NYC’s drill rap scene: “Eric Adams is pushing the NYPD stigma against drill music”

nme.com:

New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ recent call to pull drill music from the internet.Earlier this month, Adams said during a press conference that after seeing “alarming” drill music videos, he felt they should no longer be shared on social media.“We pulled Trump off Twitter because of what he was spewing,” the former NYPD officer said at the time. “Yet we are allowing music, displaying of guns, violence, we’re allowing it to stay on these sites.”Adams added: “We are going to pull together the social media companies, and state that you have a civic and corporate responsibility.”The Mayor also said he was “alarmed by the use of social media” by drill rappers before blaming the music for “contributing to the violence we are seeing all over this country.”According to NBC New York, shootings year to date are reportedly up 37 per cent in the city versus this same period in 2021 – an average of nearly four people shot every day.However, drill artists and rap culture experts have spoken to NME about how they don’t agree with Adams – and believe there’s an agenda behind his call to ban the genre.“Drill music is our form of art,” Jeffrey Mark Alexander, who performs as 22Gz told NME.

The Guyanese-American rapper is credited as a pioneer of Brooklyn’s drill scene.When asked about the mayor’s recent comments condemning drill rap, he told NME: “It’s our expression of feelings and it shouldn’t be stifled.”22Gz, who grew up in New York’s Flatbush neighbourhood, also shared that he has been trying to use his music to uplift the city.“I’ve personally held several shows that went on without incident and have removed a lot of weapons from my visuals,” he said. “I’ve even tried to do positive work in my community like hosting a turkey drive.