South African hip-hop act and Internet sensation Die Antwoord have signed to Interscope, according to Boing Boing [via the Daily Swarm]:
“And that’s what I did to Jimmy Iovine,” he says. “He didn’t seem to like it, but nobody told me it wasn’t cool to do that. And then I kissed him on each cheek, because we were making a deal like you do with the mafia. Die Antwoord is in business with Interscope now.”
It’s been a whirlwind of a month for the group, which garnered a ton of Internet press after Boing Boing featured a quick post on the band Feb. 1. Pitchfork, normally apprehensive of Internet-hyped-acts (perhaps more so when it comes to rivaling blogs, as can be seen in the cases against blog-beloved acts such as Cold War Kids and Sound Team), blew their proverbial stack over the band, producing as much material as one can imagine about an act just beginning to walk.
There have been a lot of questions about the veracity of the group, but, especially with their signing to Interscope, one thing is certain: Big ideas executed to their fullest potential tend to win. And win big.
All it took was one well-shot video and having a little Internet presence in the form of an excellently-crafted website to gain a heap of attention. Nevermind the music: There are countless fantastic bands out there that may never “make it” simply because of the dearth of people creating music. After all, think of the bands that have “made it” and weigh that against your personal taste and see what works.
Ideas, whatever you want that to mean, expedite the process in nearly every field. It obviously doesn’t seal the deal: That’s where the content comes in. But it gets you noticed, and for Die Antwoord, it’s been enough to get them to Hollywood, grab a record deal in a time when that industry is cutting back, get them millions of hits on YouTube and help them execute even larger ideas, such as a music video directed by Oscar-nominee Neill Blomkamp and a feature-length documentary in the works.
Of course, the Internet has been a place of rewarding people with great/strange/out-there ideas with loads of attention… Now it’s just a matter of people figuring out how to turn those ideas into something people can live off of. So, who knows what will happen to Die Antwoord.
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