West London rap group 1011 today find themselves subject to an unprecedented court order that now restricts them from creating music without obtaining allowance from police.
With the group's various visuals and freestyles on several platforms amounting to well over 10 million, defending their often violent lyrics as "online oneupmanship" — Micah Bedeau, 19, Yonas Girma, 21, Isaac Marshall, 18, Jordean Bedeau, 17, and Rhys Herbert, 17, were each imprisoned or detained for their role in a planned revenge attack on another gang last week. The judge also rejected claims that weapons found were in fact "props" for a music video.
Earlier in the summer, YouTube were ordered to haul down up to 30 music videos, following a request from the Met, with DCS Kevin Southworth sharing: "We believe this to be one of the first times, if not the first time, we have succeeded in gaining criminal behaviour orders that take such detailed and firm measures to restrict the actions of a gang who blatantly glorified violence through the music they created."
Not the first time a CBO has been issued against musicians in this country—previous orders have focused on banning visuals and/or banning problem individuals from locations.
Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of campaign group Index on Censorship, railed against the order: "This isn't going to address the issues that lead to the creation of this kind of music, nor should we be creating a precedent in which certain forms of art which include violent images or ideas are banned. We need to tackle actual violence, not ideas and opinions."
