WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080 Imagine a disruptive tech startup. Into the archetype, 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:07.200 right? So, absolutely. A couple of unknown founders 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.759 in a garage somewhere. Exactly. Just completely 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:12.320 bypassing all the traditional industry gatekeepers. 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:15.099 Right. No putting on suits or pitching to venture 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:17.399 capitalists in sterile boardrooms. Right. Instead, 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:19.420 they just build a product, drop it onto the internet 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:21.780 for free, and let the users find it themselves. 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:25.500 And then they build this massive, organic, rabid 00:00:25.500 --> 00:00:29.239 user base, totally in the dark. Yeah. And by 00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:31.420 the time the corporate world even realizes what's 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:33.679 happening, the startup already holds all the 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:36.280 cards. Like the venture capitalists are no longer 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:38.619 evaluating them. The startup is evaluating the 00:00:38.619 --> 00:00:40.979 venture capitalists. I mean, it's the ultimate 00:00:40.979 --> 00:00:43.960 modern power move. It really is. You manufacture 00:00:43.960 --> 00:00:46.460 your own leverage in the wild before you ever 00:00:46.460 --> 00:00:48.439 even sit down at the negotiating table. Well, 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:51.520 that exact Silicon Valley blueprint is the hidden 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:56.299 origin story of one of the most polarizing, bizarre 00:00:56.619 --> 00:01:00.359 and just utterly fascinating music releases of 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:03.100 the 2010s. Oh, for sure. So welcome to today's 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:06.219 Deep Dive. Today we are digging into the Wikipedia 00:01:06.219 --> 00:01:09.379 archives for the debut album by the South African 00:01:09.379 --> 00:01:13.060 rap rave group Die Ant Word. Such a wild story. 00:01:13.180 --> 00:01:15.939 It really is. And the album is called S .O .S., 00:01:15.939 --> 00:01:18.299 but it's stylized with dollar signs, so, you 00:01:18.299 --> 00:01:21.180 know, S .O .S. All right. OK, let's unpack this. 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:25.000 We're looking at exactly how a completely free 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:28.480 independent internet drop forced the traditional 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:31.079 music industry to just completely alter its rule 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:33.700 book. Which was not a small feat. No, not at 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:36.459 all. And to really grasp the gravity of this, 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:39.420 you, like the listener, have to mentally transport 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:42.560 yourself back to the years 2008 and 2009. Because 00:01:42.560 --> 00:01:44.579 that's when this album was actually being recorded. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:47.019 Exactly. So what did the music industry landscape 00:01:47.019 --> 00:01:49.500 actually look like back then for an unknown group 00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:51.599 from Cape Town? Well, I mean, it was a wildly 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:53.680 different ecosystem than the one we have today. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:55.980 Right, like Spotify wasn't really a thing. No, 00:01:55.980 --> 00:01:58.939 Spotify was in its absolute infancy. It was largely 00:01:58.939 --> 00:02:01.180 unavailable to most people. The industry was 00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:03.439 still desperately clinging to the final gasps 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:08.639 of the CD era. And what we would call gate -kept 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:12.159 digital sales, meaning Apple's iTunes essentially 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:15.120 had a near monopoly on digital music consumption. