UK Drill music has rapidly become a dominant genre within Britain and beyond. Within less than five years we've been able to watch upcoming street artists go from rags to riches as the youth, the media, and the record labels all turned their attention to the new and authentic sound of Britain's streets. As a result, the genre in many ways has broken free from the limitations of low budgets and little exposure, and quickly evolved into a glossy, well-funded, mainstream experience.
It's no longer uncommon for UK Drill artists to reach six and seven figure Youtube views, with the top tier boasting hundreds of millions of views on their personal channels, let alone the millions of views they've attracted on other music channels. This high level of success sometimes causes us listeners to forget, or purposely overlook the harsh realities many of these artists have lived through and overcome in order to reach the heights they are currently at.
Tottenham-based collective OFB (Original Farm Boys, based on Tottenham's Broadwater Farm Estate) recently released a song titled "Can't Be Us". It's a diss track aimed towards long time street rivals in Edmonton Green (often referred to as "N9" due to the local postcode), with many direct shots aimed at Tion Wayne who is the biggest artist to come out of Edmonton, as well as one of the most successful UK Drill artists to ever pick up a mic. The song peaked at number 30 in the UK charts and quickly prompted a response from Tion, complete with feature from UK Drill royalty, Unknown T.
WAR: Decades In The Making
While many of us will find the musical back and forth entertaining, we must remain
gravely aware of how this could get out of hand, potentially resulting in the death or imprisonment of our cherished and internationally renowned UK drill stars.
Another thing to take into account is that while the most successful artists can better avoid the street warfare, the majority of the people involved in this ongoing war have less protection and less to lose. While song lyrics aren't as likely to cause Headie One or Tion Wayne to throw away their hard-earned careers, there's no doubt individuals who are still deeply entrenched in the road life won't take insults so lightly, especially when being taunted for not avenging themselves and their dead friends.
Tension between Tottenham and Edmonton has existed for the better part of 2 decades. Since the mid-noughties both sides have been actively attacking each other, resulting in a long list of violent tit-for-tat incidences, ranging from mass brawls to murders by stabbing and shooting. Both sides have taken steep losses, whether by death or imprisonment. The pain and trauma they've inflicted upon one another has only been compounded by decades of neglect and systemic racism from local authorities, generational poverty, and inescapable high crime rates.
Gang culture and criminal activity within Tottenham and Edmonton existed long before OFB vs N9. In order to gain a better understanding of where both sides currently stand and why, let's first look back to where they derived from.
Origins of OFB
Tottenham ManDem
OFB's origins can be traced all the way back to the early 80's when a group called the Tottenham ManDem (TMD) formed on the Broadwater Farm Estate. During this era, Broadwater Farm was one of the most dangerous estates in London and was heavily policed.
Tensions between the local community and the Metropolitan police came to a boiling point in 1985, triggered by the death of a 49 year old black woman named Cynthia Jarrett. Jarrett died from a heart attack as her home was raided by the police, after her son was falsely arrested for theft and assault (he was later acquitted of both charges).This sparked the Broadwater Farm Riots. During the unrest, police officers were shot at, and an officer named PC Keith Blakelock was murdered as a group set upon him with knives and machetes. It is widely alleged that a 14 year old Mark Lambie took part in killing PC Blakelock, some claiming he attempted to completely decapitate the officer, although he was never convicted due to lack of evidence.
Lambie was a member of TMD, later becoming the leader and one of Britain's most
notorious gangsters. He survived multiple attempts on his life and beat several serious criminal cases, sparking rumours that he practiced voodoo for protection. He was also known as "Obeah Man" and "Devil Man". Lambie was eventually sentenced to 12 years imprisonment in 2002 for kidnap and torture, alongside another notorious crime boss named Anthony "Blue" Bourne. We'll revisit that name later.
Here's 2 mins of footage from the Broadwater Farm Estate Riots:
Star Gang
Another gang based on Broadwater Farm Estate was an offshoot of the Tottenham ManDem called Star Gang. Early day supporters of Headie One and RV will know that this was the gang they represented before the formation of OFB. Star Gang were also the first to incorporate the red bandanas that are now synonymous with OFB, along with another Tottenham gang called the Bloodstarz.
