I love a wide range of music and I enjoy the production and appreciate the vocal skills of the artist M1llionz on this track.
However the lyrics and the video promote crime in a way that I find interesting and concerning.
I think that this song and the accompanying video are to county lines what porn is to sex.
The video is an exciting, adult fairy story, where women, drugs and guns are depicted as narcissitically gratifying adornments to the artist's ego.
In reality in properties where significant quantities of drugs are processed, cut and packaged by women, the women working there are usually dressed in underwear, bikinis or even naked. This is so that they cannot wear wires or steal product. Women may endure intimate body searches before being permitted to leave.
So the video is kind of semi-accurate inasmuch as it shows scantilly clad women, but they seem less like oppressed (possibly trafficked) workers and more like the "Hip Hop Honeyz" girls found in various music videos.
The money and women and luxury are obtainable for a tiny minority of serious criminals, but most kids getting involved in country lines are in for a life of fear for themselves and their family, having to carry significant quantities of drugs around plugged inside their anuses (painful and risky), taking all the risks for none of the gain and living a short and utterly miserable life, inevitably leading to serious disfiguring injury, jail or death.
Then there is the issue of how the women are portrayed in the video, which is as body parts, window dressing and criminal assets.
I understand that new music is all about pushing boundaries and that the devil often has the best tunes. I appreciate that older generations have been offended and outraged by new art and music since the year dot.
I appreciate that kids don't want to listen to remixes of Kumbaya allday long.
I think that the relationship between criminality and music is complex and nuanced. Some music is very cautionary and depicts the harsh realities of living a criminal lifestyle. I very much appreciate music that addresses issues around crime and criminal exploitation.
I cannot help but wonder whether the promotion of tracks like this on the BBC (this track is heavily promoted on 1xtra at the moment) encourages kids to get involved in very serious criminal activity?
I believe that it serves as a kind of advertisment for kids to get involved in county lines.
If it were to be banned from radio stations it would only increase the media attention on the track.
I am just wondering about whether the BBC should be promoting this track so heavily?
I am just thinking aloud and wondering about the nuanced issues relating to organised crime in relation to music.
I don't really have an answer, just curious as to what others think
I would also be interested to hear of other examples of music that engages with crime in a critical or uncritical way.
Here's the M1llionz track (not for children)
M1LLIONZ - BANDO SPOT (OFFICIAL VIDEO)