Brooklyn drill

Brooklyn drill is a regional subgenre of drill music, which is a subgenre of hip-hop music. It centered in Brooklyn, New York, that began as derivative of the drill music scene in Chicago and later

History#

Brooklyn drill music first gained attention with the 2014 single “Hot Nigga” from the rapper Bobby Shmurda. The music became more popular and associated with UK drill production (from producers such as 808Melo, AXL Beats, and Ghosty) with the releases of 22Gz’s “Suburban” in 2016 and Sheff G’s “No Suburban” in 2017. Both songs went viral and were credited for the rise of Brooklyn drill. Brooklyn drill music reached mainstream Billboard Hot 100 success with tracks from Pop Smoke (“Welcome to the Party”, “Dior”, and “Gatti”) and Fivio Foreign (“Big Drip” and “Demons”). Pop Smoke was nominated for a 2021 Grammy Award for “Dior.” After Pop Smoke’s 2020 murder in the Hollywood Hills, Brooklyn drill would continue to evolve. With the groundwork Pop Smoke laid, the broader drill scene of Brooklyn began to emerge. One example is Staten Island rapper CJ, whose hit song “Whoopty” is reminiscent of the Brooklyn drill sound.

Characteristics#

The Brooklyn drill sound is a combination of trap, Chicago drill and UK drill (the latter of which brings production influences from grime and UK garage). Characteristic features of Brooklyn drill production include distorted 808 percussions with vocal sampling from other popular tracks. Brooklyn drill lyrics tend to be dark, violent, and street-oriented, often discussing gang-related topics.

Criticism#

In 2022, some drew connections between the glorification of gun violence in the genre to real-world gun violence on the streets of New York that had resulted in the deaths of a number of young drill artists, mostly those with origins of Brooklyn and the Bronx. The same year, several prominent New York DJs said they would stop playing gang/diss records in response to the deaths of a growing number of young people involved in the drill scene. In February 2022, NYC mayor Eric Adams directed some venue promoters not to allow drill music to be performed at festivals in the city following the killing of 18-year-old rapper C-HII Wvttz. Adams met with musicians for a conversation on how to approach concerns about drill culture’s connections, if any, to gun violence. Artists at the meeting included Maino, Fivio Foreign, B-Lovee, CEO Slow, Bucksy Luciano and Bleezy.

Bronx drill#

Bronx drill is a subgenre of Brooklyn drill music, which uses uncleared samples of older records instead of synthesizers like in Brooklyn drill. Bronx drill originated during the early 2020s in New York (most prominently, in The Bronx), where producers such as Cash Cobain, EPondabeat, meanwhile, EPondabeat, EvilGiane prefer to use soul and funk recordings for sampling; other producers, such as WAR, do not limit themselves among sampling sources. Ice Spice and Kenzo B emerged from the Bronx drill scene.