Duncan, a campaigner in London who runs Sit Up Stand Up 2 Knife Violence, said: “I don’t like the fact that our young people are listening to these songs. They’re saying we can’t blame the music. Why? It’s killing our kids?”

Her 16-year-old nephew James Bascoe-Smith—who was not a gang member—was almost killed in 2021 during a brutal knife attack in Brixton, south London, which was triggered by “diss tracks” by drill rappers.

Ms. Duncan told The Epoch Times: “This is what I can’t understand. Until someone can sit down and really explain to me that they’re living these lifestyles, and they’re just talking about, as opposed to inciting violence, there’s a difference.”

‘No One Can Make It Make Sense to Me’

“I feel like I’m lost. I feel like I’m just losing my mind because it doesn’t make sense to me. And no one can make it make sense to me,” she added.

In one recent murder trial at the Old Bailey, a drill rapper accused of murder gave a prepared statement in which he said: “I feel it is important to note that I am a musician and writer. I have a recording contract. Drill is the genre of music in which I perform and authenticity and image is important.”

He added: “As such there is more interest for an artist if they are affiliated to a street gang as it is a way to promote credibility and increasing views on music platforms such as YouTube. It is for this reason that I am affiliated to (gangs). I am not involved in ‘diss tracks’ relating to these offences.”

In Feb. 2022, Joe Caluori, the head of policy and research at Crest Advisory, co-wrote an article with analyst Patrick Olajide, which dismissed links between drill music and violence.

They wrote, “A view has taken hold in parts of the criminal justice system—the Metropolitan Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and among some magistrates and judges—that ‘drill’ music videos posted on social media channels can cause serious violence between young people.”

They claimed, “Drill has changed a lot since its 2011 origins, and is popularly regarded as being more positive and less explicitly violent than it was in its earlier forms.”

Young men filming a drill video in Notting Hill, west London, on May 6, 2023. Chris Summers/The Epoch Times

But tracks like FMW (Flick My Wrist) by PR Sad, from South London’s 67 crew—which first aired in Nov. 2022 and remains on YouTube—continue to use violent lyrics.

Mr. Caluori and Mr. Olajide go on to say, “Under policing operations ... drill content and other material is often taken down without artists being given a warning or explanation, and even if there’s no proof of a connection to gangs or incitement to violence.”

“That feeds into the artists’ perceptions of racialised injustice, and of the police as a barrier to legitimate economic success. Transparency with artists as to the criteria governing why videos are removed could, therefore help to start a constructive dialogue with the communities most affected by violence and gang-related harms,” they conclude.

The Metropolitan Police, with Home Office funding, set up Project Alpha in June 2019 to monitor gang activity on social media and try to keep ahead of the violence on the streets.

Project Alpha officers now frequently flag up drill tracks and videos on YouTube which they fear will exacerbate tensions between drill crews and gangs.

But several notorious tracks—such as “Tables Turn” by Abzsav, which includes a video in which a skeleton symbolised murdered drill rapper Tamba Momodu, aka Teerose, is mocked—have been repeatedly reuploaded onto YouTube.

Ms. Duncan said: “YouTube is making money, all the other music outlets are making money. It all comes down to money, and unfortunately black trauma, or young people’s trauma and violence sells. And that’s it. That’s what it comes down to.”

Met: ‘Identification of Potentially Harmful Content’

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “The role of officers in Project Alpha includes the identification of potentially harmful content by monitoring a range of digital channels. The benefits of this prevention activity coming under the oversight of Project Alpha include centralised governance and greater engagement with social media platforms, as well as a consistent application of a policing approach to reduce the encouragement or actual violence in London.”

“Any content that could be considered harmful is referred to the relevant channel for removal. It remains the decision of the social media platform, as to whether that content is removed,” he added.

The Met spokesman said: “Project Alpha aims to develop intelligence from social media platforms linked to youth violence and serious and organised crime, as we want to use all opportunities to prevent Londoners being victims of violent crime.”

“The team continues to work to understand the reality of the links between online activity and ‘real world’ offline offending, an approach that is built on a workforce having good knowledge, from recent experience in local policing of violent offenders. We are committed to enhancing our understanding of relevant slang, which we recognise is key in the fullest assessment of any consideration we make of online harm, drawing on all sources available to policing,” he concluded.

A YouTube spokesperson told The Epoch Times: “At YouTube, we are deeply committed to helping music of all genres grow and thrive. While YouTube is a platform for free and creative expression, we strictly prohibit videos that are abusive or that promote violence.”

“We work closely with organisations like the Metropolitan Police (and other local police forces) to understand local context. We’re committed to continuing and improving our work on this issue to make sure YouTube is not a place for those who seek to do harm,” they added.