Die Antwoord: "Evil Boy"

Die Antwoord skipped right over “good” and “interesting” on their way to “iconic.” All I can see when I watch the video for “Evil Boy” is how their sick Haring/Gaga/ICP shit works like a black hole of artistic focus, sucking in Jimmy Iovine and Aphex Twin and now (both physically and musically) Diplo.

Though one could swap in a proper noun or two and the previous sentences could also be about M.I.A. (though Die Antwoord is more captivating because they’re better at rapping and self-branding while still maintaining the lowest common denominator of repetitious sloganeering) part of what makes them more effective than M.I.A. is that one gets the nagging feeling they mean every cracked-out word they say.

There’s not a bare hint of approval-mongering here; no bullshit about freedom fighting. “Evil Boy” is cheap, homophobic, racist, and sets gender politics back about ten to twenty thousand years. Here, I’ll just go ahead and tell you what happens (in both song and music video, because it doesn’t really matter): Wanga and Diplo wear facsimiles of Ninja’s clothes; act like Ninja; swing their junk around in a Ninjaesque manner, thus treating his quick late-song verse like the belated blessing of a superstar; and watch countless major label production-dollars spent on an ode to Ninja’s dick. It is, surprisingly or not, more than anything, reminiscent of Christian writer John Eldredge’s evangelical paean to masculinity Wild At Heart).

Of course, nobody wants to shit on Ninja and Yo-Landi’s parade. Why look like a spoilsport when you can gape from afar at all the weirdness?

Maybe because it’s toxic, tuneless, and makes M.I.A.’s sociopathic tantrums seem like the socialite dabblings they more than likely are. I’ll be the first to admit: the fact that it ought to be dealt with seriously is because Die Antwoord is really good at what they do. It’s just that “what they do” is regurgitating regressive ideology for the sake of its regression in the form of easily digestible icons backed by convincingly anti-social posturing. Plus, it’s kind of funny! Violent J would be proud.