28-01-2024, 02:17 PM
I'm not a fan of their music but this seems excessive
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-67364463
"We're not a gang. We're a music group," J Emz says, unflinchingly.
"We're a business."
The question I've asked J Emz - does OneFour have gang links? - has long stalked the group.
To fans, the rappers are pioneers: five Sāmoan-Australians from one of Sydney's poorest postcodes who have used their explosive sound to give voice to millions of marginalised young people.
But to police, OneFour is a threat to community safety, to be managed and contained.
For years, they have blocked the group from performing at home by arguing their music incites violence - triggering a complex debate about art and censorship.
OneFour is made up of J Emz (Jerome Misa), 25; his brother Pio "YP" Misa, 22; Spencer "Spenny" Magalogo, 25; Salec "Lekks" Su'a, 27; and Dahcell "Celly" Ramos, 28.
They are the undisputed faces of Australian drill music - a subversive style of hip-hop that tells unfiltered stories of crime, poverty and social dislocation by people who have lived it.
Their songs have accrued more than 150 million streams and focus on their experiences growing up in Mount Druitt, a Sydney suburb which has long been the subject of stories about struggle and unemployment, not art.
But it's a melting pot of diverse communities, littered with family-run businesses, busy churches and mosques.
In the track's video, dozens of young Pasifika men rally around OneFour at Mount Druitt's courthouse. Smoke billows as lyrics like "retaliation is a must, ain't no maybes, ifs or buts" slap in time to the beat.
But one now-infamous line also caught the attention of police: "21 what, but one got knocked, ha! I guess that makes them 20."
Police said it referenced the recent murder of a 21 District member and argued that OneFour's lyrics were inciting violence.
The group was soon being monitored by two elite police units - Strike Force Raptor, created to hunt underground criminal networks, and Strike Force Imbara, which investigates gang feuds.
"I'm going to use everything in my power to make your life miserable, until you stop doing what you're doing," Sergeant Nathan Trueman from Raptor told the ABC in 2019, in a recorded voice memo addressed to the rappers.
A years-long campaign to block OneFour from performing has followed, leading to the cancellation of a national tour, repeated raids on the artists' homes, and pressure on streaming services to shun their tracks."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-67364463
"We're not a gang. We're a music group," J Emz says, unflinchingly.
"We're a business."
The question I've asked J Emz - does OneFour have gang links? - has long stalked the group.
To fans, the rappers are pioneers: five Sāmoan-Australians from one of Sydney's poorest postcodes who have used their explosive sound to give voice to millions of marginalised young people.
But to police, OneFour is a threat to community safety, to be managed and contained.
For years, they have blocked the group from performing at home by arguing their music incites violence - triggering a complex debate about art and censorship.
OneFour is made up of J Emz (Jerome Misa), 25; his brother Pio "YP" Misa, 22; Spencer "Spenny" Magalogo, 25; Salec "Lekks" Su'a, 27; and Dahcell "Celly" Ramos, 28.
They are the undisputed faces of Australian drill music - a subversive style of hip-hop that tells unfiltered stories of crime, poverty and social dislocation by people who have lived it.
Their songs have accrued more than 150 million streams and focus on their experiences growing up in Mount Druitt, a Sydney suburb which has long been the subject of stories about struggle and unemployment, not art.
But it's a melting pot of diverse communities, littered with family-run businesses, busy churches and mosques.
In the track's video, dozens of young Pasifika men rally around OneFour at Mount Druitt's courthouse. Smoke billows as lyrics like "retaliation is a must, ain't no maybes, ifs or buts" slap in time to the beat.
But one now-infamous line also caught the attention of police: "21 what, but one got knocked, ha! I guess that makes them 20."
Police said it referenced the recent murder of a 21 District member and argued that OneFour's lyrics were inciting violence.
The group was soon being monitored by two elite police units - Strike Force Raptor, created to hunt underground criminal networks, and Strike Force Imbara, which investigates gang feuds.
"I'm going to use everything in my power to make your life miserable, until you stop doing what you're doing," Sergeant Nathan Trueman from Raptor told the ABC in 2019, in a recorded voice memo addressed to the rappers.
A years-long campaign to block OneFour from performing has followed, leading to the cancellation of a national tour, repeated raids on the artists' homes, and pressure on streaming services to shun their tracks."
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)