Insight into the ongoing battle between Australia's Drill rappers and the police.
13 December 2019, Australia's most prominent Drill group ‘One Four’ was on the cusp of their first national tour. In the same month, two of the four artists in the group were sentenced to jail, the group's manager was prohibited from any form of interaction with these members after their tour was shut down, due to concerns raised about public safety.
The results of the culmination and out-of-the-ordinary work by the NSW police.
One Four has been releasing music for the past 12 months since 2019, amassing 27 million views on youtube and obtaining over 30 million streams on Spotify internationally.
The group consists of four members: Spenny, YP, J-emz, and Lekks. A show of Nike tracksuits, with Louis Vuitton bags, demonstrates a lush lifestyle for the achievements of these rappers. Balaclavas are also worn by two of the group members, not for the portrayal aim of crime and violence but instead, as stated in one of the most infamous songs, ‘Spot the Difference’ ‘Why do you think our faces are hidden? The gang's on strict conditions.’
Sergeant Nathan Trueman created controversy by stating there won't be any performing in front of any Australian fans for time to come, “I'm going to use everything in my power to make your life miserable until you stop doing what you're doing” (Trueman 2019). Ever since the group's upbringing, Sargent Trumena has been instrumental in the operation against the group, he has gone through the effort of requesting all streaming services being taken down from on fours music on platforms such as Spotify and SoundCloud.
Triple j's music director, Richard Kingsmill, was confused with the unprecedented situation, discussing how he didn't believe that Australian artists deserved any cancellation of tours simply for speaking about their childhood seeings and voicing of their lifestyles that appear to be deteriorated by police.
“To see this sort of legislation sought to be applied in circumstances like this with a group of people want to come together to play music, that is a perversion of the original intention of the legislation,"
Numerous crimes have been committed by One Four, so an understanding of a moral outcry is relevant, although to attempt to diminish a group's music or the voice of their upbringings isn't rewardable.