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:16.759 So if you wanted to make it, you had to play 00:02:16.759 --> 00:02:20.219 their game. Exactly. The established path was 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:23.639 heavily reliant on A and R executives at record 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:26.719 labels discovering you, funding your album, and 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:30.360 literally placing your CDs in big box retail 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:34.259 stores. So giving an entire fully produced studio 00:02:34.259 --> 00:02:37.500 album away for free as a direct download on your 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:40.139 personal website, that wasn't just seen as some 00:02:40.139 --> 00:02:43.379 rebellious indie move. It was considered commercial 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:45.819 suicide. Because there was literally no built 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:48.759 in monetization. Not at all. Like, there were 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:51.060 no streaming fractions of a penny rolling in 00:02:51.060 --> 00:02:53.300 every time someone hit play. Precisely. Diane 00:02:53.300 --> 00:02:55.639 Antwerp was betting their entire artistic existence 00:02:55.639 --> 00:02:57.879 on the frictionless spread of digital information. 00:02:58.340 --> 00:03:01.159 They just bypassed the iTunes walled garden entirely. 00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:03.039 They just skipped it. Yeah. They essentially 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.039 said, you know, we are going to stream this for 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:07.039 free on our site and let the internet do the 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:09.400 work. And man, the internet responded. Oh, it 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:12.439 really did. But what's fascinating here is how 00:03:12.439 --> 00:03:14.599 the critical inflection point arrived. It was 00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:16.659 with their music videos. Right. The visuals were 00:03:16.659 --> 00:03:18.460 a huge part of it. Absolutely. They released 00:03:18.460 --> 00:03:22.659 a video for a track called Wattpomp in June of 00:03:22.659 --> 00:03:26.650 2009. OK. But the absolute catalyst, I mean the 00:03:26.650 --> 00:03:28.909 moment the algorithm truly caught fire was a 00:03:28.909 --> 00:03:30.949 track called Enter the Ninja. Oh, I remember 00:03:30.949 --> 00:03:32.669 when that video started making the rounds. It 00:03:32.669 --> 00:03:35.750 was inescapable. It was visually arresting, incredibly 00:03:35.750 --> 00:03:39.889 abrasive, and musically it was this jarring matchup 00:03:39.889 --> 00:03:44.479 of alternative hip hop, electronica. and, like, 00:03:44.659 --> 00:03:47.080 90s rave culture. Yeah, completely bizarre, but 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:49.219 you couldn't look away. But I have to ask, how 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:51.759 does a crazy music video actually translate to 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.460 industry power in 2010? That's the million -dollar 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:57.000 question. Because today, you know, a song blows 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:59.419 up on TikTok, and it automatically hits the Billboard 00:03:59.419 --> 00:04:01.979 charts because streams poured the charts. Right. 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:05.099 But back then, there was a massive wall between 00:04:05.099 --> 00:04:08.099 watching a YouTube video and actually registering 00:04:08.099 --> 00:04:11.389 as a commercial success. And that is the mechanical 00:04:11.389 --> 00:04:14.310 hurdle that makes the story so pioneering. To 00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:16.529 chart in 2010, you couldn't just have internet 00:04:16.529 --> 00:04:19.310 views. You needed actual sales. Exactly. You 00:04:19.310 --> 00:04:22.569 needed people to actively bridge the gap from 00:04:22.569 --> 00:04:25.589 a free video platform to a literal point of purchase. 00:04:25.629 --> 00:04:27.649 Which is so much friction for a consumer. It's 00:04:27.649 --> 00:04:30.730 a ton of friction. But Enter the Ninja gained 00:04:30.730 --> 00:04:34.110 such massive, rabid viral exposure on video hosting 00:04:34.110 --> 00:04:36.769 platforms that it actually forced its way into 00:04:36.769 --> 00:04:39.100 traditional metrics long before the album even 00:04:39.100 --> 00:04:41.759 had a physical release. Right, really? Yeah. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:45.459 By September 2010, that track debuted at number 00:04:45.459 --> 00:04:48.339 37 on the UK music charts. That is staggering. 00:04:48.459 --> 00:04:51.300 It's wild. Because to hit the top 40 in the UK 00:04:51.300 --> 00:04:54.899 back then usually required a massive PR machine, 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:57.990 radio payola. physical single distribution across 00:04:57.990 --> 00:05:00.329 record shops. Right. All the traditional infrastructure. 