‘You Can’t Ban a Genre’: Mayor Eric Adams’ Son, Rapper Jordan Coleman, Disagrees with Father’s Harsh Views on Drill Music
Sometimes parents just don’t understand, or so it seems for Jordan Coleman. The film employee for Roc Nation and son of New York City Mayor Eric Adams, drill music’s formidable opponent, recently explained that he doesn’t share his father’s views regarding the increasingly growing hip-hop subgenre.
Adams has not been mute about his ill feelings toward drill music. Earlier this year, the newly elected official declared war on the sound in a February press conference calling on social media for its erasure, citing its violent subject matter and glorification of weapons. Drill music, according to urbandictionary.com, is a subgenre of rap music that originated in Chicago in the late 2000s. It is sonically similar to the trap music subgenre.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 28: Mayor Eric Adams speaks at the Billie Holiday Theatre in Restoration Plaza on July 28, 2022 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn borough in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
In an interview with Complex, the 26-year-old filmmaker and up-and-coming rapper revealed he spoke to his father shortly after his appearance and told him: “Dad, you cannot speak for me. I have drill rappers on our label as clients, and I like drill music. You cannot ban a genre. And I’m not sure why you said what you said, but I disagree.” The filmmakers said Adams responded, “I understand what you’re saying, and you’re allowed to disagree. We come from different times.”
The entertainment veteran admitted that he understood his dad’s perspective, stating that it “makes sense” that the 61-year-old politician isn’t for “people who are committing crimes and then going and bragging about it on songs.” Still, he opposes the push to ban drill music.
Mayor Adams seemingly found some support for his take-down campaign by way of legendary hip-hop producer Pete Rock, who, in a since-deleted post, described the Chicago-born sound as “doo doo” and claimed that it somehow “disrupts the soul.”
“Drill rap! That’s trash hop not hip-hop I been told y’all about this kinda sh-t,” wrote Rock in the post, which included a clip of Adams’ press conference. “IDC call me what you want but that kinda hip-hop is doo doo and it disrupts the soul. I told y’all that already man lol smh. Nobody speaks up on this trash lol. … Drill rap not even for the birds or the streets its the result of greed, people with no talent, and the destruction of the culture,” the Bronx native continued.
The producer claimed “everyone complains but does not speak up and say a word,” and encouraged folks to “Talk about that smh.”