"Fatty Boom Boom" is a song by South African hip hop group

Die Antwoord Die Antwoord (, Afrikaans for "The Answer") is a South African alternative hip hop group formed in Cape Town in 2008. The group comprises rappers Watkin Tudor "Ninja" Jones and Anri "Yolandi Visser" du Toit, a male/female duo, and producers H ...

from their second studio album '' Ten$Ion''. The song was written by

DJ Hi-Tek Tony Cottrell, better known as Hi-Tek (born May 5, 1976), is an American rapper and record producer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is best known for his work with Talib Kweli. His father is singer Willie Cottrell of the Willie Cottrell Band, whom Hi- ...

Ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

, and

Yolandi Visser Anri du Toit, known professionally as Yolandi Visser (stylised as ¥o-Landi Vi$$er), is a South African rapper. She is the female vocalist in the rap-rave group Die Antwoord. Her partner in the group is Ninja, Watkin Tudor Jones. Visser appear ...

. The song's chorus is an interpolation of

Carl Malcolm Carl Malcolm (born July 18, 1946, Black River, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae singer and percussionist. Biography Malcolm initially learned the keyboard, picking up skills on the instrument at his local Methodist church.Larkin, C ...

's 1975 reggae single "Hey Fattie Bum Bum". The term derives from

Jamaican Patois Jamaican Patois (; locally rendered Patwah and called Jamaican Creole by linguists) is an English-based creole language with West African influences, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora. A majority of the non-English wo ...

and remains commonly used in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

since emerging in the late seventies. The official music video for the song premiered on 16 October 2012 and generated controversy for some because of its usage of black body paint, as well as poking fun at

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

which triggered a response from her on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

Background

The official music video for the song premiered on 16 October 2012. It was directed by Ninja, Terence Neale, and Saki Berg. Described by Die Antwoord, the video is a "bright and colourful African adventure, complete with wild animals,

zef Zef () is a South African counter-culture movement. Kyle Hans Brockmann has compared zef counter-culture to many similar anarchic sub-cultures in the northern hemisphere. Etymology Yolandi Visser of Die Antwoord said, "It's associated with peo ...

savages singing and dancing in the streets, and a special guest appearance by a sneaky little prawn star."

Synopsis

The video features a

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

impersonator An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Entertainment: An entertainer impersonates a celebrity, generally for entertainment, and makes fun of ...

donning Gaga's meat dress during a tour of a "

concrete jungle Concrete jungle may refer to: Music Albums * ''Concrete Jungle'' (David "Fathead" Newman album), 1977 * ''Concrete Jungle'' (Dive album), or the title song, 1993 * ''Concrete Jungle'' (Nneka album), 2010 * ''Concrete Jungle'' (Scorcher album) ...

" in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. Her guide (Dave Kibuuka) points out Die Antwoord, who are preparing to street-perform and she remarks that she wishes to tour with them, a reference to Die Antwoord's former label,

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

, contacting them in March 2012 and informing them Gaga wished to have the band

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...

for her during the

Born This Way Ball The Born This Way Ball was the third concert tour by American singer Lady Gaga, in support of her second studio album '' Born This Way'' (2011). The tour visited all continents, except Antarctica, and was ranked as the fifth highest-grossing to ...

, to which they declined. In the video, Gaga's

minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, th ...

is hijacked and she flees in fear. During her escape she discovers the office of a

gynecologist Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

(

Kagiso Lediga Kagiso Lediga (born 6 May 1978) is a South African Tswana comedian, actor, writer and director. He is the creator and executive producer of the Netflix crime drama ''Queen Sono'' which was released on 28 February 2020. Lediga has written and dir ...

). She complains that there is something "really funny going on down there" before he removes a

parktown prawn The Parktown prawn, African king cricket or tusked king cricket (''Libanasidus vittatus'') is a species of king cricket endemic to Southern Africa. It is unrelated to prawns, '' Libanasidus'' being insects in the order Orthoptera – cric ...

from her vagina. The scene is based on a drawing by

Anton Kannemeyer Anton Kannemeyer (born 1967) is a South African comics artist, who sometimes goes by the pseudonym Joe Dog. Kannemeyer has lectured the University of Pretoria, Technikon Witwatersrand, and was also a senior lecturer at the University of Stellenbo ...

titled "Black Gynecologist". After leaving the office, she is chased and eaten by a lion. In between the scenes of Gaga are scenes of Yo-Landi,

, and DJ Hi-Tek performing, most scenes showing them in full body paint including

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

Controversies

The day after the video was released, Lady Gaga

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

"i fink u freaky but you don't have a hit. hundred thousand tickets sold in SA (South Africa) #thatsmyshit" and "i guess its not a good idea to tell someone you're a fan." Die Antwoord replied on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

by saying "even tho u r 'larger' than us... we still cooler than u... plus we don't have prawns in our private parts... haha!" Aisha Harris of ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' criticized the band's usage of

: they failed "to bring anything fresh to the subject. Instead, they borrow loaded imagery for a cheap thrill, and do little with the horrific history behind it" ; "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." ''Hearty'' magazine also took position, stating the video was "a gimmick using the shock value of a horrifically racist part of history."

Personnel

Songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

–

Watkin Tudor Jones Watkin Tudor Jones (born 26 September 1974), better known by his stage names Ninja and Max Normal, is a South African rapper, songwriter, record producer, performance artist, and director. Jones found international success as a member of Die An ...

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

– Yolandi Visser, Watkin Tudor Jones

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20140228121407/http://www.dieantwoord.com/tension.html#lyrix {{authority control 2012 songs 2012 singles Cultural depictions of Lady Gaga Music video controversies Die Antwoord songs