Ethics Untangled
Ethics Untangled is a series of conversations about the ethical issues that affect all of us, with academics who have spent some time thinking about them. It is brought to you by the IDEA Centre, a specialist unit for teaching, research, training and consultancy in Applied Ethics at the University of Leeds.
Find out more about IDEA, including our Masters programmes in Healthcare Ethics and Applied and Professional Ethics, our PhDs and our consultancy services, here:
ahc.leeds.ac.uk/ethics
Ethics Untangled is edited by Mark Smith at Leeds Media Services.
Music is by Kate Wood.
Ethics Untangled
56. Does drill rap cause violence? With Tareeq Jalloh
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In this episode, we’re diving into the ethics of drill rap - a genre that has been celebrated for its creativity and authenticity but also heavily criticised for its alleged links to violence. Drill is often portrayed as uniquely dangerous, and some have called for it to be censored. Philosopher, and Beacon Junior Research Fellow at University College Oxford, Tareeq Jalloh, joins me to get underneath the discourse around drill. We discuss what the evidence shows about drill's supposed role as a cause of violence, as well as the wider social and racial dimensions of the controversy. Together, we’ll ask what’s really at stake when society debates the ethics of drill.
Tareeq's paper on the subject is here:
T. Jalloh, “ Does Drill Rap Cause Violence, and, Even if it Does, Should it Be Censored?,” Philosophy & Public Affairs (2026): 1–13, https://doi.org/10.1111/papa.70015.
Ethics Untangled is produced by IDEA, The Ethics Centre at the University of Leeds.
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