We need to talk about drill
The stabbing of a 14-year-old rapper speaks to a culture of nihilism that must be confronted.

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We need to ask why so many aspiring rappers end up being murdered. Earlier this month, 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa was stabbed to death on a bus in Woolwich, south London. Bokassa was described as an ‘aspiring drill rapper’ and had an Instagram account where he uploaded music videos. In one, he can be seen rapping in an underground car park with his face covered.
Bokassa died in horrific circumstances. He was on his way home from school when he was allegedly attacked by two people armed with ‘lengthy machetes’. Two boys – a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old – have since been charged with Bokassa’s murder and will be tried in October.
Bokassa himself appeared to have been involved in criminality. Court documents show he was due to appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court the same week he was killed, after allegedly taking a machete into Ravensbourne College in Greenwich last year. His mother, Mary Bokassa, told the Sun that her son had been ‘groomed by gangs’ and had at one stage been ‘missing for a year and… living on the street’. One friend, meanwhile, described Bokassa as being ‘devoted to doing his music thing’.
I’m a fan of drill music, the gritty hip-hop subgenre that Bokassa was working in. But no one can ignore the nihilistic, real-world culture that attends this scene.
Just look at the recent body count. Hypo, MDot and Showkey were all prominent or aspiring rappers who were murdered between 2016 and 2022. Another drill rapper, called Sidique Kamara, also known as Incognito, was stabbed to death in Camberwell, south London, in 2018. His killing was referred to by a rival group, called Zone 2, in a song called ‘No Censor’. It celebrated Kamara’s murder, along with a number of others. Even more mainstream artists like Headie One have been linked to serious violence.
There is now a growing movement to try to disassociate drill music from serious crime. The Art Not Evidence campaign says rap and drill are being criminalised, pointing to how often the genre is referenced in criminal trials. According to the campaign, the use of lyrics and videos by prosecutors has become an ‘agent of institutional racism’.
On the other side of the debate, there have been calls to crack down on drill. Police have already taken steps to carefully monitor the lyrics and interviews of some prominent drill rappers. The Metropolitan Police have been working with YouTube to censor music videos posted by drill and grime artists.
This clampdown has sparked comparisons to the moral panics of the past over gangster rap and reggae. Rappers have been sentenced to prison for performing a song or banned by the police from using certain words in their lyrics.
But we should also recognise the important differences. The tracks that catch the police’s attention are often not just violent and edgy. They often celebrate specific killings. Repeated murders have even been tied directly to ‘beefs’ emerging out of drill music. Art Not Evidence claims that defendants are convicted as a result of their ‘taste in music’, but no one would ever be convicted of murder for liking a particular song. These tracks often provide compelling background evidence for serious crimes, which is then corroborated by other facts.
We have to acknowledge that some young black men in our inner cities are stuck in a horrifying, nihilistic culture, which is reflected in drill music. We have come to accept death and incarceration as almost inevitable for certain groups of young people.
We urgently need to dispel this narrative. We need to tell young black men that they have everything to gain from engaging in the society around them, rather than lashing out against it and embracing a nihilistic way of life. We must all take responsibility for ensuring these young men receive meaningful opportunities.
When it comes to rap and drill, we should not resort to censorship. We should, however, robustly challenge the narratives these genres too often propagate.
Luke Gittos is a spiked columnist and author. His most recent book is Human Rights – Illusory Freedom: Why We Should Repeal the Human Rights Act, which is published by Zero Books. Order it here.
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