Having been banned from performing in Sydney due to their alleged gang ties, and had some members periodically absent due to jail terms, Western Sydney rappers Onefour have had to overcome more obstacles than most. That they’ve managed to even release their debut album is something of a triumph. “I don’t know how we got here, but we got here,” Spencer “Spenny” Magalogo tells Apple Music. Long considered the pioneers of drill in Australia, Onefour’s debut album introduces more melodic elements (“Phone Call,” which incorporates Bob Marley’s “Is This Love”) while staying true to that foundational genre (“Movie”). Lyrically, the album is heavily autobiographical, whether calling back to Luxford Road in Mount Druitt where they were raised (“Luxford”) or reflecting on the complicated contrast between their upbringing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the violence of the street (“I was raised to be an angel but the streets made me a villain,” raps Salec “Lekks” Su’a in the title track). One prominent lyrical through line is each member’s journey since the group formed in 2014. “Used to meet with users on the corner now it’s label sit-downs up at Warner,” raps Jerome “J Emz” Misa in “Gang Ties.” On the title track, he says, “2016 I was chasing a cheque/Come ’24 and I’m taking a jet.” “Everything we speak about is just things we were going through during the time we were making the music,” says Spenny. “That’s it.” Here, Spenny, J Emz, and Dahcell “Celly” Ramos take Apple Music through Look at Me Now, track by track. “Change” (with Potter Payper) Celly: “Change, the word, already explains a lot. I feel like that’s what we’re trying to do with this album and some of these songs. Everyone shines on the track itself with their own paths, it just comes together. ‘Change’ just speaks for itself.” “Father’s Day” J Emz: “Musically, we’ve started listening to grime, so that was a style that we wanted to show our fanbase we can slide on. I feel like the name ‘Father’s Day’ speaks for itself—it was time to let people know where we were coming from on that track. I don’t really got to explain too much.” “Luxford” Spenny: “Luxford Road is a very famous street where we come from. We all come from different suburbs within Mount Druitt and Luxford Road was just one of those places we’d end up after parties. We’ve been going through that road all our lives, so it made sense to make a song about it.” “Gang Ties” (with Headie One) J Emz: “We definitely touch on our growth in that song. I feel like it also connects us with the street a bit too. Being able to get Headie One on that feature made the song what it is today. At the end of the day, gang ties or family ties, it’s the same shit. We’ve still got ties with what made us who we are and what we’ve had to experience. That’s what that song’s about.” “DND (Realest)” Celly: “This is the lifestyle we grew up in, how we are now. We’re not trying to portray something, this is it.” “Distant Strangers” (with The Kid LAROI, Imogen Heap) Spenny: “We had been on tour with LAROI. And conversations came about of him jumping on the album, and he was excited. He sent over the track with Imogen Heap on it already as a sample and we really loved it. It was meant to be for his upcoming album, but he said he felt like it would fit us, and he just sung the song and everyone did their thing on it.” “Phone Call” (with Mabel) J Emz: “At the end of the day, we go through our own shit behind the scenes that people don’t get to see, and relationships are a big thing within people’s lives. And us having to balance that on the street as well, you can get caught up. So we thought it came naturally to put that on a track.” “Bricks & Mortar” (with K-Trap) J Emz: “Before music, I dropped out of school and was a brickie’s laborer for a year, and it wasn’t it. The inspiration came from that. ‘Bricks & Mortar,’ I feel like it also has street ties with having to build things brick by brick.” “Movie” (with Abra Cadabra) J Emz: “Seeing Abra perform in the studio, the majority of that verse was one take, so just seeing him create and get into his space was very inspiring for me. It also touches on that old drill sound that we came up rapping on, it has that very UK-influenced drill sound.” “Blood in My Eyes” (with CG) J Emz: “That’s one of the more melodic type tracks we wanted to experiment on, with singing. Show a different side to us. It has the same subject that we portray throughout our music—blood in my eyes is an image that we portray when you’re seeing red and you can’t control your anger.” “Boss” Spenny: “It gives that final boss feel for me, it feels like a victory sound, especially when you hear the horns. That song was made two or three years ago, and it’s been in the vault. But it got to where it is now and it’s one of my favorite songs on the album.” “Family” Celly: “It’s everything we’ve gone through, coming from nothing, making something out of what we’ve got. I feel like it’s a championship kind of song. We’ve got each other and everything we’ve done and it’s time to take off.” “Look at Me Now” Spenny: “Our EP was Against All Odds [2020], and I feel like, with a lot of those obstacles that we had to get over, Look at Me Now is just like where we have come from. It made sense. When you listen to the song it gives that feel to the whole album.” Celly: “You’ve got one chance. It gives that feel and vibe, this is your chance. You’ve got one shot. Where we’re at now, look at me now, you’ve just got to run with it.” “Conditioned” J Emz: “We’re reflecting on where we started to where we are now. The title explains itself—having to be conditioned to the way we’ve had to live for the past few years and the things we’ve had to experience. Lekks’ verse at the end explains the religious ties that we’ve had growing up and a couple of things we’ve had to balance throughout our lives, a couple of the principles and morals we’ve had to live by and things we’ve had to put behind us. We really explain that perfectly on that track.” “Spinnin” (with Nemzzz) J Emz: “Originally, it wasn’t meant to make the album, but just because of how well the song has gone and the impact that it’s made, as well as having a feature with Nemzzz, it was only right to get him on the album. People love to hear that song so leaving it off wasn’t something we were going to do.”