University of Cape Town Professor Adam Haupt has called them out for a very different video, which makes extensive use of Afrikaans and coloured cultural allusions-even though Ninja himself is a “well-resourced white, English-speaking South African. Die Antwoord’s appropriation of blackface here is in line with the-some say false-persona they have carved out for themselves as rebellious, in-your-face provocateurs who are meant to bring a voice to the disenfranchised. “Fatty Boom Boom” is not an example of this. Likewise, I am reluctant to criticize an artistic use of it if there is an intelligent point to be made, as in Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, for instance. Such continued use of blackface may or may not actually reclaim control of their own images, but at the very least, it attempts to wrestle with the history behind it, unlike some costumes during Halloween or misguided school pep rallys, which are clearly and obviously unacceptable. The Kaapse Klopse, as it is now known, primarily features the working class coloured population of South Africa these days, participating in a subversive act meant to reject white superiority and the images it has thrust upon them. Since that time, a minstrel festival, first known as the Coon Carnival, has been held in Cape Town every year. The culture of blackface and minstrelsy in South Africa dates to the 1860s, when English settlers arrived. and South Africa each have quite distinct and complicated histories when it comes to race relations, blackface has been a troubling issue for both countries. The Kaapse Klopse, as it is now known, primarily features the working class coloured population of South Africa these days, participating in a subversive act meant to reject white superiority and the images it has thrust upon them. The culture of blackface and minstrelsy in South Africa dates to the 1860s, when English settlers arrived. The group is composed of rappers Watkin Tudor 'Ninja' Jones and Anri 'Yolandi Visser' du Toit, a male/female duo, and producers. So is this really blackface, and should we be bothered by it? Die Antwoord is a South African hip hop group formed in Cape Town in 2008.
“Awesome, right? That’s really exactly what we all needed to see today.” Breihan is attempting, I think, to convey his general puzzlement: The duo, Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er, who are white, are known as provocateurs. “ Die Antwoord totally wear blackface in their new video,” writes Tom Breihan at Stereogum. Die Antwoord (Afrikaans for “The Answer”), a South African rap-rave duo, have just released a new video for their song “Fatty Boom Boom.” Among the many batshit elements of the NSFW production is a get-up donned by one of the two that looks an awful lot like blackface.