The visuals in Roger Ballen‘s black-and-white clip for Die Antwoord‘s second official TEN$ION single, “I Fink U Freeky,” follow in the polarizing nature of the SA rap crew. Mice-littered beds, decapitated heads, cockroach fried eggs, and even smashed Beats by Dre headphones adorn the cinematography while Yo-Landi and Ninja rap over a speedy synths. TEN$ION is due Feb. 7 via ZEF Recordz. Also, read a recent NYT Mag article on the group.
Heart-gorging, demonic elf video trailer for Die Antwoord‘s upcoming TEN$ION LP (out Feb 7 on Zef Recordz). It’s backed by the recently released album cut “I Fink Ur Freeky” (below). DA’s polarizing “Fok Julle Naaiers” clip made our top videos of last year.
Die Antwoord “I Fink U Freeky”
It’s been a great freshman year for us at Okayafrica. To culminate it, we’re highlighting our choice content from the past 12 months. Browse our top 11 music videos of 2011 below and stay tuned for top 11 LPs, songs, and side-eyes lists!
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Art Melody “L’ébène Est Dans Le Noir”
Montage by Guib.
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Nneka “My Home”
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Just A Band “Kichwateli”
Directed by Bobb Muchiri for BLNRB.
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Tinariwen & TV On The Radio “Tenere Taqqim Tossam”
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Spoek Mathambo “Control”
Directed by Pieter Hugo & Michael Cleary.
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Blitz The Ambassador “Native Sun”
Directed by Blitz the Ambassador & Terence Nance.
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Lexxus Legal ft. Leslyman “Fauchés”
Directed by Ronnie Kabuika
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Buraka Som Sistema “Hangover (BaBaBa)”
Directed by João Pedro Moreira & Carlos Afonso.
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Mo Kolours “Biddies”
Directed by Stefan Asanovic.
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Die Antwoord “Fok Julle Naaiers”
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Ruffest “Siyabenzela”
Directed by Jasyn Howes.
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That’s the cover for the new Die Antwoord album (above). An angel-winged, demonic-faced Yolandi Vi$$er eating a (presumably) human heart. Love or hate them, the SA duo certainly know how to spark a conversation. TEN$ION is due Feb 7 via the group’s own ZEF Records. See the tracklist and watch the clip for “Fok Julle Naaiers” below.
TEN$ION TRACKLIST
01 Never Le Nkemise 1
02 I Fink U Freeky
03 Pielie (Skit)
04 Hey Sexy
05 Fatty Boom Boom
06 Zefside Zol (Interlude)
07 So What?
08 Uncle Jimmy (Skit)
09 Baby’s on Fire
10 U Make a Ninja Wanna F**k
11 Fok Julle Naaiers
12 DJ Hi-Tek Rulez
13 Never Le Nkemise 2
South Africa’s Die Antwoord sparked a bit of a comment flame-war when we posted their latest video for “Fok Julle Naaiers” (above) earlier this month. We at the Okayafrica bunker are into their freak-rap experiment. If you feel the same, catch the crew live on their upcoming North American and Australian tour dates in promotion of TEN$ION, due January via the group’s own ZEF RECORDZ.
Die Antwoord North America and Australia Tour
02-09 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero Theatre
02-10 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
02-11 New York, NY – Irving Plaza
02-14 Toronto, Ontario – The Phoenix Concert Theatre
02-19 Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
02-22 San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom
02-24 Los Angeles, CA – Club Nokia
02-25 Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
03-03 Brisbane, Australia – Doomben Racecourse: Future Music Festival
03-04 Perth, Australia – Arena Joondalup: Future Music Festival
03-10 Sydney, Australia – Royal Randwick Racecourse: Future Music Festival
03-11 Melbourne, Australia – Flemington Racecourse: Future Music Festival
03-12 Adelaide, Australia – Ellis Park: Future Music Festival
Heavy clip for our favorite South African rave-rap experiment Die Antwoord‘s new single “Fok Julle Naaiers.” It plays like a synth-flanked, gun-toting appropriation/mockery of usual (rap) male bravado. Stick around for the end where DJ Hi-Tek riffs on an infamous Mike Tyson quotable. TEN$ION LP drops January. (via TB)
Update: Die Antwoord’s Ninja explains the use of “controversial” words in the single below.
OKA took a field trip to NYC’s Jack Shainman Gallery to check out Anton Kannemeyer‘s “After the Barbarians” exhibit. As we mentioned before, the name of the exhibit is a play on the famous novel by J.M. Coetzee called Waiting for the Barbarians. Kannemeyer’s work manages to exacerbate uncomfortable and often unspoken feelings about race, gender, and class while still making them accessible for digestion. Fellow artist, Danie Marais, writes of Kannemeyer’s art that it’s no wonder it “makes viewers uncomfortable about definitions of black and white, European and African,” adding:
He paints post-colonial Africans as the hell-bent illegitimate children of violent historical rape, both victims and perpetrators. He implicitly asks how the clear-cut categories and neat names expressed by political correctness could accurately describe the violent mess that has spawned the likes of Apartheid, Idi Amin, and the genocide in Rwanda. On the other side, he confronts the affluent South African suburbia where Western luxuries are lined with apocalyptic fear and xenophobia.
Take a look at some of the works in the exhibit in the slide show below. The giant wall-sized paintings of Die Antwoord‘s Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja are easily our favorites.
South African rave-rap experiment Die Antwoord will be releasing their sophomore album TEN$ION come January. Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er gave Spin a written preview of album tracks ”Tsotsi Taal”, “The Money and the Power”, “Fatty Boom Boom,” “Baby’s on Fire,” and first single ”I Think You’re Freaky.”
On dealing with their sudden success and notoriety after 2009′s $O$ the group stated, ”We needed to stay in Africa and return to the tension we had before our success, by staying home the acid trip of blowing up slowly faded away. The less that was going on the more creative we were.” Preach. Watch Die Antwoord’s Harmony Korine-directed short film Umshini Wam below.
After the Barbarians, an exhibit by controversial South African artist Anton Kannemeyer, opened this week at the Jack Shainman Gallery in NYC. The title of the exhibit is a play on the famous novel by J.M. Coetzee called Waiting for the Barbarians. Whereas Coetzee’s “barbarians” refer to the native peoples, Kannemeyer refers to the barbaric behavior of Western societies and those that colonize – as is suggested in the work above. The dark satire in Kannemeyer’s work has been perceived as racist, but he uses the discomfort created by his art to explore the difficult questions of racial and sexual identity and their relation to power structures in post-apartheid South Africa, and other post-colonial societies. That said, is it wrong that we’re most excited about the two large paintings of the rap group Die Antwoord‘s Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja featured in the exhibit?
The exhibit is on display now through Nov. 17, click here for more information.
Stream The New Die Antwoord Album In Its Entirety
South Africa’s polarizing rave rap experiment Die Antwoord are dropping their new album TEN$ION tomorrow on their own ZEF Records. Dutch broadcasting website 3VOOR12 has the entire thing streaming. Catch the music videos for lead-singles “Fok Julle Naaiers” and “I Fink U Freeky” (dir. by Roger Ballen). Stream TEN$ION below.
UPDATE: Watch Yo-Landi, Ninja and DJ Hi-Tek live on David Letterman, introduced as “a unique rap-rave group from Capetown, South Africa.” The crowd can be heard chuckling after the performance ends. Thoughts?