This awesome photo provides an excellent excuse to post an old song I liked, I think it’s one of Yo-Landi Vi$$er’s best raps. Plus Jack Parow!
But yeah, they’ve clearly mastered the art of promotional photography.
Die Antwoord: Wat Pomp?
I spent six days in Cape Town, with gracious hosts Ewald and Jenny Wessels. I visited the District Six Museum, the waterfront, Kirstenbosch, Table Mountain, among other places. Die Antwoord was not playing a show, unfortunately. I think the highlight was driving this car around Cape Town and learning my way around.
Things I should have photographed:
Jane’s father Hugh took us all out on another game drive after we returned from Mozambique and this time we didn’t get caught out in an epic rainstorm. The highlight of the drive was seeing a Cheetah having dinner. It seemed very anxious that a larger animal was about to show up, but that didn’t happen. It hardly noticed us a few feet away watching.
Jane’s parents Jo and Hugh took us for a game drive through the Karongwe Game Reserve. We saw lions, zebra, buffalo, rhinoceros, wildebeest, and lots of other strange-looking animals.
The lions were particularly spectacular. It was hard to photograph them, because we were instructed not to stand up in the game car, since that would be interpreted as a threat.
The main thing this gallery is missing is an audio recording of Jane’s niece Sophia and her continuing narrative about what candies would be available in her ‘paradise.’ She’s going to freak when she reads Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
On my third day in South Africa, Jane, Lu and I explored the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve. These photos are what it feels like to be in that part of South Africa. Red earth, green vegetation, lots of baboons.
Continuing with the theme of South African rappers, here’s a video for Zef Side (Beat Boy) from Die Antwoord. It’s interesting to me that in both this and the Jack Parow video previously they emphasize poverty as much as US rappers emphasize wealth.
It’s been a meteoric rise to internet fame for them since Xeni Jardin first posted about them in February. Now they have a record deal with Interscope and Neill Blomkamp has agreed to direct their next video.
Hopefully their success won’t detract from their striking recession-bling look. And Yo-landi’s haircut.
Also this taxi-jam video is pretty fierce.
No mp3s yet, but you can listen to their whole album at dieantwoord.com.
Ah the magic of YouTube. I don’t know what he’s saying (Afrikaans?) but I like it.
