By their keywords shall thee know them?

The latest in a long series of moral panics (the term used by sociologists since the 1970s) exploited by the UK press and now subject of rancorous political debate, the issue of knife-crime and killings by street gangs, mainly in London, is genuinely concerning and is only now receiving the attention and analysis it demands. A side-effect of media interest is that the language used by the gang members and by the music genres that celebrate them is being recorded – haphazardly and not always accurately – for the first time. The musical genre in question is UK Drill, a successor to the ultra-hard-edged Trap Rap (from The Trap, slang nickname for the local area where drugs are dealt) that appeared first in Chicago in the 2000s. Drill (the word can signify shooting but has many other slang senses) has been adopted and adapted by hyperlocal urban communities in the poorer parts of London and, despite their claims, doesn’t just evoke the harsh realities of life on inner-city estates, but often glamorises it and seems to promote an ethos of territoriality, boastful masculinity and murderous retaliatory violence.

So far only very few reporters have managed to penetrate the groups whose members occupy and fiercely defend their microzones, fighting for control, too, of economies based on drug trading. The rappers emerging from the same postcode- or estate-defined enclaves compete and feud electronically, dissing and threatening their rivals in their lyrics – and in a few cases have actually been implicated in killings or woundings on the street.

In May 2018 the Metropolitan Police intensified attempts to ban videos associated with the music genre and the gangs caught up in street violence:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/drill-music-stabbings-london-youtube-violence-police-knife-crime-gangs-a8373241.html

Since beginning this project I have managed to engage with some members of this subculture and find out more about their values and the way they encode them. In the meantime I have begun to assemble a lexicon of the most significant key terms they use, in a slang which mixes US hiphop argot and Caribbean expressions transposed to or reinvented in London (harking back to the Yardie gang culture of the 1980s). So far just a glossary, my list is far from complete, so please help me add more items if you can, or correct my mistakes. Here is this work in progress as it stands, now updated for July 2020, followed by some relevant links…

125 – scooter

3 – free (call to free a respected associate or known person)

Active – dependable associate

– involved in gang activities

Ahk, Akhi – brother, friend (from Arabic)

Amm – cannabis (abbreviation of Amnesia, a potent strain)

Askari – police (from Arabic and other African languages)

Back out – draw (a weapon)

Bagged – caught by the police

Bagging – stabbing in the lower body

Bally, Bali – balaclava

Bando – abandoned property

Bands – coloured elastic bands tying batches of cash

Banger – hit, successful song

Bap – the sound of  a shot or gunfire

 – to fire (a gun)

Bars – lyrics

Beef – dispute, feud

Bells – bullets

Binned  – shot

Birded off, birded up  –  imprisoned

Bitz – one’s neighbourhood

– drugs weighing more than 7 grams

Blam – shoot

Blow – leave, escape

– ‘take off’, achieve career success

Blunt – cannabis ‘spliff’

Bones – dead

Booj, buj – heroin

Bookie, buki – suspicious

Bora, borer – knife

Botty – firearm

Box – prison

Boxed, boxed in, boxed up – imprisoned

Bozz – leader

– excellent

Breeze off – leave town, disappear

Bruck, bruk – broken (down), broke

Bruckshot – sawn-off shotgun

Buj – obnoxious person

Bun – light up (a cannabis cigarette)

 – shoot, eliminate

Burner – gun

Burst – shoot

Cabby – cigarette containing cannabis and cocaine or cannabis and crack mix

Cake – crack or cocaine

Cally – cannabis

Can – prison

Car, cah – because

Cat – drug user and/or drug purchaser

CBO – criminal behaviour order

Cheffed (up) – stabbed, killed

Chete – machete

Ching – knife

– to stab

Chinging – chilling and hanging out

– stabbing

Civilian  – non-gang-member, non-combatant

Clap – attack, shoot

– steal drugs

Codes – ‘postcode areas’, zones where gangs dominate

Corn – ammunition

Crash – raid, invade

– shoot

Crashing corn – shooting your gun

Crib – home

Cro – cannabis

Cunch – out-of-town locations where drugs can be sold

Cutter – knife

Cuttin – leaving, running away

– mixing or adulterating illicit drugs

Darg, dargie, dawg – male friend, ‘homie’, male active on the street, gang member

