Blog

• The Wacky World of the Earliest Rap in Dutch and its Surprising Relevance Today (Part 2)

• The Wacky World of the Earliest Rap in Dutch and its Surprising Relevance Today

• A Leap Into Circuit Diagram‘s Ursumpf

• OCCII – A documentary by Mehdi Tallal

• Naya Beat Volume 1: South Asian Dance and Electronic Music 1983–1992

• Music Experiences in the West Bank #3

• Music Experiences in the West Bank #2

• Music Experiences in the West Bank #1

• EAR x TNP at Aslan Versmarkt

• A Clubbing Experience

• Do fish enjoy blues music?

The second part of this series is about the second rap record in Dutch; Repper de Klep by Danny Boy

Diskomix

“Diskomix”, a song from 1983 by Danny Boy has gained traction in recent years in the selector sphere, a fact which was sealed by the inclusion of this song on Young Marco’s 2017 ‘Selectors 002” compilation, as well as appearing on a 2016 Psychemagik compilation — both featuring the instrumental version.

Danny Boy’s “Diskomix” is one of the writer’s favourite Dutch anomalies. Diskomix exists in between italo and boogie, drawing in listeners with a fat Roland TR-808 kick, a whimsical bell melody and soothing chords, only to be interrupted by wacky sound effects (achoo, miaw). In the vocal version Danny Boy, a 16-year-old, raps about making disco mixtapes in his room and annoying his dad by doing so.

The birth of Danny Boy
Three years earlier, in 1980, Danny Boy cracked the Dutch charts with a rap song heavily inspired by Joe Bataan’s Rap-O-Clap-O, a hit in the Netherlands at the time. With his first single as “Danny Boy”, the 13-year-old shook the scene with his lyrics about hating his classes and not wanting to do homework. The name ‘Repper De Klep”, the sleeve and the instrumental are clearly inspired by Joe Bataan, although the instrumental is original (and quite lovely — this tune also has quite a whimsical melody).

More recent Dutch Hiphop is also autobiographical and about struggles, often involving difficult relationships with parents. These struggles rarely involve having to do homework and dads complaining about decibel levels generated as a result of making disco mixtapes.

To Han’s credit, both Danny Boy songs still sound great. “Danny” (actually Jolyon Grevelt) and Han have another song together which has aged considerably worse than the two Danny Boy singles. The duet “Jolyon & Pappa — Vertel me een Verhaaltje” (1975) chronicles little Jolyon asking his dad to tell him a bedtime story.

Jolyon seems to have stopped making music after Diskomix and seems to make his living nowadays as accountmanager at a workwear firm (clothes for builders and the like, not the fashionable hipster kind). His short flirt as a teen with the music industry has made a bigger splash than almost all of us ever will. Although his diving board was substantially higher than ours, one has to admit he dove off with grace, performing summersaults and corkscrews that are still talked about today.

Overview
The second rap song ever to be released in Dutch — Repper de Klep by Danny Boy — has probably had little influence on the current day hip hop landscape and is, in itself, not much more than a funny song with a pretty nice instrumental.

The only other Danny Boy release has seen a revival in recent years due to its timeless, 808-containing, production and quirky charm — which gives Danny Boy still some claim to relevancy.

Similarly to the first rap song using the language — “Hallo, Hallo, Hallo”, the lyrics are about struggles — one of the main themes found in rap lyrics nowadays. The struggles are hardly on par with current day struggles however; these early examples are about the hardships of being a radio DJ and having to do homework rather than about life stories and growing up in a rough environment. For many large and aspiring artists hiphop is seen as a way out of undesirable socio-economic conditions. This could not be said about the first Dutch rap tracks — they could be best described as record producers fooling around.

Danny Boy has the claim to the second rap track in Dutch with Repper de Klep. His only other release, “Diskomix”, is still enjoyed by DJs and dancers on many dance floors across the world — similarly to the Adams & Fleisner back catalogue.