After a surge of gang-related violence was linked to Drill music, New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams took a hard position against the genre.
In a recent interview, Mayor Adams told the public about his plans to do away with the savageness of the music. He also said it is not without pushback – including his own family.
Jordan Coleman, the son of the second-Black Mayor of the Big Apple, gave a reality check to pops, saying, “you can’t ban a genre of music.”
The 26-year-old, who works with drill rappers at Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, had some words for his own dad during an interview with Complex.
“Coming out saying that the drill scene is going to be banned is outrageous because you can’t ban a genre of music — any kind of genre of music,” Jordan Coleman said.
During the Mayor’s press conference, he told the media his son shared drill songs with him and explained the basic themes of the rap style.
The New York Post says in text messages between Mayor Eric Adams and his son about the topic, the son checked his dad for talking about Drill music in an unflattering way.
Coleman said, “Dad, you cannot speak for me. I have Drill rappers on our label as clients, and I like Drill music. You cannot ban a genre. And I’m not sure why you said what you said, but I disagree.”
Still, Mayor Eric Adams is adamant that he has to do something, responding, ‘I understand what you’re saying, and you’re allowed to disagree. We come from different times.”
As reported by AllHipHop.com, the Mayor has been concerned with stopping gang violence by addressing the music that made rappers like Pop Smoke, Fivio Foreign, Sheff G, and Rah Swish popping.
In February, he challenged social media companies to step in. He told them, “You have a civic and corporate responsibility.”
“We pulled Trump off Twitter because of what he was spewing. Yet we are allowing music [with] displaying of guns, violence. We allow this to stay on the sites,” Mayor Adams said.
Coleman, though they disagree, understands why his dad is locked in on Drill rap.
“He has to understand that it’s a style people choose,” Coleman said. “There’s abstract art where people will throw paint on a canvas and then call it abstract. And then there’s mumble rap, and there’s other subgenres within Hip-Hop. His version of Hip-Hop was a little bit different from what my version of Hip-Hop is today.”
“As Mayor of any city, you want your city to be safe, and you want people to have a good time in your city. You want people to come there, not to kill people, but to spend money and to enjoy themselves and create memories,” Coleman added.
“So, I think his focus was on the social media companies to not promote the bragging of killing one another.”