Does Drill Rap Cause Violence, and, Even if it Does, Should it Be Censored?

ABSTRACT The critique that rap causes violence (causal claim) goes back as far as the 1980s, but today drill rappers are having their freedoms restricted based on instances of a causal claim. Police in the UK regularly remove drill videos from social media and streaming platforms, and drillers are being restricted from making music and associating with people via criminal behavior orders based on the claim that drill music causes serious violence. If this causal claim is true, it provides potential grounds for such restrictions on drillers. This paper argues against censoring drill on the assumption that it causes violence for three reasons. First, even according to the most charitable rendition of the causal claim, there is insufficient evidence to support it. Second, there are less speech‐restrictive and more effective approaches to violence reduction than censorship‐oriented approaches. Third, critics should not be advancing the causal claim due to its racist public meaning.