Hotline
Telegram
Facebook
Messenger
OneFour: Against All Odds
OneFour: Against All Odds
- Time: 82 minutes
- Director: Gabriel Gasparinatos
- Country: Australia
- Categories: Criminal Document
- Release: 2023
- IMDB: 6.7/10
- Actor: The Kid Laroi
- Tags: Movies OneFour: Against All Odds
About OneFour: Against All Odds
Onefour (stylised in all caps: ONEFOUR) are an Australian drill and rap group originating from the Western Sydney suburb of Mount Druitt. They are regarded by many as the pioneers of drill music in Australia, following a run of viral singles in 2019. The group has five core members: J Emz, Spenny, YP, Lekks and Celly.
The group’s debut album Against All Odds, released in November 2020, peaked at #7 on the ARIA Charts (Australia) and #8 in New Zealand.
Name and history
All five core members grew up in Mount Druitt, one of the most disadvantaged suburbs in Sydney. The members all knew each other from young at their schools and from their local church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Onefour all still identify as Mormons, and are all of Samoan descent.
Onefour’s name has been reported to derive from a local street gang called NF14; however, the group members say that it is from the year they started working as a hip hop group together, in 2014.
The group’s rivalry with 21District (a group from Parramatta) plays a big role in the lyrics of the group’s music. The rivalry between the two groups applies to a greater crime and gang war between the Greater West suburbs of Sydney and the Inner West suburbs of Sydney, a feud that stemmed back to the 1990s.
Band members
As of November 2023, the band members are:
J Emz (born Jerome Misa) – vocals (2017–present)
Pio “Y” Misa – vocals (2019–present)
Spencer “Spenny” Magalogo – vocals (2017–present)
Dahcell “Celly” Ramos – vocals (2017–2018, 2023-present)
Salec “Lekks” Su’a – vocals (2017–present)
Their manager is Ricky Simandjuntak.
Music
Onefour have been labelled Australia’s first drill rappers, with a sound heavily derivative of UK drill music, with the group incorporating UK drill’s production style. However, they have a unique sound, which represents a Western Sydney subculture where young men are “lads”, “earchers” or “eshays”. Onefour were the first Islanders in this subculture to rap in an Australian accent.
Their original singles “The Message” and “Spot the Difference” had a UK-inspired production and lyric style (influenced by group Harlem Spartans), but with an Australian accent.[citation needed] “The Message” includes a line that references the stabbing death of Tino Henry, a member of 21 District, as well as other lyrics mentioning retaliation and the use of knives.
However they rarely perform live (8 shows in the 6 years preceding November 2023), which they blame on intervention by police. After their music had started to take off, they were booked as the supporting act for UK rapper Dave in Sydney and Melbourne on his tour of Australia in 2019. However, after the venues were performed about the potential risks of violence with 21 Districts by police, they cancelled the acts. Later in the year, the band announced their first headline tour playing in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, and Auckland. All venues cancelled apart from Auckland, and Spenny was the only member to perform there; YP, Celly, and Lekks were not allowed to leave the country owing to upcoming court appearances, and J Emz was denied entry to New Zealand on arrival because of his criminal history.
In May 2022, The Kid Laroi called them onto the stage, unannounced, in front of a crowd of 20,000 in Sydney – Onefour’s first performance in two and a half years. They performed at the 2023 Listen Out festival.
Popularity and recognition
The video for their single “In the Beginning” achieved one million views on YouTube in 48 hours, and became the group’s first single to chart, debuting at number 39 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
Netflix released a documentary about the group on 27 October 2023, titled ONEFOUR: Against All Odds, written and directed by Gabriel Gasparinatos.The film premiered at SXSW Sydney, where there was an increased police presence, including undercover officers and metal detectors.
As of November 2023 Onefour has around 730,300 monthly listeners on Spotify, 318,000 subscribers on YouTube, and their music videos have been viewed millions of times. This makes them one of the biggest hip hop groups in the country.
