Photo via Rolling Stone/Sacha Lecca. Taken at Cash Cobain’s “Slizzyfest”
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Throughout music history, New York City has been a breeding ground for innovative, unique sounds. The diversity and urban design of New York City enabled a unique way of life for African Americans, one unseen in any other great American city, which led to the genesis of many renowned genres, including Jazz, Soul, and Rap. While New York City is known as the birthplace of these genres, it is also recognized for fostering the creation of subgenres within already established genres, most notably within the genre of rap. Over time, New York City has cultivated many unique sounds within the genre, such as gangsta rap, pop rap, and most recently, drill rap.
New York drill began gaining traction around early 2022, with artists such as Pop Smoke, Sleepy Hallow, and the “41” collective (Jenn Carter, Kyle Rich, TaTa) gaining steadfast popularity in New York City online spaces. At this time, drill rap was characterised by its aggressive lyrics, which often followed themes of street life, gang culture, and violence. Many of the prominent artists at this time, such as the 41 collective, were minors, which led them to cultivate a fan base of New York City teens aged 14-18. The prominence of this music among such a young age group heightened tensions within the city, both online and in person. These drill rappers often had rivalries with competing artists and frequently made threats and jeers towards them in their songs.
On July 9th, 2022, Ethan Reyes, better known in drill spaces as Notti Osama, was fatally stabbed at the 137th Street-City College subway station in Manhattan during a brawl with a member of an opposing gang. It wasn’t long after his death that Jenn Carter and Kyle Rich created a musical excerpt called “Notti Bop,” which poked fun at the deceased rapper, featuring a dance on social media where users of their audio mimic his death by stabbing their hips. Ethan Reyes was only 16 years old when he met his untimely fate; however, this did not stop rival rappers from capitalizing on his death. This was a common phenomenon in drill rap, as the overall themes of the genre leave little room for sympathy regarding the deaths of competitors.
This type of aggressive, intemperate drill rap began to trickle down in popularity around 2024, as a shift occurred within the genre. A new subgroup of drill music emerged in Brooklyn and the Bronx, known as Sexy Drill. Spearheaded by rappers such as Cash Cobain, Chow Lee, and Lonny Love, Sexy Drill abandoned the unpleasant themes of gang and street life, focusing instead on women, money, and having a good time. These pioneers opted for a sound that better resembled Pop, R&B, and Jersey Club music, rather than the gritty, trap sound that previously dominated the genre, with samples of established artists such as Kut Klose, Aaron Hall, and Chris Brown. This more mellow, fun style of drill has taken New York City by storm in the past year, catalyzed by Cash Cobain, a Bronx-born drill producer who some credit with helping to create this new sound. In 2024, Cash Cobain released “Dunk Contest” on streaming platforms, where he mentions various girls and makes teasing plays on their names. Shortly after this release, the sexy drill genre took off.
In an interview with Complex, Cobain was asked why he thinks his new genre of drill has gained such popularity with young New Yorkers, to which the rapper replied, “We’re gutter, we’re street, but we also wanna have a good time… we don’t wanna be on kill time all the time, we wanna be fly.” This mindset of prioritizing fun and aesthetics and no longer letting one’s “streetness” be the focal point of their career has deeply resonated with New York City teenagers.
In 2024, when the Sexy Drill movement took off, we, as a nation, were dealing with a harsh political climate, with the Presidential Election causing a stark divide among citizens. This turmoil has caused young people nationwide to feel uneasy about what the future holds. In New York City, residents are taught from a young age to have a strong sense of self and pride. Until recently, young New Yorkers have emulated that pride through turf wars and violence, which they were taught by the music they listened to. Now, with the overwhelming growth of Sexy Drill music, NYC teenagers are willing to abandon their violent ways of life, for one that allows for more fun and leisure, whether that leisure be clothing, women, or partying. It’s important that in political climates such as the one we’re experiencing now, we allow ourselves to express a certain amount of hedonism, prioritizing fun and self-expression, rather than violence and tension, as New York City teens have been taught to do.
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This article was edited by Nicholas Meetze.
Atacus Jarrett 
Eloisa Harper 
Andrea Lizeth Dominguez