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Die Antwoord

Die Antwoord

Date: Nov 29 2010

Themes: Alternative, Music

Grammar: Passive Voice

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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The latest hip-hop craze isn’t coming from New York or San Francisco. Die Antwoord is straight from the mean streets of Cape Town, South Africa, and they have become very popular in the US and Europe in the last year, mostly due to several viral videos.

Not only do their South African accents make their voices sound unusual, but the members of Die Antwoord look very strange too. They have out of date haircuts and wear bright clothes that don’t fit them well. Yet, somehow, they look very cool. Their first album, $O$, just came out in the US. Find out if Jason and Devan think these unlikely stars are here to stay.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Devan

Jason

Jason

Devan:  So, I was looking at this music blog online, and I was reading about this hip-hop electronic group from South Africa called Die Antwoord. Have you heard of them?

Jason:  It’s Die Antwoord. It’s in Afrikaans.

Devan:  My mistake. Anyway, I was noticing that the vocalist, he was kind of skinny, trashy, hipster guy. And the video to me seemed funny, like it was purposefully ironic. But I wasn’t sure if it’s supposed to be a joke.

Jason:  You know, I mean, was Vanilla Ice supposed to be a joke? It kind of walks that line between something that’s supposed to be taken seriously and something that you can’t possibly take seriously.

Devan:  Yeah, that’s a good point, because he even looks like Vanilla Ice with the square haircut. I guess I was young enough in the 1990s when Vanilla Ice was around that I took him seriously and thought that he was supposed to be a serious act. But looking back on it, it could have just been like one of those flash in the pan fads, that maybe was supposed to be more of a joke than a realistic musical pursuit.

Jason:  Yeah, I mean that guy from Die Antwoord is named Ninja. And he has a lot of really silly tattoos that were done at home. And they never really explain what they’re about, like they say they’re from this scene in South Africa called Zef, and when you ask them what Zef means they say it means “really cool,” and stuff like that, you know? But I don’t know, they might be more than a fad.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Discussion

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Devan came across Die Antwoord on a music blog, and she wasn’t sure if the band was serious or a joke. She thinks the members of the band looked strange, and they remind her of Vanilla Ice, the white rapper who was famous in the 1990s.

Ninja and the other members of Die Antwoord may look unusual, but their videos are extremely popular on the Internet. They are part of a counterculture scene in South Africa known as Zef. Jason thinks that Ninja doesn’t do a very good job of explaining what Zef is all about. But the scene has to do with appearing modern and outdated, trashy and fancy at the same time.

Have you ever heard of Die Antwoord? Is there a big counterculture scene in your country? Does it have a name or a particular style?

 

Comments

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Marcelolic

Marcelolic

Brazil

I do the words of my college down my words! I have never heard about this band till now :P

They seems a little silly :P

04:57 PM Apr 02 2011 |

kukuka

kukuka

Ukraine

I think those die antwoord guys are actually a very serious project but an accident. watch their videos. Do you think they are amateur? No, actually they are very professional and well directed. I don't think they started to be popular by chance. Somebody worked it out… But I'm curious to see what it will be like in a while.

11:15 AM Dec 01 2010 |

tiger_bagira

Greece

nice

 

09:23 PM Nov 29 2010 |

nakhhlesahra

India

I haven't heard about Die Antwoord antd I`m also not interested in it.

03:11 PM Nov 29 2010 |

lolita_lempicka

Yemen

never heard about them !! whats their most famouse songs ?

12:37 PM Nov 29 2010 |

clutchmann

clutchmann

Hungary

I haven't heard about Die Antwoord yet but I'll look for a video from them.

Nowadays, there are lot of cultures in the world and of course, in my country too. So, it is difficult to decide which one belongs to the culture side and which one for the counterculture side.  

12:35 PM Nov 29 2010 |

gokuh

gokuh

India

No,i have not heard abt antwoord. and i remember a counterculture scene in a hindi album, n we call it old western style, i guess,lol.

09:05 AM Nov 29 2010 |

dearpesar

dearpesar

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i like sos song of kufi kingston in rawCool

06:56 AM Nov 29 2010 |

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