Dark – heroin

Dash – throw

– run (away)

Dasheen – running away, fleeing

Diligent – admirable, brave, cool

– dependable associate

Ding dong – dispute, brawl

also dinger, dinga, ding – cheap car

Dipped – stabbed

Dipper – knife

Don – respected person

Dottie, Dotty, Dotz – shotgun

Doughnut – idiot

Drawn out – involved in gang culture, under pressure from street crime

– lured, rendered vulnerable

Drenched – stabbed

Driller – shooter, gang member

Drilling – attacking, aggressing, invading

Dumpy – shotgun

Dun – kill(ed), punish(ed)

Duppy – kill, dead

Elizabeth – money

Endz – one’s neighbourhood

4-door – saloon car

Febreze – spray a place to remove the smell of cannabis

              – get rid of evidence of illicit activities

Feds – police

Field – danger-zone, combat area

Fishing – looking for victims

Flake – cocaine

Flashed – stopped, pulled over e.g by police

Flicky – switchblade knife

Food – drugs

Fry – shoot (at)

Gassed – excited

g-check – aggressively check someone’s gang credentials

Gem – weak person

Get the drop – acquire necessary information

Giraffe – £1000

Glide – drive into enemy territory

GM – (fellow) gang member

Go cunch/country – leave the city to sell drugs in rural/seaside locations

Got – attacked, robbed

Grubby – authentic, tough (neighbourhood)

Guv – prison officer

Gwop – money

Habsi, hapsi – black person

Hand ting – pistol

Hitter – gunman

Hottie – SIM card

Iron  – gun

Jakes – police

Joint – gun

Jump out – undercover police on patrol

– emerge from a vehicle

Juiced – confident, energised

– bloodstained

Khala – black person

Khalas!  – ‘that’s enough’, stop!

Ketchup – blood

Kick down doors, kick in doors, kick door – raid a domestic location

Kwef – violence

Kweff, Queff – kill with gun or knife, harm, attack

Kweng – cut, stabbed

Laces – ammunition

Lacking – caught unawares, without backup

Landing – prison, cell

Lane – main street, urban area

Layers – protective clothing

Leggin (it) – escaping, running away

Leng – gun

Let rip – fire a bullet or discharge a firearm

Light – cocaine, crack

Line – a drug-dealing operation or network

Link – contact, source for drugs

– make contact with, meet, collect

Lizzies – money

           – mobile phones

Loud  – cannabis

Lurk – stalk a victim, prowl around

M – murder

Machine – gun

Mac(k) – automatic firearm, Mac -9 or Mac-10 small machine gun

Mains – close companions

– streets, urban zone

Mash – gun

Matic – gun

Matrixed – placed on the London Met police gang database

Mazza, Mazzaleen – madness, crazy situation

Ments – mental, crazy

Milly – a 9mm pistol

Moist – disgusting, pathetic

– cowardly, weak, afraid

Monkey – £500

Mop – large gun

Move  – criminal operation, raid or attack

Nank – knife, stab

Nap nap – kidnap

Need – cannabis

Niff – cocaine

No face – masked, with identity concealed

OJ – ‘on job’, productive and successful in street activities

Old Bill – the police

On papers – on parole or probation

On road – outdoors, active in the streets/neighbourhood(s), eg engaged in selling drugs

On tag – fitted with an electronic surveillance device

On volts – intent on or engaged in violence

Ooters – shooters

Opps – enemies

Opp-block – enemy territory

OT – ‘out trapping’, ‘out there’ or ‘out of town’, away on business, dealing in urban or country locations

