THE GROWTH of knife and gun crime across England has jumpstarted a national conversation about what really is the root cause of this issue.
While some blame the lack of father figures and others look to the lack of protection and faith in the police, other contributing factors which people have discussed including the lack of youth clubs, funding, and the influence of popular culture and music - particularly grime and drill music.
Music's influence and its subsequent blame for violence is hardly anything in new. One can look back to the early noughties - i.e the the LA riots - and the numerous outlets and high profile figures (FBI Assistant Director Mitch Ahlerich, activist C. Delores Tucker etc) who placed the blame on 'gangster rap' at the time.
Gun and knife crime: Grime star @LethalBizzle [2] says ‘a lot of kids are living that life’ and it’s important to give the youth ‘something to live for’ pic.twitter.com/pBir83ZLV6 [3]
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) May 10, 2018 [4]
Fast forward to 2018 and we're seeing a similar demonisation of grime music and those making a direct correlation between this and the increase in youth violence, which according to rapper Lethal Bizzle, is not to blame for the rise in knife and gun crime in London.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain, the rapper shutdown claims that there was a connection between the popularity of grime and a rise in crime, saying: "there's a bigger agenda than just blaming the music because there's nothing that's going to change if we don't find the real solution."
Bizzle, real name Maxwell Owusu Ansah, added: "I think at this moment it's about trying to find a solution and not trying to find the blame because I feel like everyone's trying to blame everything and no one is trying to solve anything.
"I think everyone has to take a bit of responsibility, the government, themselves, the parents."
Police are investigating 60 alleged murders in London this year.
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