Drill was the sound of Chicago streets. But today, drill has taken the world by storm across different genres and artists. What started out as a way to express gang violence in Chicago, drill has developed into ways to express different varieties of emotions, which allowed other cities to approach drill in their own way.
Brooklyn Drill got popular in the early 2010s with artists like Bobby Shmurda, 22Gz and Sheff G really putting Brooklyn on the map for drill. With hits like Suburban and Hot N*gga, music coming out of Brooklyn was no longer a thing of the past. As other artists like Pop Smoke began to get more global attention, this didn't stop the government from trying to control the level of which drill music can be heard.
According to Brooklyn Drill by Eric Skelton in Complex, "No one could stop the momentum of the Brooklyn Drill movement, but the New York Police Department sure tried. On October, 9, 2019, the NYPD sent a letter to the organizers of Rolling Loud, requesting to remove five New York hip-hop artists (including Pop Smoke, 22Gz, and Sheff G) from the lineup of their inaugural New York festival. The letter, signed by assistant chief Martin Morales, claimed that the rappers "have been affiliated with recent acts of violence citywide." Pressuring Rolling Loud to drop each artist from the bill, the letter concluded with: "The New York City Police Department believes if these individuals are allowed to perform, there will be a higher risk of violence."
Hip-Hop has always been the target for the government to blame when it comes to violence in the community. Instances like this are a clear representation of racism and discrimination as the other performers at Rolling Loud were not faced with the same scrutiny and bad treatment. It's hard to imagine that drill can be about anything other than its original purpose of expressing harm, but it doesn't make it impossible.
Groups like 41, consisting of teenage rappers Jenn and Tata Carter, and Kyle Richh, have made Brooklyn Drill become more popular and diverse than ever before.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, the teenage group does a deep dive into how their life growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn impacts their lives and explains how their collaboration with each other works. With their no. 1 hit currently being "Bent" it has reached over 12 million views on Spotify and Youtube, the group has secured their flow, lyrics, and production which is what drill has always been about.
Brooklyn Drill represents the indescribable lifestyle of the youth in the community and gives insight to the harsh reality for teenagers no older than 16. Although some of it is about violence in the world around them, the metaphors and clever lyricism in today's drill can be about heartbreak, gender expression, love, abuse, money and overall any emotion or situation that can be made into a pop song by your average pop star can be said in drill or rap.
