I went to a party recently where people were showing off some of their more recently admired music videos, and the party hosts neighbor put this video on.
The alibino rat queen look of Yo-Landi Va$$er in this video, and the Xhosa verse spit by Wanga (and it’s tribal African theme), caught my attention with a major “What the fuck is this?” expression. It turns out that the video, although heavily laden with references to the penis and sex (typical of most modern music videos), is about the Xhosa manhood ritual of circumcision.
I didn’t know at the time that days later I would continue to watch the video over and over again amazed and excited by the catchiness of the synth lead and bass thumping of this song, the Affrikan accented sexually appealing pixie vocals of Yo-Landi and the tough guy Vanilla Ice on crack persona of Ninja.
After looking into this band a little further, it becomes apparent that while their music and messages are serious, something about them is a parody or act. Their ‘Zef Side’ video below begins with a short group interview shot documentary style with Yo-Landi explaining that her mom cuts her hair into that facinating mullet style, DJ Hi-Tek lives with his granny and creates his next level beats with his PC Computer, and Ninja lives with his parents across the street from Yo-Landi in the same neighborhood.
I’m not really a hip-hop fan, but this is ‘Rave-Rap’ that owes its roots to early 90’s rave and hip hop…back when I was in 6th grade and listening to Techno-Rave music and watching Snoop Doggy Dogg videos (before I transformed into a devout Nirvana-alternative rock worshipper).
Something about the down to earth personae, even if it’s just an act, and the cutting edgeness of their style and music, makes me want to hold them up to the rest to see. I really want to see these peeps become mainstream, their videos running right along side in the Zeitgeist with Lady Gaga.