To understand South African rave/rap trio Die Antwoord and their sophomore LP TEN$ION is to know the underlying counter-culture philosophy of Zef. What is Zef, you ask? Die Antwoord’s diminutive and spookily androgynous lady rapper Yo-Landi Vi$$er described it best, associating it with “people who soup their cars up and rock gold and shit.”
When their debut LP $O$ was released for free on their website in 2010, music industry ears pricked up; here, after all, was a white rap crew from Cape Town, South Africa, with a white-trash sensibility and singing gloriously profane pronouncements about ninjas, “fish paste” and African tribal rites of passage. Fast-paced, humorous and delightfully in your face, the impossibly skinny MC Ninja, Vi$$er and their massive human beatbox DJ Hi-Tek delivered the goods. It was unlike anything anybody had seen or heard before.
Jimmy Iovine, head of Interscope Records, was impressed enough by what he saw to immediately sign them, and $O$ went massive on a worldwide scale. The South African concept of Zef went global, and all was good.
The fact that their follow-up to $O$, Ten$Ion, sounds exactly like its predecessor is no accident. That it was released on Die Antwoord’s own label ZEF RECORDZ instead of Interscope also tells a story. Iovine had wanted them to tone their sound down and be a little more generic – Ninja told him to go fuck himself, and the rest is history.
Ergo, if you loved $O$, and you want to keep that Zef party pumping, then you’ll absolutely love Ten$Ion. Intro Never Le Nkemise 1 begins dramatically, with tribal chants overlaid on a spaghetti western score leading up to Ninja proclaiming over some heavy beats that he’s “indestructible” and warning potential foes that he’s “the motherfokking ninja”. On paper, the braggadocio on this record might come across as stale, run-of-the-mill hip-hop boastings – but there’s enough nods and winks to the audience to make one realise that he’s only half serious. One of the cool things about Ninja is his proficiency in rapping. On tracks such as Hey Sexy, the OG styling of So What? and the absurdly titled U Make A Ninja Wanna Fuck his nasal raps are nothing short of bewitching.
Vi$$er comes across as the heart of the outfit. Her bewilderingly high-pitched little girl voice serves Die Antwoord well. I Fink U Freeky perfectly marries hip-hop and early ‘90s techno, Fatty Boom Boom features an amusing call and response dynamic and Baby’s On Fire absolutely explodes with exciting beats and clever rhymes, encapsulating what made Die Antwoord such an exciting discovery to begin with.
One small gripe, though. For all Die Antwoord’s talk about representing a fresh new style of Zef rave-rap, I’m completely on board for the ride. But on the train-wreck that is DJ Hi-Tek Rulez, the proceedings fall completely flat. DJ Hi-Tek himself takes to the mic, warning all the “wack bitches” that he’s the best there is, and he’s going to “fuck you up the ass, f****t.” What a tired, flogged-to-death aspect of hip hop that can’t be gotten rid of fast enough. As boring as it is offensive, I would have hoped that Die Antwoord’s “new style of Zef” would have left the homophobia at the station.
Aside from that, Ten$Ion is a great ride. Maybe it doesn’t break new ground, but there’s still some serious fun to be had, and there are moments here that could be classified as great. Besides, if you’re going to follow up something as brilliant as $O$, you can be forgiven for wanting to stretch that party out.
BY THOMAS BAILEY
Best Track: Baby’s On Fire
If You Like This: Then you’ve already got the first album
In A Word: I’m going to go with “ZEF”
