I’ve seen thousands of live shows in my life across all different genres but never have I witnessed anything quite like a Die Antwoord show. Imagine the ability to harness pure energy, bleeding edge visuals, art, hip-hop, and some of the biggest hooks in music today into a single performance. It was controlled chaos, completely unhinged, surreal, completely original, and dare I say, borderline genius.
Hailing from South Africa and led by the outlandish duo known as Ninja and Yolandi, Die Antwoord are a rave-rap duo who embrace the Zef culture from their homeland. What is Zef? According to Yolandi, “It’s associated with people who soup their cars up and rock gold and shit. Zef is, you’re poor but you’re fancy. You’re poor but you’re sexy, you’ve got style.” If you’ve seen the movie Chappie then you already have a glimpse into what this translates to on the big screen and what it means to embrace this lifestyle. In the 2015 science fiction film, the duo were cast to play themselves in the lead roles and did so remarkably well.
Having never been to an EDM show myself, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. In fact, when I think EDM, I usually think of a DJ on stage where the lights overshadow the actual artist. This is why I would hesitate to label this an EDM show as in this case it was the complete opposite. The crowd was hanging on every single lyric, rhyme, downbeat, etc. while completely losing their minds.
Highlights include, well the entire show was one enormous highlight. I’m not familiar enough with their songs to give you a detailed breakdown, but I can give you a starting point. “Ugly Boy,” “Banana Brain,” “Daddy,” and “Fatty Boom Boom” should give you an idea very quickly of what this is all about.
Rumor has it that this South African supergroup will disband in 2017, and if that turns out to be true then the EDM and hip-hop scene will have a gaping void that will likely remain unfilled for quite some time. If you can get a ticket to see this show, regardless if you are a fan of hip-hop, EDM, shit…even metal—you have to see this spectacle to believe it.
Were you at the show in Boston? What did you think? Join the conversation in the comment section below. Check out hi-res photos in the gallery here.
