Drill Music Fuels Gang Violence in Glasgow
Young street gangs in Scotland are increasingly influenced by drill music, with a former hoodlum warning that the dark lyrics provide a 'manual to murder.' The warning comes after the Record reported on sinister clips showing the Kingsway Boys drill gang battling rivals in Glasgow, including areas where tragic schoolboy Amen Teklay lived.
Graeme Armstrong, who grew up in gangs in Airdrie and is now a published author, told the Record that London's drill music culture is giving troubled teens a manual to murder. He said: 'The message in drill music isn’t really social realism, it’s more like a manual to murder.'
Videos Show Weapons and Violence
Evidence relating to the Kingsway Boys was heard in court during the murder trial of Amen Teklay, who died after being stabbed through the heart with a sword in Glasgow in March 2025. Other videos show hooded youths chasing teens at a park near Kingsway flats, stomping on a grounded young man, and roaming a shopping centre in Clydebank looking for rivals. One profile shows a youth from gang HSB holding a large machete while sticking up his middle finger.
Amen had previously been recorded being chased by three masked boys with huge knives on Dumbarton Road. Other footage showed the 15-year-old being punched to the floor as he was cornered against a shop window on Great Western Road. Two youths cleared of his murder last week were linked to the Taking Care of Business (TCB) drill gang from Tollcross.
Drill Music's Origins and Influence
Drill music originated in Chicago before spreading to London around 2012. Lyrics often detail street life, drug dealing, and weapon use. Gangs use drill tracks and music videos to mock rivals, brag about stabbings, and escalate real-world tensions. Armstrong noted that Scotland always had territorial gang violence with knives, but drill music feeds into existing gangs: 'It is a change of uniform. It is there but it’s feeding into our existing gangs.'
Voices from the Streets
In a BBC documentary, Street Gangs, Armstrong met with three youths in a tunnel used for gang fights in Prestonpans. One said: 'Drill music has a big impact on every **** to be honest. It’s a bad influence at the end of the day.' Edinburgh drill artist YD added: 'I think violence is becoming more of a trend because it seems more cool to be violent for some reason.' Dundee rapper Eugene stated: 'Drill music 110 per cent. It’s the biggest influence on violence in the UK just now.'
