Die Antwoord :: Interscope Records, Neil Blomkamp and Coachella Festival

February 3rd was a mad day for Die Antwoord, it was the day they exploded onto the international scene in a way unmatched by any other South African or even international act, and its showing no sign of stopping. Now I have no problem with Die Antwoord I thought their last music video [Enter the Ninja :: Shown above] was sick to be honest, and I wasn’t surprised when it blew up the way it did. When I did the post for that video it was on 60 000 views and its now in the multi-millions, a mere month later.

My Colleague Blogged has different views on them [see his post on them here], and it would appear so do many of you, his post sparked massive debate on Facebook and on our site. I’ve never seen an act with such polarized support in South Africa, and it would appear you either love them or hate them. Which is one of the reasons I wanted to write this post, I think its pretty mad that a South African act is going to be hitting the world stage in the way Die Antwoord is, not only is this huge for them but its also going to be a massive boost for the local scene. Its going to open the eyes of the international community to South Africa, sure people are going to argue that they’re doing more bad then good, they make us look like fools and so on, but its an act and people love it and they’re going to hopefully look to SA for more.

I really dont care that Waddy has had past projects, I loved Max Normal back in its hey day, when I too would run around bopping my head to Super Evil! [Video 1, Video 2 :: (Poor Quality) Waddy 2006] but acts change and people move on for they’re own reasons, and he seems to be accepting his new found fame with open arms and good for him. He’s created an act that has captivated millions of people, and the model is nothing new to South Africa. Acts like Gazelle and Jack Parow have also created ‘characters’ based on South Africa stereotypes to much acclaim, what makes Die Antwoord so different?

They’ve just signed with Interscope Records, which is a seriously big deal [ There are supposedly 5 albums planned by Die Antwoord ]. They’ve also been added to the bill for the Coachella Festival which is one of the maddest festivals on the globe, and Neil Blomkamp [District 9] is directing their next music video, now no matter what anyone has to say even my colleagues, that is unrivalled success for any South African act, and it would seem whether we like their music or not we’re going to be seeing a hell of a lot of Die Antwoord.