Die Antwoord

One Liner: Annoying shock rap from South African weirdos

Poster Position: 5

Thoughts:  I'm a little surprised that they would be on the fifth line of the poster, but as has been demonstrated on many occasions, my musical tastes don't entirely match up to the youth of today. This is a South African rap duo who make weird stuff that is kind of intentionally out there, conceptual shock art that is intended to disrupt.

Did you ever see Chappie, the 2015 movie from Neil Blomkamp (the guy who did District 9)?  I generally liked the movie, but thought that the parts played by the members of this group were actually one of the bright spots in the movie.  Their roles were gangsta criminals, and their look definitely helped pull that off, but I also thought it was funny that they just went ahead and wore their band gear in the movie as though their characters were big fans of their own band.  Bending that fourth wall, and I liked it.  If you haven't seen the movie, and want to, then don't watch this next clip, which is a five minute chunk of the movie that features Ninja (Watkin Tudor Jones, the dude in the clip splash page you can see below) and the other half of the band, Yo-Landi ViSSer.

The later scenes where Ninja is training Chappie to be gangsta are also pretty funny.

Anyway, music.  Their original single/hit was "Enter the Ninja," which became a big viral hit back in 2010 when it first came out.  I think that was mainly because it was so weird, and not because it is a good song.  More like William Hung or something you send to your friend with a laughing so hard I'm crying emoji.

That track has 45.2 million views on YouTube.  Their most popular track on Spotify only has 14.3 million.  They have 4 albums available on Spotify (none include that lovely opening salvo to their canon) including 2010's $O$, 2012's Ten$ion, 2014's Donker Mag, and 2016's SUCK ON THIS (MIXTAPE).

This music is terrible.  It is kind of funny for a second, but then you are listening to the fourth song and wish it would just stop.  This feels like a SNL skit or Lonely Island album gone wrong.  Super basic beats, shocker lyrics about sexy time, annoying high pitched singing.  I don't like anything about this stuff, except maybe for the funny song titles, such as "WHERE'S MY FUKN CUP CAKE?" or "Raging Zef Boner."  Just so you'll get to experience another track, here is the second most popular one right now on Spotify, from the 2014 album, called "Cookie Thumper!"

I do not plan on going to see this live.  Any of the other bands on the 5th line is a million times better than this.