Ballad of the Bullet

Gangs, Drill Music, and the Power of Online Infamy

By: Forrest Stuart

Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon

Amid increasing hardship and limited employment options, poor urban youth are developing creative online strategies to make ends meet. Using such social media platforms as YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, they're capitalizing on the public's fascination with the ghetto and gang violence. But with what consequences? Ballad of the Bullet follows the Corner Boys, a group of 30 or so young men on Chicago's South Side who have hitched their dreams of success to the creation of "drill music" (slang for "shooting music"). Drillers disseminate this competitive genre of hyperviolent, hyperlocal, DIY-style gangsta rap digitally, hoping to amass millions of clicks, views, and followers - and a ticket out of poverty. But in this perverse system of benefits, where online popularity can convert into offline rewards, the risks can be too great.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork and countless interviews compiled from daily, close interactions with the Corner Boys, as well as time spent with their families, friends, music producers, and followers, Forrest Stuart looks at the lives and motivations of these young men. While these virtual displays of ghetto authenticity can lead to online notoriety and actual resources, drillers frequently end up behind bars, seriously injured, or dead.

©2020 Princeton University Press (P)2020 Tantor

Much needed reality

Much needed information to identify and bring structure to an aspect of inner city life. This can go a long way to establishing policies gear for prevention but also building this form art form of music.

Utterly impressive

The writing is captivating and the story itself is remarkable. Stuart displays a level of both courage and empathy that is lacking from academia. This work is powerful precisely because of Stuart's clear devotion not only to the subject at hand but to the individual young men of whom he writes.