What Should Be Done About Drill Rap?

Drill Rap has been in the headlines for weeks, especially after NYC Mayor Eric Adams called for a social media ban of drill rap content. “We pulled Trump off of Twitter because of what he was spewing,” Adams said. “Yet we’re allowing music, displaying of guns, and violence. We’re allowing it to stay on these sites.” Drill Rap does promote its share of violence but at the core, the young people engaged in it, despite their differences, agree on one thing: they want money. That’s where the focus of our community should be, delivering opportunity to them rather than condemning them.

It’s easy to criticize a young person for engaging in criminality. What’s more difficult is admitting that we, as a community, have few opportunities we can readily give them. Where are our businesses to employ them? Where is the real estate that we can leverage so that they can build something of value on it? New York politicians can also chastise them but they must also concede that they proposed $1.4 billion of tax credits and $1.1 billion in grants to lure Amazon, while our young people receive no such targeted investments. The new Adams administration  in NYC did add 30,000 Summer Youth Employment Program jobs to help curb gun violence and that is commendable. Still, the energy which state and local lawmakers gave to Amazon, our young people need that.

Rather than fighting, our young rappers should come together to make money. They will, however, need our support in doing so. Opportunities in the legal economy are scarce for many, especially young Black children. Our children need us to build so that they will have a platform to stand on and together, further what we give to them.