Die Antwoord

[Cramulus]

Take a moment to reflect on what it's like to be sane. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Then watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbW9JqM7vho (NSFW for tits and dicks)


This group Die Antwoord (Afrikaans for "the answer") is a South African hip hop group. I think they're fucking intense. They're a concept hip-hop group as well as performance artists, so their videos are really dense - lots of stuff to unpack and absorb. One of the things that makes it so surreal (to me) is how foreign it is - they're making references to South African culture, which is alien to most of us.

This video's got about four million hits. I bet half a mil of that comes from my town - for a little while, we couldn't stop watching this shit. Every time I watch it I see something new. Evil Boy got some publicity on boingboing, and that launched these guys up to Int'l touring status. So I think you're probably going to hear more from them in the future.

There's a lot of stuff going on here -- how does it strike you?

[Suu]

They're fucking awesome. ZEF SIDE!

[Cramulus]

Evil Boy, the black kid (whose real name is Wanga) is basically trying to escape the local circumcision culture.

In the local tradition ----- In order to be a man, he has to go out into the bush with only a knife and a loin cloth, circumcise himself, heal, and then come back. Lots of people really screw up their dicks this way. It can get infected, or worse. In the local culture, they say that if you don't do that, you're gay. That's why his solo part is basically saying "I'm a man. I like women. My dick is clean. Fuck you all." I really dig the duality here - throughout the song, you see simultaneous images of childhood and savage adulthood. (pause and look at the graffiti -- there's usually something like "I love mommy" paired with "fuck you asshole".)

It's also kind of a comment on zef culture. I gather that "zef" is the south african equivalent of the UK's "chav", which is kind of like the US thug culture. They're expressing how it's all really cool and yet in some ways quite childish.

[Suu]

From what I understand about Zef, is that it's more a revival of the late 80s/early 90s hip hop culture as a fashion and music movement more than just being a ghettofab thug here stateside.

[Jenne]

Very cool.  This is the sort of stuff I get from listening to PRI's "The World" on NPR.  Thanks, Cram.

[East Coast Hustle]

HOW MANY TIMES ARE PEOPLE GOING TO COCK AND REPOST THIS?

DIE ANTWOORD IS SO 2006.

[Triple Zero]

THE ANSWER IS 2006 PEOPLE?

[Cain]

That's almost as many members as the So Solid Crew have.

[Jenne]

HOW MANY TIMES ARE PEOPLE GOING TO COCK AND REPOST THIS?

DIE ANTWOORD IS SO 2006.

AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES.  Plus, I've never heard it before.  Therefore, it's still USEFUL cock.  And repost.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

I.......



uh..




wow.

[Doktor Howl]

Take a moment to reflect on what it's like to be sane. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Then watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbW9JqM7vho (NSFW for tits and dicks)


This group Die Antwoord (Afrikaans for "the answer") is a South African hip hop group. I think they're fucking intense. They're a concept hip-hop group as well as performance artists, so their videos are really dense - lots of stuff to unpack and absorb. One of the things that makes it so surreal (to me) is how foreign it is - they're making references to South African culture, which is alien to most of us.

This video's got about four million hits. I bet half a mil of that comes from my town - for a little while, we couldn't stop watching this shit. Every time I watch it I see something new. Evil Boy got some publicity on boingboing, and that launched these guys up to Int'l touring status. So I think you're probably going to hear more from them in the future.

There's a lot of stuff going on here -- how does it strike you?

I just watched some of their stuff on youtube, whilst in the midst of a "bad music war".  The other team LOST, because Die Antwoord is fucking AMAZING.

[LMNO]

Yes.  They are.

[EK WAFFLR]

I love them.

[Reginald Ret]

I never responded to this?
I'm sorry Prof. Cramulus, you are the reason I got addicted to Die Antwoord.

Anyone who knows both dutch and english won't have many problems with Zuid Afrikaans, there are some grammar and spelling differences but nothing amazing.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I never responded to this?
I'm sorry Prof. Cramulus, you are the reason I got addicted to Die Antwoord.

Anyone who knows both dutch and english won't have many problems with Zuid Afrikaans, there are some grammar and spelling differences but nothing amazing.

Well that rules out all Americans.