00:05:00.490 --> 00:05:02.949 Yeah. It was virtually unheard of for an indie 00:05:02.949 --> 00:05:05.970 viral video from South Africa to jump the moat 00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:08.870 into the UK top 40, completely unassisted by 00:05:08.870 --> 00:05:12.350 a major label. Unheard of. It proved definitively 00:05:12.350 --> 00:05:14.769 to the corporate world that the internet had 00:05:14.769 --> 00:05:18.329 permanently shifted the balance of power. I mean, 00:05:18.870 --> 00:05:21.009 the artists and their immediate audience were 00:05:21.009 --> 00:05:24.029 now dictating the market. But wait. I have to 00:05:24.029 --> 00:05:25.649 challenge that narrative a little bit. OK, go 00:05:25.649 --> 00:05:28.529 for it. If Die Antwoord had successfully built 00:05:28.529 --> 00:05:31.170 this massive user base and they were already 00:05:31.170 --> 00:05:34.480 charting in the UK on their own. Yeah. Why did 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:36.740 they need the corporate world at all? Why sign 00:05:36.740 --> 00:05:39.360 a major label deal with Interscope Records? That's 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:41.759 a fair point. If you have all the power and all 00:05:41.759 --> 00:05:44.100 the leverage, why not just stay independent and 00:05:44.100 --> 00:05:47.300 keep all the profits? Well, because in 2010, 00:05:47.699 --> 00:05:49.759 the ceiling for independent distribution was 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:52.519 still remarkably low. Oh, okay. The internet 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:55.060 could give you global awareness, sure, but it 00:05:55.060 --> 00:05:57.980 couldn't put a physical CD on a shelf in a Best 00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:00.100 Buy in Ohio. Right, you still needed physical 00:06:00.100 --> 00:06:02.259 objects. Exactly. And it couldn't get you onto 00:06:02.259 --> 00:06:04.870 mainstream American... The infrastructure of 00:06:04.870 --> 00:06:07.230 global distribution still belonged to the major 00:06:07.230 --> 00:06:10.389 labels. So they hit a wall. They recognized they 00:06:10.389 --> 00:06:13.029 had hit the ceiling of what a free website download 00:06:13.029 --> 00:06:15.569 could achieve. They needed a global machine. 00:06:15.810 --> 00:06:18.550 That makes sense. But crucially, because of the 00:06:18.550 --> 00:06:20.370 internet leverage they had built, they didn't 00:06:20.370 --> 00:06:23.420 go to Interscope. begging for a deal. Interscope 00:06:23.420 --> 00:06:26.519 came to them. Interscope came to them, chasing 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:29.379 a phenomenon that was already profitable. I imagine 00:06:29.379 --> 00:06:31.839 the label executives were terrified of this being 00:06:31.839 --> 00:06:34.199 a novelty act, though. Oh, absolutely. Like, 00:06:34.199 --> 00:06:36.500 think about the era. The internet was famous 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:39.459 for one -hit wonders. The Numa Numa guy, the 00:06:39.459 --> 00:06:42.060 chocolate rain guy. If you're Interscope, how 00:06:42.060 --> 00:06:44.459 do you know you aren't just signing a meme? Well, 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:47.360 Dianne Antwerp anticipated that exact skepticism. 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:49.759 If you look at the timeline in the source material, 00:06:49.819 --> 00:06:52.220 they didn't just draw enter the Ninja and sit 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:54.500 back waiting for a check. They kept moving. Right. 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:57.120 While the major labels were circling, they were 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.220 aggressively and strategically releasing subsequent 00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:03.300 promotional singles. Tracks like Fishpaste and 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:06.199 Beatboy. And Beatboy is a massive piece of evidence 00:07:06.199 --> 00:07:08.360 that they weren't just a flash in the pan. Oh 00:07:08.360 --> 00:07:10.399 for sure. I was looking at the original website 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:13.639 release and that track is an 8 minute and 20 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:16.480 second epic. It's massive. You don't record an 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:20.689 8 minute sprawling experimental electronic track 00:07:20.689 --> 00:07:23.230 if you were just trying to capitalize on a quick 00:07:23.230 --> 00:07:25.629 YouTube joke. No, not at all. You release that 00:07:25.629 --> 00:07:28.170 to prove you have immense musical depth and a 00:07:28.170 --> 00:07:31.370 deep catalog. They were basically forcing the 00:07:31.370 --> 00:07:33.930 industry to recognize them as structural artists, 00:07:34.209 --> 00:07:37.389 not internet accidents. And I mean, that strategy 00:07:37.389 --> 00:07:39.790 worked. Interscope signed them, setting up a 00:07:39.790 --> 00:07:43.129 massive global release for SOS. OK. But this 00:07:43.129 --> 00:07:45.810 introduces the central friction of our deep dive. 