Boris ‘shot’ in rap video – made with £16k grant
A RAPPER was condemned last night for pretending to shoot Boris Johnson in a grantfunded election video.
The masked musician, who calls himself ‘Drillminister’, mimics firing a gun in front of the Houses of Parliament while another rapper says: ‘Boris Johnson tell him stop wearing wig, I don’t trust no boho pigs, if I shoot no miss.’
Drillminister also acts out stabbing a politician with a polling station pencil in the YouTube film, which was made with £16,500 funding from the long- established Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.
Drill music is a genre of rap blamed for fuelling bloody turf wars between rival gangs. To ‘drill’ means to fight and the songs’ violent lyrics often focus on drugs, guns and killing.
The rapper recently appeared on a panel at Labour’s conference with Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott to discuss ‘youth violence and music’ and has repeatedly condemned the Tories on TV and in his songs.
Last night Labour was under pressure to condemn the video for increasing the climate of hatred towards politicians, amid a bitter election campaign where candidates have received death threats, canvassers have been attacked and campaign offices vandalised.
The rapper, whose real name is unknown and who always appears in a balaclava, came to prominence a year ago when Channel 4 commissioned him to make a rap out of quotes from MPs who talk figuratively about knifing rivals in the back.
He said that track, titled Political Drillin, highlighted the hypocrisy of politicians who condemn rap music for inciting murder, yet talk about Theresa May being ‘chopped up in bags’ or ‘ bringing her own noose’ to a meeting.
But in his latest project, Drillminister himself mimes murdering the Prime Minister.
The video, called People’s Vote, was made with the help of funding from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust to two organisations called Rize Up and Shout Out.
It was created to ‘engage the most disengaged young people in the snap General Election, through music tracks, events and short videos as part of their No Vote, No Voice project’.
The Trust is not a charity but provides grants for projects to promote democracy and electoral reform.
Senior Tory Brandon Lewis wrote to Jeremy Corbyn, saying: ‘I am calling on you and the Labour Party to immediately break all ties with these groups, to send a message that promoting such violent content is not acceptable.’
A spokesman for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust said: ‘JRRT has funded a wide range of activity to encourage voter registration and turnout.
‘JRRT was unaware of the content of this video. Policy and communications content are the responsibility of grantees.’