The documentary ONEFOUR: Against All Odds is now available on Netflix. Throughout its hour and 20 minutes running time, it traces the meteoric rise of Australia’s first drill rap stars, defiant in the face of police’s efforts to stop them from performing. It is written and directed by Gabriel Gasparinatos.
A story about the first rap and drill music band to sing in Australian that caused controversy, public outrage due to its explicit lyrics. (For some reason it makes me think of The Beatles, back in their day).
ONEFOUR is a formed by J Emz, Spenny, YP, Lekks and Celly. Interviews with them are featured in the documentary, as well as archive footage.
It tells us of their backgrounds in Mount Druitt, a suburb in Western Sydney, and socially challenge area. These young men gravitated towards rap music, which they bumped into at a young age, and discovered their own talents in this music genre. Then they started to experiment with the genre called drill (a hip-hop sub-genre similar to trap music).
Inevitably the group’s music is influenced by the environment it found itself in, and Mount Druitt is, apparently, not the safest place on earth, hence the controversial lyrics.
There was one particular night that marked their path (short-term), when they got into a bar fight with a gang of angry men, and were thereafter arrested.
While waiting for their jail sentences to be determined their music became mega popular. They started to record in a professional recording music studio, and well, became bestselling songs in the music charts in the Antipodes.
Release Date
October 26, 2023
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