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:50.730 What functionally happens when a raw, hyperlocal 00:07:50.730 --> 00:07:53.870 internet viral sensation collides with an American 00:07:53.870 --> 00:07:56.550 corporate music machine? It's a massive collision. 00:07:57.129 --> 00:07:59.629 Because the Uniscope release of S .O .S. is not 00:07:59.629 --> 00:08:01.470 the same album that was floating around the internet 00:08:01.470 --> 00:08:04.009 for free in 2009. Not even close. So what did 00:08:04.009 --> 00:08:06.110 the label actually do to the product? They essentially 00:08:06.110 --> 00:08:08.680 took a scalpel to it. If you look at the data 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:10.980 for the original digital release. The one they 00:08:10.980 --> 00:08:13.319 put out themselves. Right. It was a sprawling 00:08:13.319 --> 00:08:17.730 18 track behemoth. clocked in at exactly 68 minutes 00:08:17.730 --> 00:08:21.149 and three seconds. Wow. And it was heavily unapologetically 00:08:21.149 --> 00:08:23.829 rooted in South African culture. Like a lot of 00:08:23.829 --> 00:08:26.649 local references. Exactly. It featured deep -cut 00:08:26.649 --> 00:08:29.430 local collaborations with artists like Jack Pero 00:08:29.430 --> 00:08:31.949 and even a feature from the South African rock 00:08:31.949 --> 00:08:35.169 band, Fuck Off PolisiCar. OK, yeah. It was loaded 00:08:35.169 --> 00:08:38.669 with skits and aggressively local slang. So it 00:08:38.669 --> 00:08:41.590 was this unfiltered cultural export. Very unfiltered. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.299 But when Interscope releases the American physical 00:08:44.299 --> 00:08:47.960 version on CD, that 18 -track album gets gutted 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:50.440 down to just 10 tracks. Almost half the album 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:53.519 is gone. The skits vanish. The hyper -local features 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:56.500 are largely minimized or erased from the main 00:08:56.500 --> 00:08:59.460 track list. Why, I mean, is that just classic 00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:01.879 corporate dilution? A label stepping in and saying, 00:09:01.879 --> 00:09:03.720 you know, this is too weird for middle America, 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:06.409 tone it down. It's easy to view it as corporate 00:09:06.409 --> 00:09:09.090 censorship, sure, but functionally it was an 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:11.149 act of international translation. Translation. 00:09:11.710 --> 00:09:14.490 Yeah. Interscope realized that what made Die 00:09:14.490 --> 00:09:16.929 Antwoord viral globally wasn't their nuanced 00:09:16.929 --> 00:09:19.350 South African linguistic jokes. Because no one 00:09:19.350 --> 00:09:21.649 outside South Africa got them anyway. Right. 00:09:21.889 --> 00:09:24.370 A teenager in the American Midwest wouldn't understand 00:09:24.370 --> 00:09:26.990 those references. The virality came from their 00:09:26.990 --> 00:09:29.669 visual aesthetic and their aggressive, rave -rap 00:09:29.669 --> 00:09:33.649 sonic profile. So by excising the hyper -local 00:09:33.649 --> 00:09:37.070 in -jokes, Interscope wasn't necessarily diluting 00:09:37.070 --> 00:09:39.850 the weirdness. They were concentrating it into 00:09:39.850 --> 00:09:42.690 a format that a global audience could actually 00:09:42.690 --> 00:09:45.549 digest without needing a South African cultural 00:09:45.549 --> 00:09:47.710 dictionary. Okay, that makes sense from a commercial 00:09:47.710 --> 00:09:50.669 standpoint. Cut the fat, focus the sonic in - 00:09:50.250 --> 00:09:53.309 Exactly. But Interscope didn't just subtract 00:09:53.309 --> 00:09:56.029 tracks, right? Right. They also added new elements 00:09:56.029 --> 00:09:58.809 to bridge that cultural gap. They did. The most 00:09:58.809 --> 00:10:01.049 critical addition on the major label re -release 00:10:01.049 --> 00:10:03.750 was a track called Evil Boy. Okay. Interscope 00:10:03.750 --> 00:10:06.309 brought in the superstar American producer Diplo 00:10:06.309 --> 00:10:09.509 to produce it. Oh, wow. Now in 2010, Diplo was 00:10:09.509 --> 00:10:12.289 the ultimate Sonic ambassador. He had built his 00:10:12.289 --> 00:10:14.929 entire career taking global underground club 00:10:14.929 --> 00:10:17.830 sounds. Like Brazilian favela funk. Yes, exactly. 