Secret drill rap threats Birmingham 9Boyz gang sent to Armed Response decoded at trial

Three people were shot at a wake in Handsworth in February 2023 in what is alleged to have been a targeted hit on Armed Response gangsters by rivals 9Boyz

Birmingham's 9Boyz gang made coded threats to shoot and stab members of rival group Armed Response in drill rap videos, a court heard. The rivalry was believed to have been responsible for a triple shooting at a wake for teenager Akeem Bailey at St Mary's Church in Handsworth on February 24 last year.

Alleged 9Boyz member Modou Leigh stands trial at Birmingham Crown Court denying three counts of attempted murder. Prosecutors have accused the 21-year-old, from Victoria Road, Aston of being behind the wheel of a Nissan Qashqai used in the drive-by shooting.

Yesterday, Wednesday, October 17, the jury was told Leigh also featured in the background of two 9Boyz drill rap videos titled 'Win' and 'Youngest in Charge', which goaded Armed Response. Both were shown to the court although there was nothing to suggest they directly related to the Handsworth shooting or that any of the vocalists were in any way involved.

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Pc Spencer Hunt, from West Midlands Police's organised crime and gang team, explained the genre of 'drill' music. He said: "It was first seen in about 2012. It came over from abroad.

"Drill music is a type of music used to aggravate rival gangs, to talk about what this gang is involved in, what the other gang is involved in, what they're going to do to that gang when they catch hold of them, the violence they used. The weapons they have possession of they can use if they catch hold of the gang."

He told the court that drill videos were typically uploaded to YouTube, shared on Snapchat and other social media as well as sent directly to rivals to 'aggravate' them. Pc Hunt explained that 'quality production' went into the videos from the likes of P110 and Mixtape Madness.

He confirmed when he arrested Leigh at his address in March 2023, that paused on his bedroom television was a YouTube drill rap video titled 'M to Da N' from Armed Response rapper 'Lynch', aka Reial Phillps, who is 'serving a 20-year sentence for numerous shootings'.

Pc Gareth Evans, who has specialised in urban street gangs since 2010, took to the stand to translate a 9Boyz drill video called 'Win', featuring rapper 'Screwface' whose real name is Khiani Pendley. He confirmed the gang often featured blue bandanas and made 'U' shapes with their hands. Pc Evans said: "It represents 'up top', the 'up top' area of Newtown, Great Hampton Row, associated with the 9Boyz and B19 postcode."

He said the chorus line 'swinging my Rambo at him and hope the shank goes in' was a reference to stabbing someone with a combat knife, while he said the line 'on my life we the guys that win' meant the 9Boyz were supposedly 'winning the beef' with Armed Response.

The video was paused for Pc Evans to describe a hand signal where the right hand was used to represent a gun while the fingers on the left hand made the number 18. He said the gesture expressed the intention to shoot Armed Response members who were affiliated to the B18 postcode areas of Winson Green and Hockley.

The line 'get around there and spill juice like Tango' was also said to be another reference to stabbing someone. Pc Evans said the track also contained coded threats to a gang named 'Bandits', who were said to be allies of Armed Response and linked to the B20 postcode areas of Handsworth Wood and Perry Barr.

Another line 'pop that smoke trying to burn that man to ash' was translated as an intention to shoot and kill someone. Pc Evans concluded 'Win' was a 'gang-related track affiliated with the overt conflict between 9Boyz and Armed Response'. He added the message from 9Boyz was: "Come and get us and we'll come and get you. It's a threat to them and mocking them."

The second track 'Youngest in Charge', featuring vocalists Screwface, Trills and YS, was then played to the jury. It similarly contained blue bandanas and the same sort of hand signals present in 'Win'. PC Evans said the line 'the beef can't end' was because the conflict had been going on 'for years, and years, and years' between the gangs.

He told the court the track described Birmingham as 'gun town' and spoke of 'drills in the day and dark', which he said referred to shooting people as opposed to rapping. Translating one particular line, he said: "He's saying his friend prefers a handgun but he prefers a 'dotty', which is a shotgun because when it sprays there's dots everywhere."

Another lyric played on the phrase 'Rest in Peace' to say ops (opposition) would 'rest in p***'. The video also featured Bowater House tower block in Hockley and St. George's Park in Newtown.

The court previously heard that Akeem Bailey, who was stabbed to death in October 2022, was not thought to be a gang member, but his older brother and others at his wake were believed to have been associated with Armed Response.

Proceeding.