Music
Skengdo & AM, OFB, Kwengface and more join forces on a new UK drill album
The First Drill, curated by Pressplay, seeks to cement the UK drill scene as a movement to be taken seriously.
It's 2008. Skepta and Ghetts are clashing on Kiss FM. Estelle, Wiley, and Dizzee Rascal all have a foothold in the UK charts. For grime and UK rap, things seem bright. On a council estate in London, Danny Olkhovski, soon-to-be founder of Pressplay Media, grabs a camera and decides to film some friends of his rapping and post it online.
Danny on location shooting a music video with Q2Trappy
© Pressplay Media
A decade on, Pressplay is one of the UK's most successful online music video platforms showcasing the best of UK rap and drill -- it boasts almost half a million subscribers, and new uploads regularly clock up six-figure view counts. Independent YouTube channels such as Pressplay, Link Up TV, Mixtape Madness, SBTV, and GRM Daily have been indispensable to the establishment of the contemporary UK rap scene; publishing freestyle and professional music videos, exposing new talent, and coordinating exciting artist collaborations. These channels have helped propel UK rap from the shadows of inner-city streets to the spotlight of an international audience. YouTube itself is host to an extensive archive of some of the earliest recordings of artists who have gone on to become household names: Stormzy, Wiley, Little Simz, Dave, and more all came up, at least in part, via the site.
But when Danny officially launched his channel in 2012 he could never have envisioned the impact it would grow to have. “I started it because it was really just a hobby”, he says, “I didn’t really see it becoming a business, a massive platform. It just did!” Despite Pressplay’s unexpected success, Danny insists that the channel remains true to its original intent to “support the youth” and provide professional visual content and guidance to up-and-coming rappers. “Where I came from we didn't have much opportunities,” he explains, “but there was kids on my estate who were rapping [and] it just progressed from there.”
This month, Pressplay reaches a new milestone with the release of a 12-track drill compilation album called The First Drill and featuring some of the coldest MCs in the scene. The album includes link-ups with artists from all over the capital, with Zone 2’s Kwengface, Homerton’s V9, and OFB’s Double LZ all weighing in. The compilation is also, perhaps expectedly, backed by 12 new music videos which are being published online via Pressplay.
Self-taught Danny runs the channel with a team of just one other person -- filming, editing and uploading up to three videos a day. Investing in the project from their own pockets, the team put in significant work to get the platform off the ground. Using word of mouth and Facebook to find artists to promote in the early days, Danny spent his weeks bouncing between estates across London -- following a combination of advice and instinct. “Back then, it was more like a phone call. More trust. I would kind of just have to say, ‘Yeah sure, let's do it,’” Danny remembers.
I didn’t really see it becoming a business, a massive platform. It just did!
As the drill scene expanded and Pressplay became more established, choosing only the best and most promising talent has become fundamental to the approach. “Now, I do a lot of research. The scene has grown so big, there's new artists everyday,” Danny says, “I wouldn't just work with everyone now, I’ve got to pick the right person.” Through years of finding and working with emerging artists who later excel, Pressplay have earned a unique credibility without relying on work with big-name artists to legitimise their output.
Maintaining this high standard has been crucial for setting Pressplay apart, and contributing to the progression of the drill scene. Online channels like Pressplay act both as a gateway into the music industry and an amplifier of the cultural production of black and working class youngsters in Britain, giving many aspiring rappers the necessary exposure to kickstart their careers. Not only does Pressplay provide artists with visual content, but with connections to producers, graphic designers, and labels across the music industry. As Danny explains, many of the heavyweights in UK drill today -- such Brixton’s 67 crew, Skengdo & AM, and Headie One -- came through Pressplay and are now established, high-earning artists. More recently, the platform’s artist roster moved beyond UK borders to Ireland, linking up with Irish drillers such as Chuks, Rose9, JB2 (Mr Affiliate) and more.
