Het land van...

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“Het Land Van...”

Single by Lange Frans & Baas B

Released

2005

Format

Genre

Dutch hip hop

Length

4:00

Label

Walboomers Music

Producer

Lange Frans & Baas B singles chronology

Supervisie
(2004)

Mee naar Diemen-Zuid
(2005)

Het land van... ("The country of...") is a Dutch song by Lange Frans & Baas B. The lyrics of this song deals with the current (2005) overall social and political situation in the Netherlands. It rose to the top of the Dutch charts soon after its release in 2005 with a live performance during the Uitmarkt on August 26 at the Museumplein, Amsterdam.

[edit] Lyrics

The lyrics enumerate the best and worst parts of Dutch history, in the form "[The Netherlands] are the country of..." ("Het Land Van..."), often listing a good and bad part in the same line. In the song, Lange Frans and Baas B elaborate that the Netherlands are the country ("het land van") of

Pim Fortuyn and Theo Van Gogh as well as of their murderers Volkert Van der Graaf and Mohammed Bouyeri
big Marihuana and XTC consumption as well as legalised prostitution
popular fastfood
great soccer players like Johan Cruijff and Abe Lenstra, but also of bloody feuds between Ajax and Feyenoord (see Klassieker for details)
vicious plunderers (colonisation of e.g. Indonesia) and inventors of the word apartheid, but also a land which was liberated from Nazi Germany in 1945
many regional dialects in a small area, rich culture, but also great problems with immigration and social problems in housing projects
high taxes and a society filled with envy of those who make it big
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who supports the Iraq War as a "puppet of George W. Bush"
great folk musicians like Andre Hazes, who still are popular in the Netherlands

In the end, both rappers state that despite all the faults, they love their country.

[edit] Criticism and success

Het land van... can be seen as the prime example of a genre sometimes pejoratively referred to as 'Subsidierap' ('Subsidized rap'). In a time when the 'street' culture of second- and third-generation immigrants was painted by the media as increasingly hostile to the rest of Dutch society, and Moroccan performers like Raymzter used rap music to voice their discontent,

Although it can be argued that rappers Lange Frans and Baas B, both native-born Dutchmen who grew up in a quiet village near Amsterdam, do not represent immigrant youth culture at all, it's hard to argue with the financial success of Het land van..., which undoubtedly prompted Moroccan-born rapper Ali Bouali to turn to the same lucrative musical direction. The song's influence on popular culture seems undeniable, but there are as least as many people who believe it to be dishonest and artificial as there are those who appreciate it as a modern expression of patriotism.