

Other drill artists like Lil Reese, Lil Durk, and the late Fredo Santana massively benefitted from the attention. The song became a template for future drill artists, Chief Keef, in particular, whose 2012 hit "I Don't Like" and the subsequent remix by Kanye West brought this genre to national attention. Drill drew upon the chaotic nature and high occurrences of violence in some of Chicago's South Side neighborhoods, especially an area in the Woodlawn community called the "Dro City" and their impact on young fellas for its narrative and core sound.ĭro City native and rapper Pac Man is widely credited as the first artist to reference "drill", a term that is used to describe a shooting, and the drill sound in his 2010 single "It's a Drill". At the start, trap artists like Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame wielded considerable influence over the sound and flow of drill music, but as with a lot of hip-hop scenes, it was the culture of the environment in which this genre was born that truly informed the drill sound. The history of drill genre dates back to the early 2010s when Atlanta's trap music sound started to seep into Chicago hip-hop. Drill music was seen in the South London district of Brixton.

Roland TR-808, Synthesizers, Samplers, Drum machine, Digital Audio Workstation.ĭrill Music came from the Woodlawn neighborhood in Dro City and developed in the crime-riddled south side of Chicago in 2010. Q: What are the instruments used in Drill Music?.Rappers use a grim, deadpan delivery, often filtered through autotune. Drill lyrics typically reflect life on the streets. The tempo of the beats tends to be slow - usually, around 60-70 beats per minute but some producers make Drill music with a higher tempo, around 130-140 beats per minute. Q: What are the characteristics of Drill Music?ĭrill Music is characterized by its violent, dark, nihilistic lyrical content and ominous trap-based beats.Rappers would soon end up adopting Chicago drill in other major US cities like New York, which gave rise to the Brooklyn Drill. The drill sound was adopted and promoted by major label hip-hop artists like Drake and Kanye West.

The drill scene moved on from underground mixtapes to the mainstream in the mid-2010s courtes of Chief Keef's "I Don't Like" in 2012.

This subgenre is influenced strongly by trap music, another hip-hop subgenre that emerged in Atlanta, Georgia music scene and it shares the drill's sound propensity for slow, dark atmospheres, and a lyrical focus on the dangers of criminal activity. The word itself is slang for the use of automatic weapons.ĭrill music is a popular subgenre of hip-hop that initially originated in Chicago's South Side area in the early 2010s. It is a style of trap music that originated in the South Side of Chicago in the early 2010 which focuses primarily on the crime and the daily ordeals of life on the streets.
