Pio Misa,better known as YP,was part of one of the biggest and most infamous rap groups in Australia.Credit:Nine News
As police held a press conference,announcing the arrest of the two alleged hitmen,Pio did something he hadn’t done since he was a child. He read the Bible.
“It was mixed emotions,” Misa says. “Upset was one of them. Obviously afraid for my life. Finding this new journey I felt like my life had just started,experiencing life through Christ,so witnessing that on the news,it was just a big wake-up call that my past is still there.”
Misa and OneFour burst onto the Australian music scene in 2019 with hit drill rap songThe Message. It clocked up millions of views on YouTube by highlighting the raw,and sometimes violent,nature of life in Mount Druitt,a suburb in Sydney’s west. Misa and the group quickly made a name for themselves for their gritty and provocative lyrics.
NSW Police have claimed OneFour’s music encourages violence,by referencing Sydney’s so-called “postcode wars” - making the then-teenager a lightning rod for debates over how to combat gang violence. The group have been prevented from playing shows in their hometown of Sydney,and around the country.
YP,pictured here in the music video for OneFour’s 2019 track In The Beginning,knew he needed to make a drastic change in his life after hearing about an alleged plot to murder him and other members of the rap group.Credit:OneFour
Misa himself spent two years in prison for a brawl at a pub in Rooty Hill,which he took part in alongside another OneFour member.
Now,speaking through tears,Misa says he felt remorse for his involvement in that kind of behaviour