// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Met Police defends drill rap use in court trials
Some drill music shows rappers boasting about real-life violent behaviour, police say
The Metropolitan Police has defended the use of drill music lyrics as evidence in criminal cases following a campaign to change the law to restrict their use.
Drill rap videos and lyrics have been used as evidence in recent murder trials, and police have alleged that some of the music showed rappers boasting about real-life violent behaviour.
A report by the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity said drill rap lyrics were used as evidence against 252 defendants between 2020 and 2023.
Campaign group Art Not Evidence, which includes lawyers and academics, is lobbying the government to change the law to create an assumption that "creative expression" is not admissible evidence.
Det Sgt Matt Corbin, who gives evidence in court as a police drill music expert, said it was "important" the force could use the material.
"There are people out there who unfortunately have committed horrendous and atrocious acts of violence," he said. "We want to be able to use that material to secure convictions."
Corbin said that if people chose to reveal true or criminal information within their music, then the police would use it as evidence.
Art Not Evidence said drill lyrics were being used in cases to show "gang aesthetics" which were "taken at face value and misinterpreted" by those with "a lack of knowledge of the culture of the genre".
It said the use of lyrics to gain convictions for young black people contributed to existing racial disparities in the criminal justice system and created a "chilling effect" for freedom of expression.