Fivio Foreign is giving his take on the critical conversations regarding drill music and the culture surrounding the genre.
The Brooklyn rapper was recently met by TMZ reporters as he and his entourage walked out of a meeting. When asked about the conference, he said he was “doing everything positive.” He then took the opportunity to publicly address those pushing to remove drill music from the airwaves.
“This the drill community. I know the police and everybody, they be looking at us like niggas is starting trouble. Niggas ain’t really starting trouble, they tryna feed their kids,” Fivio explained. “They tryna take away the drill music off the radio. They tryna stop it from being on the radio.” In an effort to clear the genre and its artists from the backlash, the “Big Drip” rapper said he’s been meeting up with executives and Pop Smoke‘s mother to let them know “it’s not the music that’s killing people.” Instead, he claims the music is “helping niggas from the hood get out the hood.”
“We need that,” Fivio said of the importance of drill music to some artists. “If you take that from niggas, niggas will be in the hood killing each other and going crazy on each other.”
Later in the chat, the “Wetty” emcee shared his thoughts on the proposed “Rap Music On Trial Bill,” which sets out to prevent the use of rap lyrics in criminal trials.
“To me, that shit don’t make sense because it’s niggas out there that don’t even write they own music,” Fivio said. “So if you going to indict niggas and lock niggas up over they music, then that means you gotta go lock Denzel [Washington] up for being a bad cop in Training Day… You can’t just target niggas ’cause niggas making music, and they feel like that’s the lowest form of entertainment. ‘Why they rich, why they buying these cars, why they got this much? I don’t fuck with that.”
Fivio’s statements come amid claims that drill music is leading to increased violence and premature deaths in the rap game. “The music definitely inflames the situation,” NYPD Deputy Chief Joseph Gulotta told the New York Daily News. “But these are gang shootings. I think sometimes rap and the lyrics ignite, cause some issues.” DJ Drewski of HOT 97 also announced that he will no longer play “diss/gang” records during his music sets.