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What is drill music?
A style that started on Chicago's South Side, mutated in London, and came back to New York as something different again.
The short answer
Drill is a rap subgenre built on sparse, menacing production, sliding 808 basslines and blunt first-person street narrative. It began in Chicago around 2011 and has since developed distinct regional forms in the UK and New York.
Chicago drill
The original form emerged on Chicago's South Side, with Chief Keef as the breakout figure and producers including Young Chop defining the sound. The production was slow, heavy and simple; the writing was direct and specific about place. The Chicago scene history is here.
Where the name comes from
"Drill" was Chicago street slang before it was a genre, and the music took the term rather than inventing it. That is the usual pattern — bounce, crunk and hyphy all named themselves the same way.
UK drill
The style crossed to London around 2012 and changed substantially. UK drill runs at a different tempo, uses a distinctive sliding, gliding 808 pattern, and carries a different rhythmic feel derived from grime. Producers including 808Melo shaped it.
Brooklyn drill
The UK version came back to New York in the late 2010s, largely through producers working with London beatmakers. Pop Smoke was the breakout figure, rapping in a deep, commanding voice over 808Melo production, and was killed in Los Angeles in February 2020 at twenty. Fivio Foreign, Sheff G and a substantial scene followed. The New York history is here.
What drill sounds like
Minor key, minimal melody, a lot of empty space, hi-hats in triplet patterns, and an 808 that slides between notes rather than sitting still. The vocal is usually flat and unhurried rather than energetic, which is part of why it reads as menacing.
The controversy
Drill has faced police attention in both Chicago and London, including UK court orders restricting specific artists from performing certain lyrics. Whether the music describes violence or contributes to it is an argument that has run since gangsta rap and has never been settled.
Where it is now
Regional drill scenes exist across Europe, in Australia, in Ghana and in Ireland. It is the most successfully exported rap subgenre of the last fifteen years, and each version sounds meaningfully different from the others.
Young Chop and the original production
The Chicago sound was built on cheap software, hard snares and a sense of space that came partly from limited equipment. Young Chop's work with Chief Keef on "Love Sosa" and "I Don't Like" is the reference point, and its influence reached Kanye West, who remixed the latter.
808Melo and the UK sound
The sliding 808 that defines UK and Brooklyn drill is a specific technique — the bass note glides between pitches rather than being retriggered, producing the woozy, seasick feel the style is known for. 808Melo is the producer most associated with exporting it to New York.
Why it travelled so well
Drill is cheap to make, needs no melodic training, and its subject matter is locally specific by design. That combination means any city can produce its own version without imitating anyone else's, which is exactly what has happened across Europe, Africa and Australia.
The legal pressure
UK courts have issued orders restricting named artists from performing specific lyrics, and videos have been removed at police request. Prosecutors in both the UK and the US have introduced lyrics as evidence. Whether that is legitimate or an assault on artistic expression is being litigated on both sides of the Atlantic.
Frequently asked
Where did drill music start?
Chicago's South Side, around 2011, with Chief Keef as the breakout artist and producers including Young Chop.
What is the difference between UK drill and Chicago drill?
UK drill runs at a different tempo with a distinctive sliding 808 pattern and a rhythmic feel inherited from grime. Chicago drill is slower and heavier.
Who was Pop Smoke?
The breakout figure of Brooklyn drill, working largely with UK producer 808Melo. He was killed in Los Angeles in February 2020 at the age of twenty.