Digital street culture decoded: why criminalizing drill music is street illiterate and counterproductive
Abstract
Abstract Authorities in the United Kingdom censure ‘drill rap’, the artistic expression of disadvantaged urban youth, citing its connections to serious violence. This is shown to be based on a thin, ‘street-illiterate’ understanding of the genre that ultimately rests on stereotypes of young black men as violent ‘gang’ members. In place of this misreading, a street-literate interpretation of drill is offered from a deep and nuanced analysis of YouTube videos and below the line discussions. It is demonstrated that it is inaccurate and unhelpful to view drill videos as evidence of violent crime or as attempts to glorify or precipitate it. Instead, the stylized videos and violent lyricism are shown to be forms of artistic performance that reveal an ambiguous relationship to criminality. Marginalizing the excluded further, video removals and restrictions on performance are shown to be counterproductive from a crime-reduction perspective. New developments in technology and culture can take shape around existing patterns of criminalization.
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UK drill music has gripped the popular and penal imagination as a veritable social problem that generates noisy headlines and attracts heavy-handed criminal justice system responses.
“UK drill music has gripped the popular and penal imagination as a veritable social problem that generates noisy headlines and attracts heavy-handed criminal justice system responses (Fatsis, 2019b; Ilan, 2020; Lynes et al . 2021).”
From Copping the blame: the role of YouTube videos in the criminalisation of UK drill music (2022) · cites this paper as Ilan, 2020
Connecting drill music with 'gang violence' is 'street illiterate and resonates with patterns of stereotyping and criminalization', especially 'in the absence of excellent local context and knowledge, as well as specific evidence'.
“Connecting drill music with 'gang violence', however is 'street illiterate and resonates with patterns of stereotyping and criminalization'; especially 'in the absence of excellent local context and knowledge, as well as specific evidence' (Ilan, 2020: 1005).”
From Copping the blame: the role of YouTube videos in the criminalisation of UK drill music (2022) · cites this paper as Ilan, 2020
These compilation videos provide further justification for the discriminatory suppression of drill by the UK criminal justice system.
“They also provide further justification for the discriminatory suppression of drill by the UK criminal justice system (Quinn, 2018; Fatsis, 2019b; 2021b; Ilan, 2020; Owusu-Bempah, 2020, 2022).”
From Copping the blame: the role of YouTube videos in the criminalisation of UK drill music (2022) · cites this paper as Ilan, 2020
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References 70 · Cited by 69
- Authors
- Ilan, J.
- Affiliations
- City, University of London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Ilan, Jonathan
- ORCID
- Ilan, Jonathan
- Venue
- The British Journal of Criminology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2020-01-15
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 994-1013
- ISSN
- 0007-0955 (ISSN-L)
- 1464-3529
- OpenAlex
- W3000149189
- Cited by
- 69
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 10.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model (vor)
- Locations
- The British Journal of Criminology (publishedVersion)
- City Research Online (City University London) (acceptedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime, Deviance, and Social Control
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Music › Music History and Culture
- Social Sciences › Urban Studies › Night-time city culture
- Keywords
- drill music, criminalization, urban youth, Black men, YouTube videos, crime reduction, stereotypes, artistic performance
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