Drill music is a subgenre of Hip-Hop created in Chicago, Illinois in The New '10s, stemming from Atlanta's Trap Music. The term "drill" comes from slang meaning to kill someone with an automatic weapon.
Musically, drill music features grim, minimalistic beats and simplistic, deadpan flows. The lyrics tend to follow suit, generally being gritty, violent, and direct, with topics such as crime, gang violence, sex, and drugs being common. This can be attributed to the genre's hometown of Chicago, known for its high crime and fatality rates (drill musicians refer to the city as "Chiraq" due to its murder rate being higher than wartime Iraq's). Many drill rappers are very young, with many of them achieving fame while still teenagers.
In the UK, this genre was adopted not long after its creation, with groups in Brixton, South London forming their own take on the sound. This resulted in it gaining worldwide popularity, particularly in New York City, where artists began creating their own version of the sound, which blew up into the mainstream in 2019 and 2020 through the rise of rappers Pop Smoke (who was tragically killed in early 2020) and Fivio Foreign.
Chicago drill rappers include:
- Ballout
- Chella H
- Chief Keef (the Trope Maker)
- Dreezy (Although she has since moved away from this subgenre)
- Fredo Santana
- G Herbo
- GMEBE Bandz (the genre's Token White)
- Katie Got Bandz (the self-proclaimed "queen of drill")
- Kid Smoke
- King L
- King Von
- Lil Bibby (who later quit music for working behind-the-scenes, becoming better-known as the manager of Juice WRLD and The Kid LAROI)
- Lil Durk
- Lil Mouse (notable for being co-signed by Lil Wayne at the age of 13)
- Lil Reese
- Lucci V
- Sasha Go Hard
- SD
- Slim Jesus (a controversial Token White example)
- Spenzo
- Tadoe
- Tink (Although she has moved away from this sound in recent years and now usually makes more R&B influenced music)
UK drill rappers include:
- 67 (one of the Trope Makers of UK drill)
- AJ Tracey
- ArrDee (the genre's Token White)
- Central Cee
- Digga D
- GBG/150 (one of the Trope Makers of UK drill)
- Harlem Spartans (the trope codifiers for UK Drill, notable because member Loski was an inspiration for Drake's album Scorpion)
- Headie One
- M1llionz
- Russ Millions
- Section Boyz/Smoke Boyz
- Skengdo & AM
- Stormzy (sometimes)
- Tion Wayne
- Unknown P (a parody of the genre)
- Unknown T
NY drill rappers include:
- BBG Steppa
- BLoveee
- C Blu
- Curly Savv
- DD Osama
- Dougie B
- DThang
- Dusty Locane
- Fivio Foreign
- Ice Spice
- Kay Flock
- Kyle Richh
- Lil Mabu
- Pop Smoke (the Trope Codifier for Brooklyn Drill)
- Ron Suno
- Rowdy Rebel (his later work)
- Sha EK
- Sha Gz
- Sheff G
Other rappers associated with the style:
- Onefour (the Trope Makers and Codifiers for the genre in Australia)
- J Emz
- Spenny
- Lekkz
- Celly
- YP