“I helped a lot of artists; gave them free videos, showed them other ways into the music scene. I mean, some other platforms were charging artists ridiculous money to film a video, whereas I was just going to their estate to film it for free,” says Danny. Doing this meant making personal sacrifices, but for Danny this was all worth it. “The way [Pressplay] was run, it was almost more like a charity, ‘cos I wasn't making any real money. Just enough to keep going. My aim was more for the future, about what the industry could become.” As lockdown and social distancing regulations have made filming that bit harder, Pressplay has still found ways to keep costs low and its resources accessible -- even sending out cameras to artists, so they can film new videos at home by themselves.
My aim was more for the future, about what the industry could become.
While the sound of UK rap has changed over the years, Pressplay’s clear and defined purpose has allowed it to adapt to the flux and challenges the scene has faced. “The platform moved with the scene together. I was going from estate to estate filming music videos to help the young kids push their music,” -- there was no ulterior motive, says Danny. Over the last four years, drill has gradually become the defining sound of the UK streets and the platform now consistently produces and publishes more drill videos than its rival UK rap channels. Danny explains: “We was the only kind of channel that was pushing just drill music. That was our thing, kind of.”
Danny attributes Pressplay's success to its authenticity
© Pressplay Media
But for Pressplay, what lay ahead was unexpected -- as UK drill came under scrutiny from the police and the press for its violent narratives.
From its inception, UK rap has faced a battle against policing and state censorship. A recurring response to emerging, leftfield genres in Britain, the establishment has been known to challenge that which defies the status quo. Each with their own struggles -- from jazz, rock, and punk, through to garage and jungle -- the sounds of Britain’s black and working class communities have long faced criticism and repression. The proliferation of pirate radio in London and the UK was critical for the broadcast and development of grime, but stations were consistently raided and shut down by regulators. With the advent of digital media, the Metropolitan Police have shifted their effort to monitoring online content -- and honed in on the drill scene. Against the backdrop of rising rates of knife crime in London, the Met has deployed highly controversial ‘predictive policing instruments’ like the Gangs Matrix to police drill music and videos, as well as issuing artists with strict injunctions which limit their creative capacities.
“Our industry in the UK, especially the drill industry, was very urban, underground,” Danny says. “It was like the new age of punk music almost, it wasn't publicised or seen as commercial. We never had the limelight before, so we wouldn't have known how things would look when they did come into the commercial aspect of things.” Drill crew 1011 were banned from making music in 2018 and some of the artists on Pressplay’s upcoming compilation album are under police surveillance, having had their video content censored. The platform, which has been around throughout this difficult history, was directly affected last year when the Met forced YouTube to remove up to 30 drill videos which they argued were linked to knife crime.
Thinking back, Danny suggests “[the authorities] was just all looking at the negative side of it, tryna pick out what's bad about it. But now, [drill] is commercialised. It's still put down by the media sometimes, but I think a lot more good has come out of this industry.” Danny points to Pressplay’s new compilation as strong evidence of this.
Despite attempts to stifle its voice, the drill scene has overcome institutional barriers with remarkable ardour. The sound has picked up fans all over the world, and is now a product for export -- with its sharp, fast-paced instrumentals being reproduced and emulated internationally. The late Pop Smoke brought UK drill -- itself an evolution of the slower, warmer sounds of Chicago's drill scene -- back to the US streets, reformed. This kind of cross-border, back-and-forth evolution is somewhat unprecedented, largely thanks to the internet and creative channels like Pressplay. This success speaks to the immense power and grind of the UK drill scene, in spite of its sometimes controversial annotations.
Danny hopes his new compilation will stand to reflect the ongoing professionalism in the drill industry and the positive impacts the sound is having, noting the immense effort and expertise that goes into generating the reams of online content responsible for the scene’s growth. “[We want to] show that we are an established part of the [UK music] industry now,” he says. “We can take it worldwide and show everyone that we are a powerhouse, not just the drill scene but the entire UK music scene.”
