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They were Pio “YP” Misa, Dahcell “Celly” Ramos and Salec “Lekks” Su’a. All three have since served their sentences, but Su’a was deported to New Zealand after being released.
“We always think of it like that: it’s half in, half out, and if it doesn’t go ahead, we won’t be surprised, but for now, we are very excited to debut this new lineup and take OneFour back to the fans,” Jerome Misa said.
OneFour originally comprised five members – Jerome Misa, Pio Misa, Su’a, Ramos and Spencer “Spenny” Magalogo – but it has recently undergone a lineup change.
Pio Misa left the group earlier this year after becoming ordained as a Christian priest, while Su’a remains part of the group despite his deportation in January. At RISING, Jerome Misa will take to the stage alongside Ramos and Magalogo.
Despite the group’s concerns, Fox is confident the OneFour show will go ahead as planned.
“We’re not worried about it at all. The last few shows have been incident-free, and we have engaged with VicPol [Victoria Police] as a matter of course; they’ve been supportive,” she said.
NSW police arrest a man (left) in January over an alleged plot to kill members of the rap group OneFour (right).Credit: NSW Police, supplied
“There are no restrictions on the gig at all, no user pays police (where officers are hired to police a private event), nothing like that; we just gave them a heads-up as we would with lots of our events.”
The addition of OneFour to the RISING festival comes after a rocky few months for the drill crew. Earlier this year, NSW Police charged two men over an alleged plot to kill four members of the group.
“I didn’t have much prior knowledge of that situation. I just woke up and saw it on the news, and then we heard from the police,” Misa said. “But over our career, we have had many adversaries trying to take us down, so it felt like nothing new to us.”
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RISING, a festival that spans everything from dance to theatre, live music, performance art and installations, is funded by the Victorian government through Creative Victoria and Visit Victoria. Fox said stakeholders had no issues with including OneFour on the bill despite the controversy that surrounds the group.
“RISING is not just polite entertainment, so we’re used to explaining to stakeholders why an act is important, but we’ve had no blowback regarding OneFour before the announcement,” she said.
In addition to OneFour, RISING boasts an impressive lineup comprising more than 400 artists performing over 16 nights, covering three weekends. Also set to appear is Fever Ray, the solo project of Sweden’s Karin Dreijer, of The Knife, and Melbourne icons The Dirty Three in their first home-town shows in 14 years.
For the members of OneFour, performing at RISING presents the chance to refresh after years of lost momentum as a result of police intervention and the jail terms for three members.
“This is our first show of the year, and I’m confident it will go ahead,” Misa said.
“We have been working on an album for three years, and we keep pushing it back because of these setbacks, but it will drop this year, so fans will finally get a full album from OneFour.”
Find more of the author’s work here. Email him at thomas.mitchell@smh.com.au or follow him on Instagram at @thomasalexandermitchell and on Twitter @_thmitchell.
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