The Pop Corporation

A Tory MP has attacked the whole of Drill music, because she thinks it is the reason that young people carry knives. Nickie Aiken says there’s a “direct link” and wants the government to look at record labels that release music that is found “celebrating gang culture.”

At the House of Commons, the Cities of London and Westminster MP said: “There has got to be a direct link to young people feeling encultured that it’s the right thing to do to carry a knife and perhaps be willing to use it,” adding that politicians need to “look at more flexible legislation around the words of blades.”

So, aside from the fact that this invariably came about because one of Aiken’s children was found listening to Drill and got her knickers in a twist, let’s get into it.

The Conservative Party have been in power in the UK since 2010, and during that time, they’ve enforced austerity measures that has seen the countries that make up the UK on their knees. They cheerily rebranded it recently as the ‘cost of living’ crisis, if ‘the cost of living’ wasn’t dystopian enough sounding. The stagnation has been felt in all corners of society, but obviously, marginalised groups have been hit the hardest and the Tories have tried to look at the record levels of food banks as something akin to Blitz Spirit, because obviously, everything was better in wartime Britain.

When gangs and petty crime thrive, it’s always the same thing – it’s social, economic, and cultural forces pushing young people into a difficult set of circumstances where criminal behaviour is the only quick way out of a desperate situation. In some cases, it’s the fastest route to getting what you need to survive.

In a country where young people feel like there’s no opportunity – the housing market is a disaster, matched only by the endless misery of the job market and zero hour contracts, and the chances of retirement being pushed further to 80 – it’s little wonder that people are taking matters into their own hands, whether or not you agree with the way it’s being enacted.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Drillminister has said that Drill is a genre to “get people thinking about the harsh realities that young people face”, and that the music “is the news reported from the streets – directly to you, wherever you are, to your laptops and mobile phones.”

He added: “People that are blaming drill for violent crime in the UK don’t understand it. They’re just pointing the finger. It takes a smart person to delve in and see the truth behind everything that’s going on. We didn’t make society the way it is – we’re just a reflection of it. We live in a cesspool – so that’s the music you’re gonna get until the situation has changed. [Until then] the scenario’s going to be the same.”

“We’re going through mad austerity; people’s mums are going through madness. Universal Credit is messing up the hood. The music will change when the situation changes. It’s gonna get ’soft’ when society is soft to us.”

And that’s the thing about all of this. Of course, it’s not the first time a politician has demonised a music genre – we’ve seen it since the birth of the blues and jazz, and even choral music that was dubbed as evil by some Pope in a crap frock – what the Tories need to do is accept their own influence on music subcultures.

Big Narstie said: “There is a lot of crazy things happening in the street. But the government has to understand it’s the music that is the only thing that is giving these kids a chance at changing their lives at the moment. Drill does have a lot about it but it’s the truth. It’s what’s happening out there. You can’t ask these kids to talk about living in a stable household if they don’t.”

We’d want to ask Aiken her top 5 Drill songs, because obviously, she’s something of an expert in the scene or she wouldn’t just bring up a whole genre on a whim in the House of Commons, would she? Eyes emoji. The fact that we still have people who are causing far more real damage to marginalised group and people from poorer backgrounds looking for a scapegoat in 2024 is thoroughly depressing.

Unsurprising, but still depressing.