Ox – razor, blade

Pagan, paigon – untrustworthy person, enemy

Paper, papes – money, cash

Passa – dispute, dramatic event

Patch – territory

Pattern – arrange, sort out, set up

Patty – slow-witted, ‘clueless’ or deluded person

– (white) female

Pave – streets

Pay  – profitable activity, reward

Pebs, pebbles – pellets or deals of heroin, crack or steroids

Ped – moped

Pen – prison

Pepper – spray with shotgun pellets or bullets, shoot

Plot – plan, set up

– hang around

– conceal

Plug –  a contact for drugs

Plugging – hiding drugs in rectum

Poke  – stab

Pole – shotgun, gun

Popo – police

Posted up – hanging around, positioned to sell drugs

Pree – to check out, assess (a person)

Proper – excellent, admirable

Ps – money

Push, pusha – bicycle

Put in/on a spliff – killed

Rack – quantity of money, £1000

Rambo – large knife or machete

Rams, Ramsay – knife

Rep – promote or publicly declare for (one’s area, gang)

Ride out for (someone) – to defend, even if guilty

Riding dirty – going out armed and/or in possession of drugs

Rise – aim (a weapon)

Riz  – cigarette papers

Road – street-smart, active in street culture

Rotty – firearm

Rusty – antique or old firearm

Sam, sams – samurai sword or large knife

Score – kill or injure an enemy

Scoreboard, scorecard – list of enemies killed, injured or defeated

Scram – gun

Scrum – attractive female, sex

Shank – knife

Sh, shh – ‘don’t mention this’, censored item

Shaved – insulted, humiliated, punished

– stabbed

Sheets  – cigarette papers

Shoes – guns

Shot – buyer of drugs

Shotting  – dealing drugs

Shouts – greetings, acclaim

Skate, skeet – run away

Skeng – knife, gun, weapon

Skududu – rapid gunfire

Slammer – prison

Slatt – cry of affection, respect

Slew – ruin, defeat

Sliding – driving into enemy territory

Slime  – friend, associate

Smoke – kill

– disappear

– conflict, violence, hostility

Snitch – informer

Soak  – stab

Special K – ketamine

Spinner, spin-ting – revolver

Spinners – petite females

Spitting – rapping

Splash, splash up, splash down – stab

Squirt – spray acid (over someone)

Stacks – large quantities of money

Stain – rob

 – robbery victim

Stepping on toes – trespassing on or attacking enemy territory

Stick – gun

Sticky – dangerous

Stones – bullets, pellets of crack

Strally – gun

Strap – gun

Strip – area where drugs are traded

Swimming – stabbed

Swing – wield (a knife), stab

Sword – knife

Tan – turn red, stain with blood

Tapped  – tired, off-guard

Tec, tek, tekky – handgun, Tec-9 semi-automatic pistol

Ten toes – run away, escape, invade, on foot

Throwing up signs – making gang-related gestures with fingers

Ting – girl

– gun

Trap – neighbourhood, ‘ghetto’, area where drugs are sold, temporary location for dealing drugs

Trapping – hanging out, selling drugs or waiting for buyers to contact

Trey, tre – pistol

Tum-tum – gun

Tweed – cannabis

24s – all day

Wap – gun

Warhead – cigarette containing a drug

Wass – stupid person

Weston – handgun

Wetter(s) – knife

Wetting – stabbing, killing

Whip – car

– break down (a drug) into smaller parts

Wok, wok house – prison

Woosh – shoot

Worksy – busy, diligent

Yammed  – robbed

Yard – home

Yat – girl

Yay – crack

Yé – personal style, skill

Y.I.C – ‘youngest in charge’, young gang member taking or given responsibility

Yute – young person or young people on the street

Zombie  – zombie knife

Zoot – cannabis cigarette

I’m keen to add more authentic terms and for my list to be corrected or commented on by those in the know. I’m very grateful indeed to all those who have already contributed, in particular Josh Jolly,  Creative Director for PressPlay Media, Farhaz Janmohamed, George Baker and Nelson Bayomy and to the many students and Drill and Grime aficionados who have donated language.

