''Ten$ion'' is the second studio album by

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n hip-hop/ rave 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 ...

. The album was released on the iTunes Store on 29 January 2012 and on CD on 7 February. The album was released on Die Antwoord's

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...

Zef Recordz after leaving their previous label Interscope due to pressure on Die Antwoord to become "more generic". The album debuted at number 20 on the '' Billboard''

Dance/Electronic Albums Top Dance/Electronic Albums, Dance/Electronic Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by ...

chart.

Promotion

A trailer for the album was released 22 January 2012 featuring "I Fink U Freeky". The group also appears in both a video and print ads for Alexander Wang fashion line "T" for Spring 2012. The ad features the song "

Fatty Boom Boom "Fatty Boom Boom" is a song by South African hip hop group Die Antwoord from their second studio album '' Ten$Ion''. The song was written by DJ Hi-Tek, Ninja, and Yolandi Visser. The song's chorus is an interpolation of Carl Malcolm's 1975 regga ...

". The group also had a performance spot on the American television show '' Late Show with David Letterman'', in which they performed "I Fink U Freeky." Letterman, apparently amused by the song, would randomly drop the phrase "I think you're freaky and I like you a lot" into his monologues for weeks afterward. They performed the same song on another US late night TV show '' Jimmy Kimmel Live!'',

Music videos

"Fok Julle Naaiers" (English: "Fuck You Motherfuckers") was released as a music video on

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software a ...

on 7 November 2011. "I Fink U Freeky" was also released as a music video on 31 January 2012 featuring the appearance of Watkins Tudor Jones' (Ninja) cousin, Marthinus Thomas Jacobus Van Tonder. On 5 June 2012 a video for "Baby's on Fire" was released. Although a single wasn't released for "Fatty Boom Boom", on 16 October 2012 a video for the song was released. It lampoons

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 ...

in response to her offer to have Die Antwoord be the opening act on her tour.

Critical reception

The album has a score of 57 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, indicating mixed or average reviews. ''Pitchfork'''s Andrew Ryce called it "id rap at its worst" and that "even their excess lacks scope or imagination" concluding with "For a band so obsessed with its own self-consciously humorous image, ''Ten$ion'' in part fails because it feels so strangely humor''less''" and that they "picked the most unfortunate parts of their oversized, manufactured personalities to highlight". Monica Herrera of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' cited the album as "a marathon of overwrought beats and clunky horn-dog-rebel boasts" going on to say

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, record executive, and media proprietor best known as the co-founder of Interscope Records. In 2006, Iovine and rapper-producer Dr. Dre founded Beats Electronics, which produces ...

who signed the band to Interscope was "on to sounder investments these days." Joshua Khan of ''Blare'' stated the album had "more confidence" than '' $O$'' but it was "forced, coming off senseless and providing some sort of proof their fire might finally be cooling off." Allison Stewart of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' noted the album's "simplest songs" were "hopelessly complex" while saying the album was "better than it needs to be, but not as good as it thinks it is" but that the album is "peppered with great moments".

Track listing

Sample credits

* "Never Le Nkemise 1" contains an interpolation of " Unbelievable" by EMF. * "Hey Sexy" is based on "Ziwzih Ziwzih OO-OO-OO" (1968) by

Delia Derbyshire Delia Ann Derbyshire (5 May 1937 – 3 July 2001) was an English musician and composer of electronic music. She carried out notable work with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop during the 1960s, including her electronic arrangement of the theme ...

. It contains an interpolation of " America, Fuck Yeah" by

Trey Parker Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and '' The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. ...

and

Matt Stone Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Stone was interes ...

as well as " Move Bitch" by

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

and

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

's "

Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

" also featuring

. * The lyrics of "DJ Hi-Tek Rulez" are taken from a tirade delivered by Mike Tyson towards a reporter in 2002. * "U Make A Ninja Wanna Fuk" contains a slight interpolation of Tiffany's rendition of "

I Think We're Alone Now "I Think We're Alone Now" is a song written and composed by Ritchie Cordell that was first recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. It was a major hit for group, reaching number 4 on the US Hot 100 in April 1967. It finished at No. 12 on '' B ...

Charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tension 2012 albums Die Antwoord albums Alternative hip hop albums by South African artists Rave albums