00:10:17.909 --> 00:10:20.590 And formatting them for mainstream. Western festival 00:10:20.590 --> 00:10:23.269 consumption. He was the perfect mechanism to 00:10:23.269 --> 00:10:26.370 take Die Antwoord's abrasive rave sound and polish 00:10:26.370 --> 00:10:29.309 it just enough to work in an American club. That's 00:10:29.309 --> 00:10:32.970 a huge move. It was. They even shot a dedicated 00:10:32.970 --> 00:10:36.470 promotional video for Evil Boy in October 2010 00:10:36.470 --> 00:10:40.070 to really drive this new polished sound home. 00:10:40.370 --> 00:10:42.289 So Diplo was like the spoonful of sugar to help 00:10:42.289 --> 00:10:44.169 the South African rave rap go down. Basically, 00:10:44.549 --> 00:10:48.269 yeah. But I refuse to believe Die Ant were just 00:10:48.269 --> 00:10:51.529 happily handed over their 18 -track indie masterpiece 00:10:51.529 --> 00:10:54.350 and let Interscope chop it up without a fight. 00:10:54.409 --> 00:10:57.370 Well. Because when you look closely at the release 00:10:57.370 --> 00:11:00.809 details, there is this fascinating mechanical 00:11:00.809 --> 00:11:03.330 rebellion happening in the track lists. Oh, you 00:11:03.330 --> 00:11:05.330 mean the hidden stuff. Yeah. It's like they were 00:11:05.330 --> 00:11:07.730 actively fighting the corporate packaging. How 00:11:07.730 --> 00:11:10.129 so? What stands out to you for the listener? 00:11:10.289 --> 00:11:12.450 Well, look at the American physical CD release. 00:11:12.669 --> 00:11:15.309 As you said, the label mandated a type 10 track 00:11:15.309 --> 00:11:17.730 album for retail shelves. Right. Keep it simple. 00:11:18.190 --> 00:11:20.769 So track 10, the final song on the CD, is a track 00:11:20.769 --> 00:11:23.730 called Doos Drunk. Okay. But if you look at the 00:11:23.730 --> 00:11:26.429 runtime, that final track runs for 12 minutes 00:11:26.429 --> 00:11:29.330 and 52 seconds. Which is absurdly long for a 00:11:29.330 --> 00:11:31.889 standard electronic rap closer. Because it isn't 00:11:31.889 --> 00:11:34.509 actually a 12 minute song. Starting at the 8 00:11:34.509 --> 00:11:37.250 minute and 52 second mark of that track, there's 00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:40.929 a hidden song. Sneaky. It is the track S .O .S. 00:11:41.110 --> 00:11:43.549 The namesake of the entire album. Yeah. They 00:11:43.549 --> 00:11:45.809 bury their own title track under nearly 9 minutes 00:11:45.809 --> 00:11:48.909 of silence at the end of a CD. The label says 00:11:48.909 --> 00:11:51.450 we're cutting this down to 10 tracks and the 00:11:51.450 --> 00:11:55.309 band says fine We will comply but we are smuggling 00:11:55.309 --> 00:11:58.529 our weirdness onto the disk in a 12 -minute audio 00:11:58.529 --> 00:12:00.929 file it's just a brilliant subversion of the 00:12:00.929 --> 00:12:04.200 physical medium and That structural chaos, it 00:12:04.200 --> 00:12:06.720 bled over into the digital realm as well. How 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:10.019 so? Well, when Interscope put the album on iTunes, 00:12:10.179 --> 00:12:12.700 they had to figure out how to monetize the digital 00:12:12.700 --> 00:12:15.039 space differently than the physical CD space. 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:16.500 Right, because you can't really hide a track 00:12:16.500 --> 00:12:18.659 inside a 12 -minute file on iTunes in the same 00:12:18.659 --> 00:12:21.179 way. People just buy the individual songs. Exactly. 00:12:21.419 --> 00:12:24.399 So Interscope unhid SOS and listed it clearly 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:27.320 as track 11. OK. But then they started fracturing 00:12:27.320 --> 00:12:30.000 the album into a multiverse of track lists. A 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:32.100 multiverse. Yeah. They added bonus. tracks to 00:12:32.100 --> 00:12:34.460 the digital version, bringing back early cuts 00:12:34.460 --> 00:12:37.279 like the original Wattpomp and Dagapuff. Oh, 00:12:37.340 --> 00:12:39.509 so they brought the old stuff back. They did. 00:12:39.710 --> 00:12:42.490 They even included an alternate, highly aggressive 00:12:42.490 --> 00:12:46.490 version of Diplo's Evil Boy, provocatively titled 00:12:46.490 --> 00:12:50.190 The F You in the Face Mix, which was noticeably 00:12:50.190 --> 00:12:52.490 absent from the physical CD you would buy at 00:12:52.490 --> 00:12:55.750 a big box store. I mean, it is a complete structural 00:12:55.750 --> 00:12:58.029 mess. Depending on whether you downloaded it 00:12:58.029 --> 00:13:01.289 from their site in 2009, bought the CD at a retailer 00:13:01.289 --> 00:13:04.590 in America or purchased the iTunes Deluxe edition, 00:13:05.049 --> 00:13:07.490 you were consuming a fundamentally different 00:13:07.490 --> 00:13:10.039 piece of art. A completely different experience. 