Talk: "[Dr]illing In The Name Of: the criminalisation of ONEFOUR" (17.11.2021, online)
Talk: "[Dr]illing In The Name Of: the criminalisation of ONEFOUR"
17.11.2021
online
The sprawling multicultural western suburbs of Australia’s largest city Sydney have become a fertile breeding-ground for a wave of drill artists. Hugely popular drill group ONEFOUR kicked off the western Sydney scene, with their local take on a style of UK drill, and other groups have emerged in their wake including Hooks, Youngn Lipz, and Hooligan Hefs, part of a scene that is dynamic and growing. Drill music is by nature transgressive and confronting to mainstream culture – it’s meant to be. However, its transgressive nature has also seen attempts to criminalise and regulate artists, just as have been seen in the UK. ONEFOUR have been subject to a variety control orders and cancelled events, not to mention prison terms for unrelated crimes. Moreover, mainstream media frequently represent drill musicians as criminals, their cultural and religious backgrounds are invariably mentioned in reportage. Groups like ONEFOUR challenge the stereotypes of the western suburbs as a cultural wasteland, yet they are also criminalised and ethnicised.
This paper is a piece of co-produced research – a collaboration between academics of different disciplines and practitioners – and seeks to foreground the lived experience of drill artists. It also provides an example of the criminalisation of drill music from outside the UK and the USA, and one that is rooted in an experience that is specific to people of Pacific Islander background living western Sydney.