As the UK tour by Peckham gangsta rapper Giggs is cancelled due to police intervention, let's compare the amount of people that Operation Trident has prevented from shooting each other with the amount of people they've stopped from going to a club night.
Since Trident's inception in 1998, gun crime in the UK has risen by 89%, with London bearing the brunt of these sad figures. I think it's time to say that no matter how many Lethal Bizzle concerts are cancelled, the policy of banning rap shows is simply not working and so maybe it's time to start thinking differently.
Firstly, you can see why police don't like Giggs and why they contacted XL Records to tell them not to sign him. He's one of the UK's few genuine gangsta rappers, having served two years in jail on firearms offences. On his debut single, Don't Go There, Giggs raps about leaving a life of crime but that he's still prepared to murder somebody with a gun, should the need be.
He runs with a crew from Peckham called SN1 (Spare No One) and the boys in his videos wear black bandanas. His slo-mo raps wouldn't sound out of place on an early Mobb Deep album and, gangsta-wise, he's pretty authentic. When he raps, "Walk in the party sportin' Armani/Half the crowd be snortin' my Charlie", Giggs sounds like he knows what he's talking about.
Last year, the top decks of London buses were filled with the sound of mobile phones blasting out his hit Talking the Hardest. From the playgrounds of Peckham to the west London offices of Richard Russell and the BBC Top Tips 2010, Giggs has really started to attract attention by virtue of being a stand-out rap talent. Black kids like to listen to him because he reminds them of their older, tougher brothers while thirty-something white people like me admire Gigs for his raw storytelling (it makes me feel tough). Even the Observer's Paul Morley is raving about it, despite Giggs's use of the word "faggot".
So wouldn't it be better if Operation Trident invited Giggs to do an anti-gun concert? Or signed him up to tell people not to shoot each other? Right now, I can't think of a better spokesman against gun crime than somebody like Giggs, because kids are listening to him. Rather than shutting down his concerts, Operation Trident should sponsor them. They'd probably be able to pull in a few overdue-warrants as well on the way, I imagine.
