Awhile ago now, I was talking to one of my friends about whether there was any Dutch hip hop I should be covering for this blog.  I probably asked with a little bit of a smile, because the idea of Dutch hip hop is funny.  He mentioned De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig and Die Antwoord, though Die Antwoord is a South African group.

Of the two, De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig is the lesser known act, though they’ve been popular in Holland since 2005, when their song “Watskeburt?” made it onto the Dutch top 40.  Wikipedia cites this as the first instance of their “propagating of neologisms,” since “watskeburt” is supposed to parallel the English expression “what’s up” or “wassup.”  (It shortens wat is er gebuurd?, meaning, “What happened?”)

Their new song “Sterenstoff” (Stardust) is great.  It has what they call in English a “catchy hook” and their playful attitude is what they call in English “infectious.”  In Dutch, the chorus plays some funny games too:  the theme is the heavens, which, for them, is te vergelijken met the ladies:

Golflengte afstand
Van je hemellichaam
Ze is van spectrale klasse
Ooh, onaardse krachen (yeah)
Losgebarsten toen ze naar me lachte

Listen and watch below.  There are some great moments in the video; watch for brie-chomping and a very phallic beach towel.  Oh, and if you are reading this from around hier, their tour schedule includes some forthcoming Dutch dates.