YouTube’s new original documentary ‘Terms and Conditions’ isn’t about what you think
YouTube’s upcoming feature-length original isn’t about pages of legal documents but one of the UK’s most controversial underground music scenes.
This week YouTube releases it’s latest in it’s music themed original documentaries. The feature length ‘Terms and Conditions’ follows UK Drill with an intense look at the rap scene and it’s culture.
The film follows the people making the music that takes its roots from the offshoot of trap music that is imbued with natural, UK raw grit. Drill music is an export from Chicago that birthed in the early 2010s and has evolved into it’s own thing in London.
The UK’s branch of Drill is known for darker beats and often doesn’t use autotune which has become a staple of the genre in the US. The UK scene has also become embroiled in controversy and accusations of its links to crime and violence.
This controversy led to a protest outside of YouTube’s London headquarter by anti-knife crime activists. They felt sure that UK Drill was causing violence in the UK and were protesting for the platform to take down music videos.
YouTube refused however, with the UK managing director Ben McOwen Wilson saying: “While have some argued there is no place for drill music on YouTube, we believe we can help provide a place for those too often without a voice.” Now they’re releasing a feature-length, detailed documentary diving inside the scene that has caused issues even for them.
The documentary maker, BAFTA award-winning Brian Hill, says that “there are a lot of people at the BBC who are very nervous about the political situation” regarding the music scene. But ultimately said that making this original was freeing, with YouTube’s head of originals saying that, although they “treaded carefully”, they intend to be provocative.
This Wednesday, 26th YouTube will release ‘Terms and Conditions: A UK Drill Story’. It will go live on the urban music YouTube Channel ‘GRM Daily’ and follows rappers involved in the scene, police in the genre’s most popular areas, mothers whose sons have died due to violence, and local community leaders.