You can find a dictionary of multi-ethnic London slang and other examples of so called MLE (Multicultural London English) here on my site. I have extensive files of youth language, available to researchers, journalists, etc. on request, and here are some more street slang terms from the UK Rap and Grime milieu, many also used by Drill aficionados:

https://genius.com/15983458

https://pigeonsandplanes.com/in-depth/2013/08/british-rap-slang/draw

And from the mouths of the Drillers themselves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnGZRWUHGh4

The only useful information on alleged links between drill and crime comes from commentators with a street-level perspective:

http://www.gal-dem.com/uk-drill-music-london-gang-violence/

https://pigeonsandplanes.com/in-depth/2018/01/uk-drill-sl-harlem-spartans-67-essay

Belatedly aware that Drill is worthy of attention (‘demonic’ was The Times‘ characterisation), the mainstream press began to investigate:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/drill-music-london-stabbings-shootings-rap-67-abra-cadabra-comment-government-a8305516.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/09/uk-drill-music-london-wave-violent-crime

One successful attempt to get inside the world of the gangs reveals the frustrations and futilities of life in ‘the bits’:

http://www.channel5.com/show/inside-the-gang/

As does this short film:

 

The lyrics to Ban Drill, essential reading/listening for anyone struggling to untangle the unresolved complexities of the issue are here:

https://beelyrics.net/music/12136-krept-konan/4628167-ban-drill-lyrics.html

And here, from Dazed magazine, is a small selection of some real peoples’ views (they resolutely absolve the music):

http://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/39960/1/knife-crime-young-people-east-london?utm_source=newzmate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dazed_daily

In June 2018 this important piece, from youth worker Ciaran Thapar in the New Statesman:

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music-theatre/2018/06/treating-drill-rappers-terrorists-colossal-mistake

Here are some examples of the music, with very strong language:

…Compare and contrast all this with Drill’s older brother, Grime, as testified by Jeffrey Boakye:

http://www.gal-dem.com/hold-tight-conversation-jeffrey-boakye/

…And here, also from June 2018, a timely review of all Black UK music genres from Yomi Adegoke:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/01/grime-afro-bashment-drill-how-black-british-music-became-more-fertile-than-ever

View at Medium.com

In October 2018, Channel 4 TV commissioned a music video in which drill music is combined with language used by British politicians:

https://www.channel4.com/news/what-do-drill-musicians-make-of-mps-violent-rhetoric-watch-the-music-video

Here is an update on the subject from the Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/06/dont-censor-drill-music-listen-skengdo-am

In July 2019, from the Telegraph;

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/07/11/youtube-will-keep-drill-rap-videos-platform-despite-links-gang/

And in August Irena Barker reported in the Guardian on a scheme using drill with a positive spin:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/aug/21/knife-crime-drill-music-tackle-gang-culture-young-people

More from Ciaran Thapar, also in the Guardian, on rappers OFB:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/06/uk-drill-rappers-ofb-no-one-helps-us-round-here-music-is-the-only-way?CMP=share_btn_tw

In October 2019 the slang words themselves were highlighted in the sentencing of a rapper:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7594837/Drill-rapper-banned-using-drug-related-slang-words-performing.html

In August 2020 Tortoise published a very detailed history of US Drill also by Ciaran Thapar, focusing on its Chicago origins:

https://members.tortoisemedia.com/2020/08/31/200831-drill-long-read/content.html#utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=drill-pain-music

In the same month Vice magazine printed an important review by Kamila Rymajdo of the prosecuting and criminalising of Drill and some of its adherents:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ayp5d/drill-lyrics-used-against-young-black-men-court-uk

In January 2021 Elliott Kime wrote in the Economist about UK Grime and Drill music as vehicles for exporting UK street language and slang:

https://www.economist.com/britain/2021/01/30/grime-and-uk-drill-are-exporting-multicultural-london-english?fbclid=IwAR2VaFkDOBEjH7NSypk0P80huvEKBcmtGvbv1zXobfzyHzRvRENcil-lPWE

And more on the cross-influences between UK and US Drill from Kit Mackintosh in August 2021:

What is This Music? “Drill Isn’t a Genre, It’s an Aesthetic Stance.”