Image via Salim Adam for adidas London
20 year old rapper Unknown T from Hackney, also known also known as Daniel Lena was recently cleared of murder at Old Bailey in London.
Unknown T’s entry into the music scene was very promising. His hit Homerton B not only put Homerton on the map, but sonically stood out in the Drill scene. This single broke mainstream official charts and the video has over 20million views on youtube. He also had recently signed a contract with Universal Music Group, as well as appearance at major festival such as Wireless and performing at London’s 20,000-capacity O2 Arena during a guest appearance at a Drake concert. With follow up tunes such as Throwback and features on songs such as Medusa the artist demonstrated how musically dynamic and diverse his art could be, and many believed that he could be one of the few Drill artist to break into mainstream Hip Hop and Pop culture.
However his career was brought to holt after being accused of murder Steve Narvaez -Jara. In Old street, Islington on 1st of January 2018 Steven Narvaez - Jara an engineering student at Hertfordshire University, was murdered at a house party. Subsequently Mohammed Musse along with Lena and Ramani Boreland were charged with murder.
The incident was allegedly initiated by a dispute over a girl. A snapchat video was played during the trial. It was captioned “beef got crackin", the video depicts attackers holding large wooden objects in a densely packed room. A witness said that there around 100 people in room when a fight broke out also involving a machete. Lena in defence of himself emphasized he was unaware of anyone being armed at party, and that he did not attack or punch anyone. Apparently the fight broke out between Mohammed Musse, who apparently was drunk and acting disorderly, and Steve. After chaos erupted at the party apparently Steve slipped and fell to floor and was hit by wooden sticks and stabbed with a Machete however the fatal wound was caused by a knife. He died of a stab wound to the heart however it is unconfirmed who his killer is.
While Musse and Boreland will be sentenced at a later date. Lena and Boreland was cleared of murder, however boreland was convicted of manslaughter by majority. Another man, Mohammed Musse, was convicted of violent disorder. Lena was also cleared of hiding a 4mm revolver and ammunition under his bed in 2017 at age 17, claiming the weapon was imposed on him by a stranger.
The question that this raises is what implications does this have the UK music scene. With rappers such as Loski on trial for carrying a hand gun, Headie one serving a sixth month sentence, and J Hus being sentenced to eight months in prison 2018 for carrying a knife. Many feel that UK Rappers are being unfairly targeted. The media and Metropolitan Police recently has had a clamp down on genres such as UK Drill and have been removing videos from platforms such as youtube
Speaking to the Guardian in 2018, Lena complained that the drill scene – long the subject of criticism in the media – was being unfairly attacked. “They don’t understand the reality,” he said. “It’s not about the music, it’s about what’s behind the music. You can’t blame the music, or say you’re giving a helping hand with no aid. They’re pointing the finger at us but forgetting there’s three fingers pointing back.”
This raises issues of public expression and freedom of speech, and who is really entitled to such liberties. Whether this is down to racial profiling or classism, as a large demographic involved in UK Rap scene are black or different ethnic minorities, it still important to note that on the other side speaking about one’s harsh reality in music can raise attention from police and media if it implicates you in crimes. Whether you were involved or not or simply a bystander or have changed your way of life, speaking your truth can get unwanted attention and this one of the risks many rappers UK Rappers facetoday. As for rapper Unknown T with him being cleared of charges and out on bail he has a promising career a head of him as he is talented artist that bring allot of originality to UK Drill genre, however he will need to put in work to regain his position in UK music scene, although the publicity this trial gained him could work in his favour and aid in his progress.
