Drill artist, Incognito was stabbed to death, and two others injured, in a stabbing in south London, in the same street where a 17-year-old was shot and killed in May. Police identified the man by his stage name Incognito, otherwise known as 23-year-old Siddique Kamara, was murdered on Warham Street, Southwark, just feet away, from where his friend and fellow rapper Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton was blatantly murdered in May.
On Wednesday, at around 7.20pm officers, along with London’s Air Ambulance Service, were called to Warham Street in Camberwell, where all three men were discovered. The Metropolitan police have said that they are awaiting an update on the conditions of the other two men, aged 16 and 31, who suffered serious stab wounds and where rushed to hospital. Officers have informed the deceased man’s next-of-kin and have arrested two men, aged 18 and 19, close to the scene of the crime on suspicion of murder, both remain in custody.
A Metropolitan police spokeswoman, said: “Despite the best efforts of medical staff, one of the men, died at the scene. Officers are in the process of informing his next-of-kin. The two other males have been taken to hospital where we await updates on their conditions. A crime scene is in place. Two men were arrested close to the scene on suspicion of murder. They remain in police custody.”
Drill, which originated in Chicago, has been criticised by police for its violent lyrics and the Met successfully applied a ban, to some groups, from performing on YouTube amid fears they are inflaming gang tensions. According to the Evening Standard “Detectives are investigating if the latest attack is part of an escalating gang feud in south London.”
A family friend told the Standard that “He was like a son to me. I heard shouting and came down and saw him lying on the floor stabbed. His mother was in shock last night I still can’t believe it. These boys never think of the mother’s pain that is left behind.”
Both Kamara, dad to a four-year-old daughter and the youngest of three siblings, and Barton, were members of the Moscow17 drill rap outfit, who have appeared on Radio 1 and Capitol Xtra DJ Time Westwood’s YouTube channel. The group’s music label wrote on Twitter: “Today we have taken a very sad loss in our member @SK017_/Incognito, we ask for all prayers to be directed towards him and his family.”
Kamara, in June, was interviewed about the influence of drill music on violence on London’s streets and admitted it is leading to violence – but said that young people in deprived areas of London have nothing else to turn to.
He said: “People want to use it as an excuse now. The government can’t solve the problem. They could bring out youth clubs, you could invest into many other things to help the community, but no you just don’t want to do that – you want to use an excuse and blame drill.”
The rapper and a co-defendant, appeared at the Old Baily in January, were both were being accused of murdering a gang member of an alleged rival. They were alleged to have executed Abdirahman Mohamed, for apparently laughing at one of their friends. Kamara claimed he had been deliberately misidentified and both were found not guilty.
