Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick has today called on social media giants to remove so called ‘Drill’ music videos that she says ‘glamourises’ violent crime.
The Metropolitan Police commissioner said they have a ‘social responsibility’ to take down the videos that she insists has ‘terrible effect’ on the surge in knife and gun attacks.
Drill music, a hip hop sub genre, is said by campaigners to be fuelling gang wars in London, as they taunt rivals with boasts about killings, drugs and guns.
Hundreds of videos on YouTube feature rappers threatening and provoking others from rival areas.
The Metropolitan Police commissioner so called ‘Drill’ music is having a ‘terrible affect’ on the rise in violent crime
Speaking to presenter Nick Ferrari on a phone in on LBC today, Ms Dick said she ‘recognised’ the impact drill music was having on the violent crime wave blighting the capital in recent months.
She said also said was ‘sure’ cuts to police budgets have had an impact on the increase in violent crime, and said she hopes to recruit another 500 extra officers over the next year.
Ms Dick, Britain’s most senior police officer, said that drill music has ‘lyrics which glamourise violence, serious violence, murder, stabbings.’
She added: ‘They describe stabbing with great detail, and great joy, obscene violence against women.
‘They taunt each other and say what they are go.
‘I am working closely with social media companies to work out what they can do about this.
Drill music, a hip hop sub genre, is said by campaigners to be feulling gang wars in London, as they taunt rivals with boasts about killings, drugs and guns
Hundreds of videos on YouTube feature rappers threatening and provoking others from rival areas
‘For us, if its against the law, it’s against the law and it ought to be taken down.
‘If it is inciting or glamourising violence, then we think they have a social responsibility to work with us to take those videos down.
‘There is a counter argument, of ‘this is just music’..but I think it has a terrible affect.’
London’s death toll from violent crime has now hit 63 since the start of the year, of which 40 have involved knives, and ten were gun related.
Earlier this month the death of aspiring rapper Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton (pictured) was linked to drill music after it emerged he had recorded and uploaded a video to YouTube challenging a rival group before he was shot dead
In the first three months of this year 45 murders were recorded, compared to the first quarter of 2017 when there were 23.
An urgent investigation into the violent crime wave in the capital was launched by the Police and Crime Committee of the London Assembly – and Mayor Sadiq Khan has been urged to ‘take hold of the situation’.
Ms Dick said it can be difficult to identify who might be targeted next despite the presence of the drill videos all over sites like YouTube.
She said: ‘The person on the receiving ends of the taunts never comes to us and tells us they have been threatened in this way.
London’s death toll from violent crime has now hit 63 since the start of the year, of which 40 have involved knives, and ten were gun related
Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton (right) was a member of the masked Moscow17 crew from Kennington promoted by former BBC DJ Tim Westwood
‘Sometimes it is code. We are constantly responding to these things. Very often we get out there and try and search the people involved.
‘But we need evidence to get these people locked up. What they say on the video may not be sufficient for a criminal charge.’
Earlier this month the death of aspiring rapper Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, 17, was linked to drill music.
It emerged he had recorded and uploaded a video to YouTube challenging a rival group a month before he was shot dead. So far there have been no arrests over his death.
Westwood (left) has denied profiting from promoting drill music on his YouTube channel, and says he has ‘absolutely no knowledge of any alleged gang affiliation’
He was shot and killed in Kennington, south London, and was believed to be a member of Moscow17, a group which often had rap battles with rival Peckham crew called Zone 2.
In a track titled City Of God, Rhyhiem – who rapped under the name GB – is believed to have challenged Zone 2 by asking ‘how you gonna make it even’.
The video, which was removed from YouTube by Moscow17 but uploaded again by another user following Rhyhiem’s death, was the most recent in several ‘drill’ battles between the two groups.
Their violent rivalry is evident in another track where Moscow17 – who occasionally used the nickname ‘the Russians’ – told their rivals to ‘check the scoreboard’.
Zone 2 responded with a video telling their opposition they will ‘roll up and burst them’.
Since he was killed, a montage video of him rapping alongside fellow Moscow17 members has been uploaded to YouTube and viewed more than 29,000 times.
Comments below the video say Rhyhiem ‘jinxed himself’ by challenging the rival crew in the City Of God rap just four weeks before he was killed.
Rhyhiem also appeared alongside DJ Tim Westwood last year in a rap video viewed on YouTube more than 170,000 times.
Westwood called Moscow17 ‘legendary’ before they rapped about ‘splashing’ rivals – slang for stabbing someone repeatedly until they pour with blood – and bragged the gang is ‘known for capping’ its enemies – street language for shooting someone.
Westwood has denied profiting from promoting drill music on his YouTube channel.
In a statement he said: ‘The artists featured on TimWestwoodTV are rap groups and we have absolutely no knowledge of any alleged gang affiliation’.
He also paid tribute to Rhyhiem, calling him a ‘very talented young artist’, but denied he knew that he was involved in the world of South London gangs.
In the interview with Mr Ferrari, she said also said she is ‘sure’ cuts to police budgets have had an impact on the increase in violent crime.
And she said she is hoping to recruit at least 500 extra officers using a £110 million boost to the force’s budget announced by London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
She said: ‘I’m hoping that we will get to well over 30,500 officers – more than 500 more than we currently have by the end of next year.
Asked by a caller if cuts to policing were to blame for the spike in violent crime, Ms Dick said: ‘We are definitely seeing an increase and I think there’s lots of reasons for it.
‘There’s a connection … to the drugs markets and what’s going on with those, undoubtedly.
‘Obviously, some changes in people’s financial and economic circumstances that affect all kinds of things which have a direct or indirect effect on young people.
‘We are seeing the glamorisation of violence, we are seeing social media being used to taunt other gangs, to bring violence about very quickly.
‘There’s a whole load of things, but of course I would be naive to say that the reduction in police finances over the last few years, not just in London but beyond, hasn’t had an impact.
‘I’m sure it’s had an impact. It’s part of the issue, and that’s why I’m very grateful for the new money that we’ve got, which we are getting on and investing on recruiting new people and I think it will help.’
Moscow17 and Zone 2’s violent rivalry
Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton – who was fatally gunned down in south London – was reportedly a member of the Moscow17 crew.
The group, from Kennington, are said to be involved in a violent feud with rivals Zone 2 from nearby Peckham, south London.
Moscow17 also had frequent rap competitions – known as ‘drills’ – with Zone 2, usually including lyrics aimed at antagonising their rivals.
Violence is another theme of the ‘drill’ music the groups are known for.
In ‘Moscow March’ – released at the end of 2016 – members rap: ‘We’re known for the stabbings.’
In the track titled City Of God, Rhyhiem – who rapped under the name GB – is believed to have challenged Zone 2 by asking ‘how you gonna make it even’
Zone 2 filmed their response to that track – called ‘Zone 2 Step’ on Moscow17’s turf, according to an article in Fact magazine last year.
Their violent rivalry is evident in another track where Moscow17 – who occasionally used the nickname ‘the Russians’ – told their rivals to ‘check the scoreboard’.
Zone 2 responded with a video telling their opposition they will ‘roll up and burst them’.
In the track ‘City Of God’, Rhyhiem – who rapped under the name GB – is believed to have challenged Zone 2 by asking ‘how you gonna make it even’.
The track also includes the line: ‘We are at war with the f****** cops.’
The video, which was removed from YouTube by Moscow17 but uploaded again by another user following Rhyhiem’s death, was the most recent in several ‘drill’ battles between the two groups.