Entertainment

South African rave-rap group Die Antwoord are a lot more than they appear.
Their emergence/sudden ‘viral explosion’ onto the scene might raise a few eyebrows to those who have been following their former group, Max Normal TV. If Die Antwoord’s status quo is about being “zef as fuck” and raving to the grave, it’s a curious contrast to the Atmosphere like nature of Max Normal TV’s self aware hip hop about insecurity.

Particularly interesting is how the 3:30 mark of Max Normal’s “Total Fck Up” absolutely predicts the rise of Die Antwoord. Jokin about doing rave rap to get popular, we get a glimpse of what music looks like when “the mind is gone, but the vibe is on”.

Some ideas that suggest that these folks are making high grade performance art:

- Die Antwoord are sponsored by Puma and Jagermeister

- Dre Skull was asked to produce three tracks for Die Antwoord, none of which ended up getting used. Where did that $$ come from?

- Ninja’s “tattoos” are rumored to not be real because of their inconsistency- notice how what’s on his arm in this interview is strangely absent from this video.

-Yolandi’s tracksuit and the set design of the “Enter the Ninja” video is based on the photography of Roger Ballen, according to the credits of Max Normal’s “Total Fuck Up”. Interesting reference.

But blah, I haven’t even talked about how amazing the LOL Boys Chicago Juke remix of this track is. It’s taking me back to a rave fifteen years ago, which is impossible bec?ause I would’ve been 7 then. (Or maybe all the acid I did as a seven year old affected my memory, who knows?)

But anything that makes me laugh the first time I hear it, and then press repeat the next consecutive seventeen times is impressively crafted, especially the chopped & screwed vocal breakdown halfway through; it’s pretty clear what their influences were for this track. Be on the lookout for their new EP that’s still getting shopped around to different labels – some next generation evil pop dance music on that thing.

You can preview one of their tracks on the superb Dubbel Dutch “Mixin’ It Up” mix for Discobelle.