Banana bread

Banana bread is a type of cake made with mashed bananas, and typically cooked a loaf shape. It is often moist, sweet, and can be described as a quick bread. There are however, some recipes that are closer to traditional-style rye breads.

History

Banana bread first became a standard feature of American cookbooks with the popularization of baking soda and baking powder in the 1930s, separating it from more traditional yeast leavened breads. It appeared in Pillsbury's 1933 Balanced Recipes cookbook, and later gained more acceptance with the release of the original Chiquita Banana's Recipe Book in 1950.

National Banana Bread day is 23 February. Bananas appeared in the US in the 1870s and it took a while for them to appear as ingredient items for desserts. The modern banana bread recipe began being published in cookbooks around the 1930s and its popularity was greatly helped by the introduction of baking powder on the market. Some food historians believe banana bread was a byproduct of the Great Depression as resourceful housewives did not wish to throw away overripe bananas (as they were still a costly item to purchase), others believe the modern banana bread was developed in corporate kitchens to promote flour and baking soda products.

Die Antwoord

Die Antwoord (pronounced [di'ɑnt.ʋoːrt], Afrikaans for "The Answer") is a South African rap-rave group formed in Cape Town in 2008. The group was formed by rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser (often stylized as Vi$$er) and DJ Hi-Tek. Die Antwoord's image is based on a counterculture movement known as zef in South Africa, and incorporated elements of the work of photographer Roger Ballen.

Die Antwoord released their debut album, $O$ (2009), online for free and attracted international attention for their music video for "Enter the Ninja". After briefly signing with Interscope Records, in 2011 they founded their own label Zef Recordz, and released their second and third studio albums, Ten$Ion (2012) and Donker Mag (2014).

Background and style

Die Antwoord's lead vocalist, Ninja, was part of the South African hip-hop scene for many years, fronting acts such as The Original Evergreen, MaxNormal.TV and The Constructus Corporation. Their debut album $O$ relates to their earlier work, specifically Good Morning South Africa. In the album, multiple tracks are sampled from, or are exact copies of songs on Good Morning South Africa, such as the "Rap Rave Megamix"-where the first glimpses of Jones' Ninja character was seen- were later reformed into the "Zef Side" video, and later "Beat Boy". Ninja told Rolling Stone, "Everything I did before Die Antwoord was me experimenting, messing around and trying to find Die Antwoord . . . everything before it was disposable. It was all throwaway."