Newly elected New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expressing concern over the drill music scene that has been quickly growing in his home borough of Brooklyn over the past decade.
Adams spoke to reporters on Friday (Feb. 11), linking the musical subgenre to gun violence, and appearing to put pressure on social media companies to remove the music from their platforms.
“I had no idea what drill rapping was, but I called my son and he sent me some videos, and it is alarming,” he explained. “We are going to pull together the social media companies and sit down with them and tell them that you have a civic and corporate responsibility.”
“We pulled Trump off Twitter … yet we are allowing music displaying of guns, violence.”
— NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D), after his son sent him drill rap videos, says he will try to get the videos banned from social media. pic.twitter.com/ATGmhpi4Bo
— The Recount (@therecount) February 11, 2022
Adams went on to compare the messaging in drill to tweets inciting violence from former President Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter after the insurrection at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “We pulled Trump off Twitter because of what he was spewing. Yet we are allowing music, displaying of guns, violence, we’re allowing it to stay on these sites,” the mayor said.
“We pulled Trump off Twitter, because of what he was spewing. Yet we’re allowing music, displaying of guns, violence. We’re allowing it to stay on these sites”: @NYCMayor @ericadamsfornyc says he’ll summon social media cos over “alarming” “drill rap.” pic.twitter.com/CUQK24uyIU
— Matthew Chayes (@chayesmatthew) February 11, 2022
He also said that a discussion about drill with “very top-known rappers” is in the works, though he did not provide information on the participating artists or when the meeting would take place.
Adams’ statement comes after two young Brooklyn drill rappers were killed this month. On Feb. 3, 22-year-old Tahjay Dobson, best known as Tdott Woo, was shot and killed outside his Brooklyn home, just hours after signing a record deal, according to ABC News. A few days later on Feb. 6, 18-year-old Bronx rapper Jayquan McKenley, who went by the name Chii Wvttz, was shot and killed while leaving a recording studio in Brooklyn.
Adams paid emotional tribute to McKenley on Thursday, holding back tears while condemning a “broken system” that “continually fails Black and Brown New Yorkers.”
“I’m sorry we betrayed him and so many others like him, but you have my word as your mayor that I will be looking out for the thousands of other Jayquans in our city because I was once a Jayquan, too,” he said.
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Tagged: bbnews, entertainment blog, Eric Adams, music, music blog, R&B/Hip-Hop