Drill music is a sub-genre of rap that originally came Chicago, with the drill song being made by the late Pac-Man with his 2010 single called “It’s A Drill.” Drill music would eventually go global with the likes of Chief Keef, Lil Durk, FBG Duck and many others creating waves around the world.

Drill would eventually make its way to London, England in the early 2010’s and be dubbed as ‘UK Drill’, however many people dispute about who made the first Drill song in the UK.

Angell Town/150/GBG:

The Angell Town/150/GBG, based in the Angell Town estate in Brixton are a collective which are credited with pioneering UK Drill, they would garner popularity and create a wave of Drill rappers in other parts of London and beyond. Many iconic songs include tracks such as ‘It’s Cracking’, ‘Demon Works’, ‘Psycho’ and much more.

Their most prominent rappers would include Sneakbo, Stickz, MDargg, Gr1zzy as well M24 who is still active as of now.

6ix7even:

Although they’re not credit with being the first adopters of UK Drill, however it’s undisputed that they are responsible for shining a bigger limelight on UK Drill as well as popularizing the genre. Their hit song is arguably ‘Lets Lurk’ featuring Giggs. Their most prominent rappers were Scribz/LD (who is currently incarcerated), Dimzy, ASAP & Monkey; however they’re new generation of artists are arguably more popular and they include Brucka, PR SAD, Dopesmoke and more.

Digga D & 1011/CGM:

CGM were a collective based in Ladbroke Grove, West London and would raise to prominence due to they’re disrespectful lyrics, rawness as well as their antics outside of music. in 2018 they changed UK Drill forever after being given a court order (which has since expired), banning them from making music without police permission; in addition, they couldn’t mention death or injury, including the unfortunate death of Abdullahi Tarabi (who’s sister we’ve interviewed), and had to notify police in advance of any song release or performance. Kevin Southworth, Detective Chief Superintendent, noted that it was “one of the first times” that such an order was made. Their court order set a precedent for police forces across the country to hand them out to others. Their most prominent rapper who is still very much active and popular is Digga D who is currently incarcerated for drug importation.

AM x Skengdo:

This duo from the 410 collective would taste some commercial success and would collaborate with Chief Keef, top the iTunes Hip-Hop charts in the UK and sell out their UK tours. Their discography would include ‘Macaroni’ which features on the 2Bunny mixtape, a collaboration with Chief Keef on song ‘Pitbulls’ that is on their album titled ‘Greener On The Other Side’. Their traction would slow down when the Metropolitan Police would place a gang injunction on the duo which led to them not dropping songs regularly. They are still active and due to release a project.

Carnshill:

Carnshill is a South London based producer who has been in the game for over 15 years. He was made beats for ‘Road rap’ and eventually pivoted to UK Drill, working closely to 6ix7even and rappers in that collective. Carns would also produce for artists such as Blade Brown, K Trap as well as Skrapz.

Pac TV:

Pac TV (Formerly Pacman TV) has was one of the first to record UK Drill and filmed the iconic track by LD called ‘Live Corn’, the channel is still going strong with their freestyle series ‘The Hotspot’.

Pressplay Media:

Pressplay Media was and still is the go to platform for UK Drill music and has featured a wide array of artists who are now household names such as Digga D, Russ Millions, M24, and many more. They formerly hosted ‘Plugged In w/ Fumez’; however all of those freestyles have been taken down due to Danny Pressplay and Fumez The Engineer falling out. Their highest viewed video at the time of writing is ‘London View’ remix featuring BM, Mini, Sava, Marin and Rambizz who are from the North London ‘OTP’ collective which is based around Turnpike Lane.

Outchea TV:

Outchea TV is a grassroots channel that almost exclusively host’s UK Drill music. Majority of the artists on this channel are relatively young and use this platform as a inexpensive way to showcase their talent.They have hosted artists such as Lil A’one, Lucky Lavish, Grippa (RIP) and many more. Check them out for raw undiscovered talent.