Controversial western Sydney drill rap group OneFour nominated for ARIA hip hop award

A rap group linked to street crime in western Sydney by NSW Police are expected to be invited to perform at this year’s ARIA Awards after they scored a nomination for a gong.

Controversial drill rap group OneFour are ARIA Awards debutantes, scoring their first nomination for Best Hip Hop/Rap Release with their single Comma’s.

The group gathered enough votes from the 1200-member academy to join this year’s most nominated artist Genesis Owusu, Kahukx, Kerser and Tkay Maidza & Flume as the contenders to take out the 2023 award.

It is likely they will also be asked by ARIA to participate in the 50 Years Of Hip Hop tribute planned for the Hordern Pavilion ceremony on November 15.

The nomination of OneFour’s track Comma’s, which peaked at No. 65 on the ARIA singles chart and has more than nine million Spotify streams and YouTube views, coincides with the upcoming premiere of a Netflix documentary film about the group.

@onefour

WHEN THEY SEE US. #FYP

♬ original sound - ONEFOUR

Sydney rap group OneFour. (L-R) Spenny, J Emz and Pio 'YP' Misa. Picture: Supplied.

ONEFOUR: Against All Odds will feature at the SXSW Sydney Screen festival which opens on October 15 and will be broadcast on Netflix later this year according to an announcement by the streamer.

“This documentary sheds light on a controversy still playing out today. On one side is arguably the most popular drill rap group in Australia, where music offers a path to redemption and a way to escape the street,” the announcement states.

“On the other, a specialist police task force working to prevent them from performing in the name of public safety.

“OneFour aren’t likely to show up on mainstream TV, but their music is a soundtrack for a vision of working class Australia that should be on screen.”

Three members of the rap group – Celly14 (aka Dahcell Ramos), YP (AKA Pio Misa) and Lekks (aka Salec Sua) – served prison sentences for charges stemming from a violent brawl at the Carousel Inn Hotel in Rooty Hill in western Sydney in July 2018.

OneFour posted their reunion with Ramos after his release from prison in June having served five years.

NSW Police cracked down on the broadcast of hip hop music at Royal Easter Show rides earlier this year as a safety measure following the horror fatal stabbing of a teen worker at the 2022 event.

Assistant Police Commissioner Stuart Smith said at the time of the crackdown that police had “all the evidence that we need to determine that rapper music is being used to lure youth into a life of crime”.

Police have stopped the group from performing at multiple events in recent years, including in March when they were stopped from walking out with Paulo Aokuso at an event in Qudos Bank Arena.

The rappers were forced to face a wall and searched by Raptor Squad officers, an action police defended.

“With any major event, NSW Police works closely with venues and event organisers to ensure the safety and security of attendees, the wider community, and the officers who are in attendance,” they said in a statement at the time.

Originally published as Controversial western Sydney drill rap group OneFour nominated for ARIA hip hop award