They released Road Rap music as UK Drill did not exist yet, and collaborated with
members of the Northumberland Park Killers (NPK), another Tottenham based gang that emerged from TMD. Star Gang and NPK have been natural on and off allies in the war against gang members from Edmonton Green (Lower Edmonton, N9) and Wood Green, who are also allied.
A high-ranking and now immortalised member of Star Gang is the late Mark Duggan, also known as "Starrish Mark". (Mark Duggan is the father of popular OFB rapper Bandokay.)
On 4 August 2011 an unarmed Mark Duggan was shot and killed by police in Tottenham, subsequently leading to riots. This time the riots were not contained to just Tottenham, and spread throughout the entire country like wildfire.
Original Farm Boys
OFB is now the dominant gang from Broadwater Farm, emerging from Star Gang, and has been mainly led (at least on the music front) by Headie One and RV. 
Many younger members have released music under the OFB banner, benefitting from the momentum created largely by the infamous duo. While OFB is now a valuable brand within the music industry, it is clear that the group are not yet completely clear from their ties to the streets.
In early January 2020, Headie One was arrested and sentenced to six months in 
prison after police found a lock-knife in his car. Due to his background, the unfortunate truth is that if it were his opps that caught him in traffic, rather than police, he would likely need a weapon to stand a chance at defending himself. That's the regrettable reality of most gang-related UK Drill artists.
Origins of N9
Although Tion Wayne is very much a standalone artist, no longer collaborating with N9 members as much as one time, he's never stopped repping "The 9" in his music. Very much like the gangs of Tottenham, the prominent gangs under the N9 banner can be traced back to one original dominant set.
Edmonton ManDem
Edmonton's first predominantly black gang developed in the mid-90s, and was widely known as the Edmonton ManDem (EMD). EMD also went by the names Edmonton Firm and The Firm. This gang was well known for their heavy involvement with drugs and guns. The most prominent leader of EMD was a man named Anthony "Blue" Bourne. This is the same Blue that would go on to be imprisoned alongside Tottenham's Mark Lambie for kidnap and torture.
Though it may be hard to see now, Tottenham, Edmonton and Wood Green were once all united.
They all did business together and their common enemy at the time was chiefly the Hackney ManDem (HMD), and it's offshoot the London Field Boys (LFB).
The unification of the North London gangs placed a lot of pressure on the police 
and played a significant role in prompting the formation of Operation Trident. EMD and TMD were undisputedly the largest predominantly black gangs in North London.
Shankstarz
After the fall of Anthony "Blue" Bourne, The Firm began to fragment into individual offshoot gangs in the early 2000's. During this period, Edmonton began to be known as Shanktown due to its ominous reputation for knife crime. By the mid-noughties a gang had formed in Lower Edmonton called the Shankstarz.
Check out this 20 second clip from Tion Wayne's 2015 Westwood Crib Session, where he raps "Don't be fooled, I'm a Shankstar":
In 2005, four Shankstar members attacked and stabbed an NPK member in Edmonton. This led to a series of get-back attacks that are still going on till this day. During that same year Tottenham's Star Gang and the Wood Green Mob (WGM) were also actively going at it. There was an eight week period in which 20 violent incidences were linked to the war between Tottenham and Wood Green, including a shooting on the Broadwater Farm Estate and a hit-and-run in Wood Green.
N9
In the early 2010's, Tion Wayne appeared on the music scene proudly
reppin N9. Over the years, many sets have fallen under the N9 umbrella, such as Dem Africans (DA), 9Boys and 3x3 (aka AFG/AfghanO). Now when N9 is referred to, people are generally talking about Tion's generation, with 3x3 being the main set of the younger generation. While these sets may not share the same gang names and don't always get along, they have at least two things in common: their postcode and their enemies.
Red Light, Green Light:
Will These Games prove to be deadly?
