Drill rappers targeted by police for inciting violence and taunting victims

Musician Digga D, 20, was the first to be banned from rapping about rivals
Defending Digga D
BBC / Lambent Productions
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Drill rappers whose lyrics incite violence or taunt the families of murder victims are being targeted by a new police unit.

The Met’s violence intervention unit has applied for 100 criminal behaviour orders against offenders aged between 14 and 25. 

Sergeant Keeley Tye said it is also monitoring 77 ex-prisoners who have been released with restrictions. 

Police now have powers to vet lyrics and videos of individuals before they are posted on social media platforms when a specific part of a criminal behaviour order or gang injunction.

A recent BBC documentary examined the case of drill rapper Rhys Herbert, 20, known as Digga D, who was the first musician to have an order controlling his output

He is banned from rapping about rivals or specific attacks, although he can refer to violence generally. 

Herbert left prison in May last year after being sentenced to two-and-a-half years for his role in a machete brawl in front of shoppers in central London. But he was recalled to jail during the filming of the programme.

Drill rapper Joshua Erorh, 18, boasted in a music video about stabbing a young man whose life was saved by open heart surgery at the roadside
Metropolitan Police

Digga D’s supporters claim he is a victim of police censorship. 

But Sgt Tye told the Standard: “It’s not the mainstream artists that we want to curb. It’s the young people who are really glamorising violence and using it as a means to settle scores. 

“Some of these are really talented and they have important stories to tell through their art. But there are also highly inflammatory lyrics inciting violence by goading rivals.

“Quite often they are ridiculing young people who have been murdered recently. As you can appreciate, for grieving families that prolongs their trauma.

“Very often things are posted in the heat of the moment and there is a pressure on the other side to respond. It promotes the carrying of weapons which is a huge risk.”  

She added: “Ultimately, this is about saving lives. We can’t normalise a society where we are empowering young people to ridicule gang members. These videos are graphically violent.”

Drill rapper Joshua Erorh, 18, boasted in a music video about stabbing a young man whose life was saved by open heart surgery at the roadside.

Erorh, who raps under the name Lil MDot, will be sentenced next month for attacking the 21-year-old outside a fast-food restaurant in New Cross on March 14 last year.

Dylan Callender O’Brien
Dylan Callender O’Brien
Met Police

The Met’s is working with social media firms to take down videos that can be viewed millions of times within hours.

The force uses borough officers, who work closely with young people, to understand dialects rappers use and identify inciteful words.

Some gangs are known to visit rival areas and film themselves making “disrespectful” hand gestures in front of street signs.

In one case involving the Met, teenage gangster Dylan Callender O’Brien was banned from owning a balaclava or riding a bicycle after a campaign of theft, robbery and violence.

In December, police sought a 12-month gang injunction to limit the behaviour of Callender O’Brien, 18, who cannot associate with 59 others, run away from police when instructed to stop, possess a knife, or enter Islington, as well as areas of Camden and Hackney.

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