Duh !!!
The Sydney Morning Herald
Music industry figures and legal experts have criticised a proposal floated by NSW Police that would effectively censor certain forms of hip-hop music in Australia.
AUSSIE DRILL PLAYLIST
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Monday, NSW Police acting assistant commissioner Jason Weinstein suggested police would contact streaming platforms and ask them to remove music police believe incites violence or criminal activity.
“Drill music and songs (in some cases) are being weaponised to basically inflame a conflict with another side,” Weinstein said.
“We don’t have the power to stop anything such as concerts or songs or what people post. So it goes back to the moderators like YouTube, Snapchat and those social media platforms.”
In response to questions regarding how authorities might determine which artists and songs would be targeted, NSW Police told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age: “We rely on the moderators of social media platforms to uphold their own policies around violent content; however, NSW Police will take action in relation to content that contains material inciting violence or criminal activity.”
It’s understood NSW Police won’t rely on any specific laws to force music to be taken down, but will instead communicate their requests to platforms directly.
The move to potentially censor drill music is the latest chapter in a complex history between authorities and hip-hop. Drill is a subgenre of hip-hop that rose out of the streets of Chicago in the late 2000s and is well-known for lyrical content that is violent, gritty and unflinching.
The genre has become synonymous with the so-called “postcode wars,” where rival groups from neighbouring suburbs trade insults over tracks. Police have claimed that lyrics that reference alleged crimes could incite violence and therefore pose a danger to the community.
Australian artists that have previously drawn the attention of NSW police include Ay Huncho and some members of OneFour. Ay Huncho (real name Ali Younes) is currently facing charges of affray, recklessly causing grievous bodily harm in company and assault with intent to participate in the activity of a criminal group. Huncho intends to defend the charges when he faces trial.
