Skengdo x AM given suspended jail sentences for performing drill music in London

Both members of U.K. rap duo Skengdo x AM have been handed suspended prison sentences after pleading guilty to breaching an interim gang injunction, BBC News reports.

The Metropolitan Police stated that Skengdo, real name Terrell Doyley, and AM, Joshua Malinga, reportedly breached a pre-existing injunction by performing drill music. The pair were banned from performing the music by police in August 2018. They were sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended for two years, on January 18.

In a statement released alongside news of the sentencing, the Metropolitan Police said: “It was breached when they performed drill music that incited and encouraged violence against rival gang members and then posted it on social media.

"The court found the individuals were members of a gang and their activities, including, but not limited to, the production of drill music videos, could, and did, amount to gang-related violence and threats of violence under the Policing and Crime Act 2009."

The rapper's manager TK told Press Association that the duo are not involved in gang violence and stated that the footage on social media was both old and posted by a third party.

Skegdo x AM are one of a number of London-based artists who have been targeted by police for making drill. In May last year YouTube deleted a series of videos by rising drill artists following advice from the Met. Around the same time Commissioner Cressida Dick pointed to the music as partly fuelling a surge in murders and violent crime in the city.