Hear No Evil, Boy

{vimeo}15622428{/vimeo}

In a grimy corridor the lights flicker. Rats run along the wet floor between the dirty, graffiti scribbled walls. Cardboard boxes fly through the air, thrown by an unseen beast. His fake, demented face flahes as the beat drops,

"HA! VUIL GEBOOSTED GANSTA! VUIL GEBOOSTED GANSTA!”.

The latest single “Evil Boy” from Die Antwoord is like an accident scene, you can’t bear to look but you can’t look away, Well, Yo-landi alone is a bit like that. Like your trashy cousin that kisses you on the lips at Christmas.

Blushing, snorting, I watched it over and over again, bobbing my head to the deep bass, staring into Yo-landi's tiny pupils and trying to ingnore Wanga's wanga. This new single from South Africa’s Zef phenomenon is explicit, filled with (mostly inanimate) penises, bad language and weird props seemingly pilfered from the set of District Nine. It seems there is method beneath the phallas though, and if you watch it a few times and you may find out sthat it is not a bunch of fake dicks thrown together with strong language and a 'don't give a fuck' attitude, made purely to shock. It is some of the above, but it is also an elaborate and layered commentary on South African culture, and a powerful commentary on one man’s struggle against tradition and ritual.

We have come to expect the nasty from Die Antwoord, as they push the limits of their own creativity and the boundaries of the social acceptance of satire. And although their music and videos are thought of by some as being in bad taste, the global public has been lapping up their gooey offerings with apparent gusto. The more Ninja and Yo-Landi tell people to “Fok off”, the more they come back for sloppy seconds. They may be rude, but the one thing these dirty Zeffer’s are not is stupid.

Their latest work is a collaboration with DJ and producer Diplo and young Xhosa MC Wanga, who looks to be the driving element behind the song. He is after all, Evil Boy. His words seem to express his own struggle against the coming of age tradition of male circumcision in Xhosa culture, and his performance may be representative of his choice is not to go through with the ritual, which leaves him then unable to attain his traditional qualification of manhood, thus making him “Evil Boy 4 Life”.

The coming of manhood tradition is ancient and an important one in Xhosa culture. It is also very secretive. The issues around it in the press recently have been focused on the death rate of young initiates because of septicaemia, and it is a touchy subject, but it seems Wanga and Die Antwoord have taken a stance.

As with most things, in the end it’s down to personal preference. Does the energised beat and potent slang slap you into a reverie, does the eerie, menacing and nuanced video production give you goose bumps? Or can you not abide by the gratuitous willys and a “Where the Wild things are” character waving his shlonger around. Either way, Evil Boy will be on the lips and screens of many interwebbers in the near future, so feel free to pump your fists and shout clichés like “Proudly fokken South African!”.