Mayor Eric Adams meets with drill rap artists after criticizing genre for its depiction of violence
NEW YORK -- Mayor Eric Adams met with drill rap artists Tuesday night after criticizing the music genre for contributing to the rising violence in the city.
But as CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas explains, the rappers and the mayor were able to come to an agreement.
Late Tuesday evening, drill rappers met with Adams, who has been critical of their music, saying it's causing a spike in violence.
But Brooklyn rapper Bleezy says the meeting was productive.
"We got a chance to speak to him as brothers, as we should, and we got a perfect understanding on what's going on," he said.
Drill rap came under renewed scrutiny after 18-year-old artist Jayquan McKenley's murder earlier this month, leading the mayor to call for the music's removal from social media.
"Violent people who are using drill rapping to post who they killed and then antagonize the people who they are going to kill is what the problem is," Adams said.
"People look at the videos or listen to the lyrics and stuff, it's going to be characterized as talking about guns, talking about money, talking about--" Cline-Thomas said.
"But that's just music, period, every genre," Bleezy said.
While Bleezy admits some artists go too far, Bleezy says he focuses on the hardships in Brownsville, adding addressing the real root violence goes well beyond any lyrics.
"The community, it's like, it's no hope. There's no opportunities at all," he said. "We're just making music so we can get out of these places."
The meeting with the mayor ended with a handshake, and the mayor added a new initiative in partnership with the rappers will be rolled out within days.
Adams admits to just learning about the genre of music from his son and said he was happy to speak to the various artists.