00:13:10.299 --> 00:13:13.190 And honestly, that trackless chaos? perfectly 00:13:13.190 --> 00:13:15.710 mirrors how the public and the critics ultimately 00:13:15.710 --> 00:13:18.830 tried and totally failed to categorize what they 00:13:18.830 --> 00:13:21.250 were hearing. Oh, absolutely. The reception of 00:13:21.250 --> 00:13:23.230 this album is one of the most fascinating case 00:13:23.230 --> 00:13:26.730 studies in genre defiance. When you mash up alternative 00:13:26.730 --> 00:13:29.730 hip hop, rave culture, electronica, local South 00:13:29.730 --> 00:13:32.610 African slang, and slick Diplo production. What 00:13:32.610 --> 00:13:35.169 even is that? Exactly. The traditional metric 00:13:35.169 --> 00:13:37.690 systems simply do not possess the vocabulary 00:13:37.690 --> 00:13:40.129 to process you. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:13:40.250 --> 00:13:42.710 I want to look at the album spread across the 00:13:42.710 --> 00:13:46.289 2010 Billboard charts. Oh, the charts are hilarious 00:13:46.289 --> 00:13:48.309 for this. Because it essentially functions as 00:13:48.309 --> 00:13:50.889 a Rorschach test for the music industry. You 00:13:50.889 --> 00:13:52.730 look at the inkblot and you see whatever genre 00:13:52.730 --> 00:13:55.710 you want to see. Overall, the album peaked at 00:13:55.710 --> 00:13:58.590 number 109 on the mainstream US Billboard 200. 00:13:58.769 --> 00:14:01.470 Which is solid. For a debut from a completely 00:14:01.470 --> 00:14:04.570 unknown South African group, that is incredibly 00:14:04.570 --> 00:14:06.929 respectable. But when you look at the specialized 00:14:06.929 --> 00:14:09.750 genre charts, the algorithm completely shorts 00:14:09.750 --> 00:14:13.090 out. The spread is unprecedented. Simultaneously, 00:14:13.269 --> 00:14:15.649 the album charted at number four in top dance 00:14:15.649 --> 00:14:18.269 electronic albums. OK, makes sense. It hit number 00:14:18.269 --> 00:14:20.950 one on the Heatseekers albums chart, which tracks 00:14:20.950 --> 00:14:24.549 developing acts. Sure. And inexplicably, it also 00:14:24.549 --> 00:14:27.529 hit number 14 in top rap albums. How does an 00:14:27.529 --> 00:14:29.970 album functionally operate as a top five dance 00:14:29.970 --> 00:14:33.470 record and a top 15 rap record at the exact same 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:36.769 time in 2010? It doesn't, usually. The industry 00:14:36.769 --> 00:14:39.110 rubrics were built to keep those lanes totally 00:14:39.110 --> 00:14:41.639 separate. And because the algorithms didn't know 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:44.320 how to classify it, the human critics completely 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:46.399 lost their minds trying to review it. We really 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.679 struggled. The album currently holds a Metacritic 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:53.480 score of 69 out of 100. OK. Now on paper, a 69 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:55.779 suggests a perfectly average middle -of -the 00:14:55.779 --> 00:14:59.399 -road album. But that number is a mathematical 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:02.759 illusion hiding extreme polarization. Yeah. Averages 00:15:02.759 --> 00:15:04.879 often obscure the most interesting data points. 00:15:05.019 --> 00:15:06.779 So who was on the high end of that spectrum? 00:15:07.139 --> 00:15:09.700 Well, the legendary music critic Robert Crisco. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:13.419 Oh, wow. He gave the album A minus. Crisco was 00:15:13.419 --> 00:15:15.480 notoriously difficult to please. And he looked 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:18.879 at this chaotic, abrasive rap rave project and 00:15:18.879 --> 00:15:20.940 essentially called it brilliant. That's huge 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:23.500 praise. But then you swing to the major independent 00:15:23.500 --> 00:15:26.200 arbiters of taste at the time. Pitchfork Media. 00:15:26.409 --> 00:15:28.750 Arguably the most influential indie music voice 00:15:28.750 --> 00:15:33.009 of 2010, gave it a 5 .5 out of 10. Ouch. And 00:15:33.009 --> 00:15:35.610 the UK taste makers at NME gave it a 5 out of 00:15:35.610 --> 00:15:37.840 10. They essentially failed the album. So you 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.059 have a critical establishment entirely at odds 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:42.240 with itself. Completely. You have critics assigning 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:45.139 A minuses right next to fives. You have chart 00:15:45.139 --> 00:15:48.100 computers classifying it as rap and dance simultaneously. