Unknown T, until recently one of the brightest prospects in the UK drill scene, has been cleared of murdering a university student at New Year’s Eve party in London.
The rapper, real name Daniel Lena, 20, had been accused of knifing Steve Narvaez-Jara, 20, in the heart at a house party near Old Street, Islington, in the early hours of 1 January 2018.
Mr Narvaez-Jara, an engineering student at the University of Hertfordshire, was dragged to the floor after Mohammed Musse – who was charged alongside Lena and another man, Ramani Boreland – allegedly tried to chat up a guest’s girlfriend.
A Snapchat video taken by a party-goer capturing the fatal attack, captioned “beef got crackin”, was played during the trial at the Old Bailey. It showed attackers wielding large wooden objects in the middle of a crowded room. A witness, who cannot be named, told the court that there were around 100 people at the party when the fight broke out, also involving a machete.
Lena rose to fame in the months following the murder with hit track Homerton B, one of the definitive tracks of the British rap subgenre UK drill. Its video has been viewed more than 20m times on YouTube, and he performed the track at London’s 20,000-capacity O2 Arena during a guest appearance at a Drake concert. He has also collaborated with Brit-nominated rapper AJ Tracey. Lena was arrested and charged with murder last July, days after performing at the Wireless festival in Finsbury Park.
Giving evidence, Lena had insisted he had nothing to do with Narvaez-Jara’s death, that he did not punch anyone and had no knowledge of anyone armed with a machete at the party.
Lena and Boreland were cleared of murder, but Boreland was convicted of manslaughter by a majority of 10 to two. Another man, Mohammed Musse, was convicted of violent disorder. Musse and Boreland will be sentenced at a later date.
In 2017, aged 17, Lena was cleared of hiding a 4mm revolver and ammunition under his bed after claiming the gun was foisted upon him by a stranger.
His murder charge made him the latest British rapper to be accused of knife-related crime in the recent past. Brit and Mercury-nominated rapper J Hus was sentenced to eight months in prison in 2018 for carrying a knife, while the most successful rapper from the drill scene, Headie One, is currently serving a six-month term for a similar offence. Loski, who had one of drill’s biggest hits with the track Forrest Gump, is currently on trial for allegedly carrying a loaded gun.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2018, Lena complained that the drill scene – long the subject of criticism in the media – was being unfairly attacked. “They don’t understand the reality,” he said. “It’s not about the music, it’s about what’s behind the music. You can’t blame the music, or say you’re giving a helping hand with no aid. They’re pointing the finger at us but forgetting there’s three fingers pointing back.”
