One of the founding members of drill rap group OneFour has revealed he plans to leave the group.
Rapper Pio ‘YP’ Misa was sentenced to seven months in prison with four months non-parole on Thursday for his role in a violent street fight, meaning he will be eligible for release in January.
On sentencing his barrister Brian Royce told a Sydney court Misa had reengaged with his Christian faith and his beliefs don’t fit with his image as a OneFour member, the Daily Telegraph reported.
‘You can see from (the psychological) reports he’s matured … his Christian beliefs now set him in conflict with some of the messages that are in the lyrics of the band OneFour,’ Mr Royce said.
Jailed n rapper Pio ‘YP’ Misa (pictured) is leaving the drill rap group OneFour he co-founded almost a decade ago because it does not fit with his Christian beliefs
Among the band’s lyrics are those for the song The Message, was written after the stabbing death of Tino Henry in 2018 amid a so-called ‘postcode war’ brawl.
Nobody from OneFour had any involvement in Mr Henry’s death, but the song’s lyrics include the lines: ‘Retaliation is a must, ain’t no maybe ifs or buts/I got friends looking at 10/You watched yours get put in a box (put in a box).’
‘He now feels he’s internally in conflict … (between) growing his music career and his developing Christian beliefs,’ Mr Royce said.
‘He wants to lead a pro-social life and be involved in church activities.’
The barrister added to Misa wants to ‘completely walk away from the band’ he started in 2014.
The group, from Mount Druitt in western Sydney, feature in the documentary OneFour: Against All Odds, which was released on October 26 and covers their rise to fame and struggles to be allowed to perform live shows.
Misa was not at the launch of the film, though, as he was in jail on remand over the wild brawl in the north-western Sydney suburb of South Windsor in September.
Court documents said Misa beat the victim, Troy Camplin in a fight outside home on September 22.
Mr Camplin was knocked to the ground and hit his head, suffering a 2cm cut to the back of his skull which gushed blood over his neck and clothing.
Magistrate Leanne Robinson accepted the rapper reengaged with his church and had good prospects of rehabilitation.
In their Netflix documentary, OneFour were given glowing treatment, being praised by the likes of hip hop stars Skepta and The Kid Laroi.
But while the film touched on how Misa, Salec ‘Lekks’ Sua and Dahcell ‘Celly’ Ramos were all jailed over a violent attack on two men in a Rooty Hill pokies room back in July, 2018, it skipped over the severity of the assault.
In that assault, Misa pulled a chair leg out from underneath his clothes and struck one of the men three times, including twice in the head, while shocking footage showed Celly repeatedly strike the victim with a hammer and stomp on him, rendering him unconscious.
On Thursday, Misa (pictured) was sentenced to seven months in prison with four months non-parole for his role in a violent street fight, meaning he will be eligible for release in January
A court heard that a founding One Four member wants to ‘completely walk away from the band’ he started in 2014.
Lekks was jailed for at least four-and-a-half years, Celly – the hammer attacker – for a decade, and Misa for four for their roles in the bashing.
‘I did what I felt was right at the time,’ Misa said in the documentary.
‘It could’ve been a lot different, we could have gone and spoken to them but that was just the way we handled it, we didn’t know how to talk back then.’
While the documentary did air some of the CCTV from the brutal attack and mentioned the members had been jailed, the incident was quickly brushed over and the gruesome details of the bashing left out.
The film also failed to mention that Lekks, who never shows his face in public, was deported from after finishing his sentence due to his criminal record.
His visa was cancelled in June 2020 and he was deported to New Zealand last year after his non-parole period was completed.
Misa was released from prison in December 2022, before finding himself back behind bars again nine months later after the attack in South Windsor.
Members of OneFour are pictured at the premier of their Netflix documentary. Spenny, left, Celly, centre and J Emz, right. Misa was not at the launch as he was in jail on remand over the wild brawl in the north-western Sydney suburb of South Windsor in September