Vobyadisebea

Like the rappers who shaped the Chicago and English drill scene, 22Gz, Sheff G and their peers used the realities of the criminal cultures around them to create extremely relevant, instinctive music that was deeply connected to their neighborhoods. And just like in Chicago, the whole scene was steeped in the constant conflict and deep animosity inherent in rival gangs.

The only difference was that the beats kept coming in from London. AXL Beats wasn't the only foreign beatmaker who helped shape Brooklyn's new sound: compatriots 808 Melo, Yoz Beats, Swirv and Yamaica also caught fire for supplying those dark but energetic beats to New York rappers.

808 Melo, the London-based producer of one of the big UK-drill hits, Headie One's "Know Better," connected with the Brooklyn scene thanks to Sheff G. Naturally, it happened via YouTube: Melo uploaded an instrumental called "Sheff G type beat" to the site; he heard it, downloaded and recorded the song "Panic Part 3," featuring Sleepy Hallow and Fresh G

Where did the drill come from and how did it come back to the U.S. by way of England

"Drill music came from a culture of violence in Chicago. Drill is gangsta rap. It's not unlike late '80s N.W.A," says DJ L, a Chicago producer who was directly involved in creating drills with Young Chop and other beatmakers.

The word "drill" in Chicago slang meant "kill," a subgenre originally formed around a mentality, not a particular sound. "This music came from gang culture. Drill is the soundtrack of violence, street gangs and urban neighborhood life," Chicago producer Chase Davis said.

Since the 2010s, Chicago Drill has had a vast influence on the industry. Even today we can see a new generation of rappers and producers who are inspired by Chief Keef and the rest of the Chicago scene.

One of Keef's wannabes is a young producer from London named AXL Beats. Like other UK beatmakers, he used elements of the Chicago sound and made changes to the style, adding a catchy and now famous "sliding bass" to it. UK-drill itself evolved in South London in the early to mid-2010s as local producers experimented with local genres such as grime and gerage, trying to tweak them to fit the American sound. Over the years, rappers Headie One, DigDat, K-Trap and Loski, as well as producers MK The Plug, M1 on the Beat and Ghosty, made their mark on the local scene by redefining what their own drawl could sound like.

AXL says he didn't pay much attention to the UK drill scene and was focused on what was happening in Chicago. He calls himself a big Chief Keef fan and says he listened to Fredo Santana, G Herbos, Young Pappy. But while he was inspired by the Chicago scene, his first American collaborator was found farther east, in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2016, young Brooklyn rapper 22Gz found an AXL Beats beat on YouTube called "Hop Out drill type beat." Inspired by the production, he recorded the track "Suburban," considered by many to be the most important track of the early days of Brooklyn drills. Its primitive and aggressive energy laid the groundwork for what this subgenre would become later on.