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.879 Right. What this data tells us is that Die Antwerp 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:53.379 didn't just fail to fit into a genre. They were 00:15:53.379 --> 00:15:56.220 actively rejecting the concept of genre altogether. 00:15:56.600 --> 00:16:01.039 It is like serving a food critic. A rubber tire 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:03.840 covered in incredible buttercream frosting. What 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:06.200 a visual. The critic doesn't know whether to 00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:08.279 review it as a terrible cake or an amazing automotive 00:16:08.279 --> 00:16:11.879 part. They literally lack the framework to evaluate 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:14.820 it. And when a piece of art forces a listener 00:16:14.820 --> 00:16:17.279 to confront something with absolutely no clear 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:20.320 precedent, there is very rarely a middle ground. 00:16:20.419 --> 00:16:23.500 No. People either hail the unprecedented as genius, 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:27.240 or they dismiss it as obnoxious noise. Breaking 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:29.899 the rubrics is the ultimate marker of a truly 00:16:29.899 --> 00:16:32.120 disruptive creation. And that brings us to the 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:34.200 most crucial piece of information in our source 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:36.539 material today. Oh, this is the best part. This 00:16:36.539 --> 00:16:38.919 is the detail that completely recontextualizes 00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:41.419 everything we've discussed. It turns this entire 00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:43.539 story on its head. The revelation of the master 00:16:43.539 --> 00:16:46.059 plan. The Trojan Horse. Yes. We start this deep 00:16:46.059 --> 00:16:48.509 dive talking about a tech startup, we talked 00:16:48.509 --> 00:16:51.889 about a viral explosion, a crazy YouTube video, 00:16:52.250 --> 00:16:54.830 a free internet download. Right. It all feels 00:16:54.830 --> 00:16:57.429 like this incredible stroke of organic luck, 00:16:57.830 --> 00:16:59.909 you know, the kind of lightning in a bottle that 00:16:59.909 --> 00:17:02.269 the internet occasionally blesses a weird artist 00:17:02.269 --> 00:17:05.589 with. It seems so spontaneous. But in an interview 00:17:05.589 --> 00:17:09.170 cited in the Wikipedia sources, the group's frontman, 00:17:09.630 --> 00:17:12.470 Ninja, revealed that he considered SOS to be 00:17:12.470 --> 00:17:15.390 merely the first step in a meticulously mapped 00:17:15.390 --> 00:17:19.299 out five album plan. And that single quote changes 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:22.359 the entire mechanical reality of Dianne Ward's 00:17:22.359 --> 00:17:25.019 rise to fame. It really does. If you are an independent 00:17:25.019 --> 00:17:27.759 artist from Cape Town and you are planning a 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:30.660 five album narrative arc before you even have 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:32.579 a record deal. Before you even have a single 00:17:32.579 --> 00:17:35.039 fan. Exactly. You are not just a musician hoping 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:37.799 to get famous. You are operating like a comic 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:40.519 book writer or a Marvel movie architect. It means 00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:43.339 the virality was engineered. Yes. The chaotic 00:17:43.339 --> 00:17:46.579 elements, the free release, the bizarre and visually 00:17:46.579 --> 00:17:49.640 abrasive music videos, the hidden tracks buried 00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:52.720 in 12 -minute audio files, the aggressive pushback 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.079 against genre classifications. I mean, none of 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:57.720 that was accidental. It was a deliberate structural 00:17:57.720 --> 00:18:00.180 performance. Completely deliberate. That is why 00:18:00.180 --> 00:18:03.400 I call it a Trojan Horse. The shocking, weird 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:05.980 Enter the Ninja YouTube video was just the wooden 00:18:05.980 --> 00:18:09.279 horse. Right. It was designed specifically to 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:12.039 bypass the gates of public attention and corporate 00:18:12.039 --> 00:18:14.920 gatekeeping. They knew it was weird enough to 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:18.019 go viral. Once the internet pulled the horse 00:18:18.019 --> 00:18:21.720 inside the city walls, the doors opened and out 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:25.259 poured a five -album, highly calculated artistic 00:18:25.259 --> 00:18:27.619 invasion. They weren't reacting to the industry. 