Metro One To Watch - Die Antwoord

This ran in Metro newspaper last week! Seriously so excited by this record - I stand by the fact that the beats are next level heavy, the rapping is tight and they're unlike anything else out there (novelty/pisstake or not)

ONE TO WATCH

Die Antwoord


At first glance South African rap-rave trio, Die Antwoord, straight outta ‘the Cape Flats’ (low cost, low level housing) seemed a flash in the online-pan: this year their site has clocked 15m hits, and tracks Zef Side and Enter The Ninja are closing in on 4m Youtube views, each. In recent weeks ‘Zef’-rapper Ninja, his Lolita-esque girlfriend Yo Landi Vi$$er and DJ Hi Tek, have signed to Interscope, and performed at Coachella, while District 9-director Neil Blomkamp is shoot their next video.

Not that Die Antwoord (The Answer) need Blomkamp’s help, their hyper-stylized look evoke a South African My Name Is Earl, and the skinny, heavily tattoo-ed Ninja is The Flats answer to Eminem.

Although Die Antwoord seem a spoof, their sound - built around Yo Landi Vi$$er’s bubblegum trance choruses, Ninja’s hyper-English/Afrikaans rap ‘celebrating the fantastically poor’, and Hi Tek’s Hi_NRG booty bass is like nothing you’ve heard before. One thing’s for sure, the deliciously post-modern Die Antwoord won’t feature at the World Cup’s opening ceremony.

Website here