NYC Mayor compares drill rap to Trump tweets, proposes banning it from social media

A string of recent murders connected to New York's drill rap scene have prompted a drastic reaction from mayor Eric Adams.

On Friday, 11 February, Adams made an intense speech to the assembled press where he said:

"I had no idea what drill rapping was, but I called my son and he sent me some videos and it is alarming. We are going to pull together the social media companies and sit down with them and state that 'you have a civic and corporate responsibility.'"

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NYC Mayor's campaign against drill rap: Backdrop and context

Drill music is known for its dark, violent and nihilistic lyrics and ominous trap-influenced beats. It has faced censorious backlash ever since it gained prominence.

New York City is home to a buzzing drill scene. Brooklyn drill is a distinct subgenre of the style, which takes influence from grime and garage music. But a spate of violent incidents in relation to New York's drill rappers has caught the attention of the administration.

For context, rapper Chii Wvttz was shot to death in Brooklyn on February 6. Over a month ago, Nas Blixky survived a shot to the head. Also last month, C Blu was charged with shooting at a cop. Earlier this month, 22-year-old TDott Woo was shot and killed. Kay Flock was arrested for the murder of an alleged rival gang member last December.

In his speech, Adams stated that former President Donald Trump had also been ousted from Twitter for spreading misinformation and inflammatory ideas. He said:

"We pulled Trump off Twitter because of what he was spewing... Yet, we are allowing music, displaying of guns, violence. We are allowing it to stay on these sites, because look at the victims. We are bringing them in, we are going to show exactly what is being displayed and we are alarmed by it. We are alarmed by the use of social media to really over proliferate this violence in communities."

Adams’ remarks are in line with the trend of anti-rap messaging from conservatives, police, and prosecutors alike. This disdain has been decried by artists, legal scholars, and advocates of free speech.

But mayor Adams' messaging contradicts that of NYPD Deputy Chief Joseph Gulotta, who recently made a statement saying that blaming the music for the shootings was not entirely correct. He said:

“These are gang shootings. I think sometimes rap and the lyrics ignite, cause some issues. But I don’t think that’s the underlying motive at the end of the day.”

Drill rapper Fivio Foreign, who recently featured on Kanye West's Donda, tried to rebuff the argument that drill rap was the cause of violence in the city.

"This the drill community, and I know like, the police and everybody be looking at n****s like n****s is starting trouble, but n****s ain't really starting trouble. They tryna feed they kids."

The First Amendment to the US Constitution bars government officials from restricting artistic expression, a clause that has been widely understood to protect depictions of violence across media. But a recent clampdown by global governments, involving the use of lyrics in drill songs as evidence in criminal trials, has made the genre a hotbed for discourse on the boundaries of free speech.