The Economist - USA (2020-09-05)

TheEconomistSeptember 5th 2020 71

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wo cars, one silverand one black,
pulledupina busyshoppingstreetin
theGoldCoast,Chicago’sglitziestneigh-
bourhood,oneafternoonlastmonth.Four
passengers,weaponsdrawn,steppedbe-
tweenshoppersandfiredoffa hailofbul-
lets.Theirtargetwasachubbymanina
blue tracksuit who stood outside a luxury-
goods boutique. The 26-year-old slumped
to the ground as shop windows shattered
behind; his two companions were wound-
ed. Passers-by filmed the aftermath of the
shooting, posting footage online as he lay
dying in the road.
The murder was unusual. Gun deaths
have surged of late: by the end of August
500 killings had been counted in Chicago,
as many this year already as in all of 2019.
Overwhelmingly these occur when gang
members intrude on each other’s turf in
troubled districts on the South or West
sides. Bullets rarely fly in Gold Coast. For
participants in gang conflict, excursions to
such wealthy, central places had previously
seemed relatively safe.
Nor was the victim run-of-the-mill.
Carlton Weekly was a minor celebrity who
performed drill, a form of rap music that

aroseinChicagoa decadeagoandbecame

popular in London, New York and beyond.

Performing under the moniker FBG Duck,

his tracks were ominous, repetitive and

catchy; his last music video, “Dead

Bitches”, released in July, has 11m views on

YouTube. As with many drill videos, the

star posed in a shadowy room, flanked by

gun-toting friends, smoking joints while

waving wads of cash.

Some speculate FBG Duck was killed for

the music, as that last song was a “diss

track”. His lyrics crudely celebrated the

murders of several members of an infa-

mous Chicago gang, the Black Disciples. In-

sulting other rappers—and the gangs they

associate with—is not new, nor unique to

drill. It is a means to digital notoriety,

though it may invite a bloody response.

Such musical clashes online are amplified

by bloggers who relish details of these ver-

bal conflicts because they mirror real-

worldgangconfrontations.FBG Duck had

abusedothersinsongforyears, beginning

withinsultsofChiefKeef(pictured), an

earlystarofthedrillscene.

Socialmediaprobablyhelped cause FBG

Duck’sdeath.Chicago’smayor, Lori Light-

foot,suggestedhisenemiesmonitored his

postsonFacebookashecarelessly bragged

tofansabouthisshoppingsprees. Rivals

routinely“lurkon”others—studying their

social-media feeds and hoping, in the

wordsofgangsterrappers,to“catch opps

lacking”.Thatmeansgettinga chance to

shootorhumiliatea rival,forexample by

forcinghim,oncamera,todiss his own

gangorfellowrappers.

ForyearspoliceinChicago have said

this online sparring, often expressed

through music, spurs deadly violence.

Confirming that is hard. How could anyone

prove FBG Duck’s songs directly led to his

death, asks Forrest Stuart, an ethnographer

at Stanford University who embedded with

drill rappers on Chicago’s South Side for

over 18 months. The musician had ties with

the Tooka gang, an outfit linked to the

Gangster Disciples, which has long vied

with the Black Disciples. His elder brother,

another drill rapper who worked as FBG

Brick, and a cousin were shot dead on the

same day in 2017. As a rapper he was a

tempting target, but he would have been

one anyway, even without uttering a word.

Mr Stuart’s recent book, “Ballad of the

Bullet”, is an often gripping account of

what he learned from his association with

teenage members of an up-and-coming

drill group—he dubs them the Corner

Violenceandmusic

Drillingdown

Adecadeafterthebirthofdrillmusic,anethnographerunpicksitsties
togangviolenceinChicago

Ballad of the Bullet: Gangs, Drill Music

and the Power of Online Infamy.By

Forrest Stuart. Princeton University Press;

288 pages; $27.95 and £22

Books & arts

72 Johnson:Transcription

73 Thelivesofants

73 A portraitofAbeShinzo

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