Its the most captivating sound the city has heard in decades and also the most misunderstood.
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New York comes alive in the summer.
There is an unflinching sense of desperation reflected in drill.
The tragedy of Jayquan McKenley.
The sound itself.
The essential tracks.
Lawyers and lawmakers.
24, Flatbush
22Gzis credited with helping bring the U.K. scenes dancier style to Brooklyn.
A month after that arrest, 22Gz released a new single, Sniper Gang Freestyle Pt.
It was our time to shine.
I needed something that was going to make people want to move their bodies.
The beats I pick give you goose bumps.
Eventually, all of Brooklyn got onto this sound.
Now I see all five boroughs rapping like that.
With rap, I live how I want to live.
I got my own apartment; what my mom makes in a month doesnt add up to my rent.
I know yall know New York City is expensive.
I got my own car.
Rap elevated my life way faster and opened my eyes to the whole world, not just one neighborhood.
Im touring, traveling.
Those little checks I was getting as a kid through YouTube and TuneCore saved my life completely.
I know over 20, 30 rappers who got signed just through this sound alone.
Some of these kids dont leave their block.
They dont go to school.
They dont leave their neighborhood.
They dont see nothing but that.
I know a lot of kids in the ghetto who love recording in the studio.
Thats all they want to do, and its probably the only positive thing theyre doing the whole year.
When I was coming up, we didnt have that access.
We was all trying to be ball-players, and not everyone can.
Anybody could write some bars its like poetry.
Im not going to say drill wasnt made for dissing, but it wasnt made for violence.
Its whats in, whats hot.
I feel like they really want to lock these people up, so now they use lyrics in court.
Theyre not like, Let me watch what I say because the police will probably lock me up.
They probably think theyre so slick they can say whatever they want and then pretty soon theyre locked up.
This whole generation is a clout era.
Everybody wants to look like the man, do the crazier diss.
The fans are waiting for the other person to respond.
Once I see you, it got to be up now because were making songs about each other.
We see the little games the NYPD plays.
Somebody has a show and then it gets canceled by the police at the last minute.
One thing about me: Youll never see me dissing on the internet.
I dont argue on social media; I dont highlight certain people who have passed away in my music.
Thats whats made me transcend: I stay out the way, and its respected so far.
I was just on the block with my friends chilling, and now they hear me on the radio.
That shows them, Yo, we could all make it out.
Even if its 50 of us rapping, at least one of us will.
Thats why its crazy to blame drill for things that didnt start yesterday.
These kids who already got problems with each other, theyve had problems before they was rapping.
So youve got to start with the community and physically make changes.
And thats not by indicting everybody every two seconds.
Instead of worrying about the music, change the kids actual environment.
They got to let out things that already have happened.
A lot of these drill rappers are really good people.
Its not like pop or R&B when you rap, you are a voice for a community.
Were able to use our pain to make some diamonds.
Envy Caine is currently on Rikers Island.
I cant put on shows in New York, period.
Artists are trying to progress their careers, and theyll never reach their pinnacle surrounded by cops.
Half the time, they dont even know the artist; they just hear what kind of artist.
I give a shot to stay out of anything negative and just lock myself in the studio.
I do ten-hour sessions to keep myself busy.
Thats why Im still releasing music twice a month while Ive been locked up for a year.
Staying focused is my motivation.
I want usdrillto be respected as a real genre of music.
32, East Flatbush
If theres a face of New York rap right now, its Fivio Foreign.
Its a shame the way the whole genre gets portrayed.
You cant just put it on drill like were the only people talking about a gun or death.
But it just dont make no sense.
you could almost compare it to a movie or a book that tells a story of selling drugs.
We watchBoyz n the HoodandTraining Day, but we dont lock up the director.
We dont lock up the Denzel Washingtons.
I dont know what makes a music video different.
The genre is always expanding, and its because of the innovators.
Sample drill wouldnt be possible without Pop Smoke, period.
The whole point of my latest album was about expanding drill.
Bizzy Banks was released from Rikers Island on August 11.
Every drill rapper is not gangster, just like every regular rapper is not gangster.
Every drill rapper doesnt smoke people; every drill rapper doesnt antagonize other people.
Were creating dance moves; were creating new words.
I dont rap about things they say we rap about.
I could do bigger shows in the city without being bugged by or shut down by police.
If youre gonna attack the whole genre, you have to do research on the whole genre.
