Date received:
January 28, 2025
Subject:
A new perspective on Chicago’s drill movement
Preview text:
The latest from The Trace’s Chicago bureau
Location:
New York, NY
Text version for screen readers:
Happy New Year, Chicago!
This is Justin Agrelo, The Trace’s local engagement reporter. It’s been a little while since I’ve sent one of these newsletters, and I’m happy to be back in your inbox.
Recently, I spoke with Jabari M. Evans — a rapper, media scholar, and Chicagoan — about his new book, “Drill Rap, Sex Work, and the Digital Underground (Clout)Chasing on Chicago’s Southside.” The book looks at Chicago’s drill rap movement through the lens of clout chasing, or the tactics people use to gain influence on social media.
For those not familiar, drill is a subgenre of rap that originated on the South Side of Chicago in the early 2010s. It became known for its violent aesthetic and confrontational lyrics that chronicled street life in Chicago, playing into the curiosity and fear that surrounds gun violence. Media coverage often focused on drill’s controversies, like the killings of its artists or rappers’ public rivalries. City leaders responded by politically scapegoating drill, quickly designating the music a “public safety risk,” and forcing several artists out of Chicago.
As a reporter from Chicago covering gun violence, I’ve long been struck by the ways drill rappers have been portrayed in the media, which Evans examines in depth in his book. But there’s also an ongoing debate among community members I’ve spoken with about the role music plays in our city’s gun violence crisis.
On the one hand, some people argue that music like drill rap — with its rugged aesthetic and confrontational lyrics — has created a culture among Chicago youth that glorifies and perpetuates violence. It’s an idea that can be traced back to at least the 1980s during the birth of gangsta rap. On the other hand, others say this argument oversimplifies the root causes of violence, such as disinvestment, mass incarceration, easy access to firearms, and lack of employment.
Evans’s book offers a new perspective on Chicago’s drill movement and its relationship to gun violence. He positions Chicago drill artists not just as vanguards in music, but also within the history of the internet, showcasing how — through technological savvy and foresight — drill rappers capitalized on social media audiences’ voyeuristic impulses for a peek inside the city’s most impoverished neighborhoods. His book provides an empathetic lens that encourages readers to look past the spectacle, and shows how for many artists, drill became a path away from the violent conditions from which it emerged.
Click here to read my full conversation with Evans. I hope you find it as fascinating and informative as I did.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out — you can respond to this email with any feedback, questions, or comments.
Take care,
Justin Agrelo
Chicago Engagement Reporter
The Trace
What I’m paying attention to…
The University of Chicago Crime Lab released its end-of-year analysis, showing that while homicides in Chicago have declined by 7.3 percent in 2024, they’re still higher than pre-pandemic levels. [Crime Lab]
The parents of a victim of the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, partnered with a Chicago-based ad agency to create “The Final Exam,” a video game that simulates a school shooting. It’s an effort to raise awareness of the harm of these shootings and advocate for gun safety measures. [The New Yorker]
Baltimore has made significant investments in gun violence prevention. The early results are promising. [ABC]
How Chicago Drill Artists Hacked the Conversation About Gun Violence
In his new book, media scholar Jabari M. Evans explores how rappers use the subgenre to gain clout.
Read more →
Chicago Emergency Response Times Are Worsening. A Slain Rapper’s Mom Wants to Know Why.
Between January 2021 and November 2024, the rate of incidents with response times longer than six minutes grew by 4.6 percentage points.
Read more →
They Lost Loved Ones to Guns. They’re Sharing Their Stories So Things Will Be Different.
Seven gun violence survivors, seven stories of Chicago. How might their experiences drive change?
Read more →
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