DRILL RAPPER Unknown T has been charged with murder following the fatal stabbing of a man in London.
The 19-year-old, who shot to fame with his single Homerton B, is being charged in connection with the death of 20-year-old Steven Narvaez-Jara.
Narvaez-Jara was stabbed at a party in Islington in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2018. He was the first stabbing victim of 2018.
Police were called to the scene, near Old Street tube station, on Monday, January 1.
Narvaez-Jara was pronounced dead at the scene.
In addition to the murder charge, Unknown T, whose real name is Daniel Lena, has also been charged with violent disorder.
Two other men have also been charged in connection with the murder investigation.
In June, BBC 1Xtra announced that Unknown T was one of the artists on its Ibiza 2019 line up.
He is currently still listed on the website as one of the artists due to perform at Ibiza Rocks on August 3.
Drill music has been criticised for its graphic violent lyrical content and visuals.
The Metropolitan Police have cracked down on the genre, which it says incites violence and glamourises murder and stabbings.
The Met has requested YouTube remove dozens of drill music videos from its platform. In some cases, young people have been banned from making drill music.
Rappers Skengdo and AM were each given a nine month sentence suspended for two years for performing their song Attempted 1.0 at a show in London in December.
Last month, Krept and Konan launched a petition calling for the Crown Prosecution Service to stop the police from banning the genre.
“Young people don’t get into serious crime lightly. They do so because of serious social problems. The decline of community policing and the impoverishment of resources has led to a vacuum of authority on oppressive inner-city estates. Alongside real urban poverty, there is a lawlessness and a fear. That is what’s driving the escalation of violence on London’s streets. The soundtrack is irrelevant,” Krept and Konan wrote.
They added: “Banning Drill or any type of art is problematic for a number of reasons. It deprives already disenfranchised young people of a voice, it reflects moral cowardice for failing to look straight-on at the reality of marginalised groups on inner-city estates, and it won’t tackle issues caused by poverty, racism, and classism.”
Less than 5,000 people have signed the petition.
Read every story in our hardcopy newspaper for free by downloading the app.