Drill is a subset of hip-hop music, originating in the streets of Chicago around the early 2010s. Drill began to be regularly connected to the perennial problem of inner city violence. (Lynes and Kelly, 2020) Essentially, the word “drill” itself relates to the slang definition of killing or retaliating.
Brooklyn Drill is a subgenre of drill music and takes many influences from Chicago Drill and UK Drill. The main characteristics that make a drill track quite distinct are its excessive use of 808 drum machines. The 808 bassline is what makes a drill beat. Drill producers also commonly use manipulated vocal/instrumental samples as the main melody line in most songs. And most importantly, most flows in drill are found to be delivered in a “deadpan, almost monotone vocal style that evokes the emotionally draining atmosphere of their environment.” (Masterclass, 2021) This creates a unique arrangement within the vocals and the beat itself resulting in a much darker atmosphere; which most drill tracks are made to produce.
Drill has grown from its origins in Chicago, taking stage in Brooklyn, New York, neighbourhoods in the UK such as Brixton, and now many other countries are starting to produce their own drill beats with their own cultures.
Pop Smoke was one of many popular drill artists, specifically in Brooklyn, Pop Smoke started a bigger drill movement, quickly gaining mass popularity around the world. With hits such as “Welcome to the Party” and “Dior”, Pop had helped reinvigorate interest in New York hip-hop overall. (Pitchfork, 2020)
“Dior” is one of the most well known drill tracks in the world and I will analyse its instrumentation. Produced on FL Studio by British producer 808 Melo, he begins with a “dark violin sample” he found online and manipulated this sample. He “sliced it, reversed it, and chopped it up” through the sampler plugin, SliceX (The Making Of Pop Smoke’s “Dior” With 808 Melo | Deconstructed, 2020). “Dior” has much more rhythmic drum patterns for the kick, snare, and hi-hats. They include space in between each hit to allow for adlibs to be put in and hi-hat rolls are very common, not just in drill but in most trap/hip-hop music. This creates a certain pace within the song that allows drill fans to dance to it rather than just rap along. The 808s are employed into the song along with a slide effect, which 808 Melo mentions “this is what makes a UK drill beat”, and are also changing within their corresponding sections of the song. Many sound effects, such as chirp sounds, money machine sounds, and vox sounds, are used in this song to give variation to the song. Throughout the song you can also hear many orchestral instruments such as pianos, violins, and strings, again giving the song variation.
As mentioned before, many of these elements are found in many other Brooklyn drill tracks and you may also find that they reside in the 60-70 bpm tempo.
References:
MasterClass (2021) Guide to Drill Music: History and characteristics of Drill Music – 2022, MasterClass. Available at: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/drill-music-guide (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
Lynes, A. and Kelly, C. (2020) “Thug Life: Drill Music as a periscope into urban violence in the consumer age,” The British Journal of Criminology, 60(5), pp. 1201–1219. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaa011.
The Making Of Pop Smoke’s “Dior” With 808 Melo | Deconstructed (2020) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo1ieawmCzU (Accessed: November 22, 2022).
Pitchfork (2020) Pop Smoke’s legacy and the sound of brooklyn rap, Pitchfork. Pitchfork. Available at: https://pitchfork.com/features/podcast/pop-smokes-legacy-and-the-sound-of-brooklyn-rap/ (Accessed: November 22, 2022).