The samples we chose were early-2000s alternative like Blink-182, Foo Fighters, Snow Patrol.
For proof, come to one of my shows.
The whole crowd is full of kids.
There are older people who are into my music.
I never had a fight at none of my shows.
His viral behemoth Hot Nigga launched a million memes and led to a record deal.
He was arrested in 2014 on gun charges and served six years in prison.
While often credited with the rise of drill in Brooklyn, he doesnt consider himself a drill artist.
Now a year out from prison, Shmurda has returned to music unsigned and is experimenting with new sounds.
Im 28 and I feel like Im 19.
Ever since getting out, life has been a roller coaster.
Ive been enjoying life, but Ive also been trying to get my music into my own hands.
The company I was with kept control of everything before I came out.
So now Im trying to release my stuff independently and own it.
Drill is a category I dont want to be.
The stereotypes about it are coming from the people pushing the narratives.
If its all about gangster rap and shooting things up, then why the fuck are rappers onstage performing?
They should have no time for that if the perception was real.
When they see us, I dont want them to think of just drill.
If I wanna sing, Ill sing.
I embrace the past because the past is the future.
Its the way I learned all my lessons.
Youre talking my language.
He returned with this yearsRebel vs. Rowdy, his first album since his release from prison in 2021.
Rowdy Rebel
23, Crown Heights
The Crown Heights native picked up rapping while in prison on gang-conspiracy charges.
In July, he dropped an album on Def Jam.
The police once locked me up for a situation that had to do with one of my music videos.
Its a violation of our First Amendment rights as artists.
The music connects with people they feel it because everybody has emotions.
21, Crown Heights
Growing up in Crown Heights, Eli Fross wanted to be a pro basketball player.
Getting into rapping helped him refocus and earned him an RCA record deal by the age of 19.
Eventually, as I got older and deeper into rap, I had more to lose.
So its like I had to put things away so you can keep growing and doing what I love.
I aint come up on no nine-to-five job none of that.
I was doing this.
Its my way out.
We dont only put out drill music; we artists now.
A drill rapper is what I started as.
Its not what Im going to end as.
Sheff G is currently incarcerated.
When we started rapping, at first it was just for fun.
We didnt think nothing of it.
But when we blew up and the money started coming, we learned we could feed our families.
Why would you want to take that from us?
Youre going to leave us nothing to turn to.
People talk about drill, but they wont take the time to really understand what we go through.
They dont want to.
I was living in a shelter.
Ive got a two-year sentence right now for attempted gun possession.
Now Im upstate with people that have five years for attempted murder.
How is my crime comparable to that?
Obviously, theres a targeted situation going on.
Growing up in the hood, you battling shit like that on the regular.
Youre always the one thats being looked down upon.
So this is nothing new to me.
In December of that year, Flock was arrested on murder charges.
(He could not be reached for an interview.)
Still, his career continues to ascend.
In April, Flock and Dougie released Shake It, featuring Cardi B.
21, The Bronx
Me, Kay Flock, and B-Lovee its deeper than just friendship.
Those are my brothers.
We all grew up with each other, going on ten years.
That we all made it and could bring along groups of people we know, its a great feeling.
We were just in there making music for fun until we gained a fan base.
They encouraged us to take it seriously.
Its a life-changing thing.
I just want for artists to be smart.
He signed to Woo Entertainment/Empire in 2020 and has since put out two albums.
Thats true of almost every genre of music that got something to do with hip-hop.
Right now, drill is still in a baby form.
22, Co-Op City
Bronx native Ron Suno started rapping when he was 13.
I want to be the Michael Jackson of drill.
Bronx drill is oriented toward dancing.
Its connecting more with the kids on TikTok.
We had the kids outside.
There were homeless people dancing.
It felt like the cops were liking it, too.
They were just telling us to stay safe.
We were all having fun.
Locane has often been compared to the artist for their similar voices and styles.
I was born and raised in Canarsie.
From my hood, the only other person to do it was Pop.
I dont talk about it much, but I grew up with him.
Im talking about sleepovers-in-my-crib bang out shit.
He let people from where were from know that its possible to make it.
Pop did that too.
He opened that door.
A lot of people will look at us and say were vulgar, were disrespectful, were violent.
The odds are always going to be against us.
You got to just be very, very, very eyes open.
Its not a good way to live.
Thats why I get the younger crowd.
We wouldve been another example of it.
But were still building.
The East is still holding it down.