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:30.019 No. They had already written the script for how 00:18:30.019 --> 00:18:31.740 the industry was going to react to them. It is 00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:34.740 just a stunning reframing of what it means to 00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:36.839 be an internet artist. They didn't just use the 00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:38.900 internet as a distribution tool. What did they 00:18:38.900 --> 00:18:42.119 do? They used the mechanics of internet virality 00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:45.200 itself as their artistic medium. They manipulated 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:47.859 the system. Which is genuinely mind blowing when 00:18:47.859 --> 00:18:49.920 you zoom out and look at the whole picture. It 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:53.769 really is. We started with an 18 -track, 68 -minute 00:18:53.769 --> 00:18:55.990 free digital download floating around a personal 00:18:55.990 --> 00:18:58.990 website in 2009. Right. We watched that download 00:18:58.990 --> 00:19:02.230 a viral phenomenon, completely bypassing the 00:19:02.230 --> 00:19:04.369 traditional gatekeepers of iTunes and physical 00:19:04.369 --> 00:19:07.349 CDs. We saw them build enough leverage to force 00:19:07.349 --> 00:19:09.809 Interscope Records to the table and then watch 00:19:09.809 --> 00:19:11.970 them navigate the corporate restructuring of 00:19:11.970 --> 00:19:14.970 their art. Employing superstar producers like 00:19:14.970 --> 00:19:18.539 Diplo to translate their sound. While simultaneously 00:19:18.539 --> 00:19:21.099 hiding their title track in 12 -minute files 00:19:21.099 --> 00:19:24.220 to keep their rebellious edge intact, we watched 00:19:24.220 --> 00:19:26.799 them break the billboard algorithms, tear the 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:28.420 critical establishment right down the middle, 00:19:28.740 --> 00:19:31.299 and eventually reveal that we were all just unwitting 00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:33.740 participants in the first act of a masterplan 00:19:33.740 --> 00:19:36.839 narrative. It is the definitive case study of 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:39.920 2010's internet culture colliding with the old 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:42.589 world music industry. Absolutely. But understanding 00:19:42.589 --> 00:19:45.329 their five album strategy leaves us with a rather 00:19:45.329 --> 00:19:47.490 profound question about the media we interact 00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:50.170 with every day. I love ending on a paradigm shift. 00:19:50.690 --> 00:19:52.690 What should we be asking ourselves? Well, if 00:19:52.690 --> 00:19:55.349 an artist can map out a five album arc before 00:19:55.349 --> 00:19:57.809 the public has ever even heard their name and 00:19:57.809 --> 00:20:00.690 then successfully engineer the exact viral moments 00:20:00.690 --> 00:20:03.470 needed to execute that plan. Yeah. Are we actually 00:20:03.470 --> 00:20:06.150 consuming their music or are we simply cast members 00:20:06.150 --> 00:20:08.849 in a carefully scripted multi -year piece of 00:20:08.849 --> 00:20:11.400 performance art? Oh wow. When a creator treats 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:13.920 the algorithms and human attention as their primary 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.539 instruments, how much of what we perceive as 00:20:16.539 --> 00:20:19.160 organic virality on the internet is actually 00:20:19.160 --> 00:20:22.000 a meticulously designed trap? A meticulously 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.940 designed trap. Did we choose to discover them 00:20:24.940 --> 00:20:27.940 or did their design actively hack our curiosity? 00:20:28.099 --> 00:20:30.460 That's the real question. That is absolutely 00:20:30.460 --> 00:20:32.299 something to mull over the next time you find 00:20:32.299 --> 00:20:35.140 yourself falling down a viral rabbit hole, convinced 00:20:35.140 --> 00:20:37.980 you just stumbled upon something completely organically. 00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:40.079 Thank you so much for joining us on this deep 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:42.519 dive. Keep questioning the media you consume. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:45.000 Keep looking for the hidden tracks and we will 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:45.740 catch you next time.