By Amy Eisen, news correspondent

An underground mine. An abandoned gas station. The woods. These are the places that seem most befitting to South African rap-rave duo Die Antwoord, who are known for pushing boundaries in the musical world and calling into question the definition of “taste.” But despite their questionable reputation, the group’s June 7 show at the House of Blues was packed full.

Even with incredibly obscene lyrics, the show was open to all ages, and there were even some brave parents who brought their six-year-old children. Good thing half the lyrics aren’t in English.

A mix of hardcore rap and heavy club beats, the show harkened back to 90’s raves. Even watching the group’s bizarre music videos, which almost seem to be a parody of art, wasn’t enough preparation for the ultra-high energy performance. The only times when Yo-Landi and Ninja break from gyrating aggressively and jumping off of platforms is during the song introductions, when DJ Hi-Tek lengthens the build-ups to entice the already crazed audience. Lightning-fast and part Afrikaans, the lyrics are nearly impossible to understand, yet the audience still managed to impressively shout along, especially to their more popular songs like “I Fink U Freeky” and “Pitbull Terrier.”

Die Antwoord isn’t just a musical group, but also the representative of an entire culture. Zef counter-culture, to be precise. Described in an interview by Yo-Landi, “Zef is, you’re poor but you’re fancy. You’re poor but you’re sexy, you’ve got style.” They are certainly not lacking style, and in their lyrics they often attribute their rise in fame to their zef influences. Opening the show with matching orange jumpsuits, Ninja ditches his for his trademark Dark Side of the Moon boxers, while Yo-Landi strips down to a shiny gold and white bikini.

While many knew to expect an explosive show, the quality of the performance was even more impressive than anticipated. Everything was perfectly choreographed, from the dance moves to the intertwined rap dialogues. The duo never missed a beat with their musically timed back-and-forth quips, whether during the songs or between. Vocally, both sounded near-perfect and managed to maintain a high volume through the entire set. The only disappointment was the lack of stage banter. Other than a few mentions to Boston, neither really shared anything to personalize the show. Luckily, the music has so much personality that it speaks for itself.

Stylistically, they are hard to pin down. Most of their lyrics are purposefully provocative, sometimes cleverly satirical but other times downright ridiculous. They like to play up pop culture references in their music videos, such as “Fatty Boom Boom,” which features a meat dress-clad Lady Gaga look-a-like traipsing cluelessly around the streets of Johannesburg. They incorporate outlandish props into their live performance, like a blow-up Casper the Friendly Ghost. Despite all the jokes, Die Antwoord’s quality performance proves that they do take their jobs seriously, pouring their hearts into their music. Everything was clearly rehearsed and well thought out, even if they want you to think they just awoke from a drunken slumber.

There has been debate among music critics whether Die Antwoord is the best or worst thing to happen to the industry. On one hand, they’re pushing envelopes, questioning the mainstream and forging new paths of individuality. On the other, they’re offensive and don’t possess outstanding talent, relying on flashy gimmicks to propel themselves forward.

Described as both brilliant and ignorant, sometimes by the same critic, the music is unquestionably a product of Ninja and Yo-Landi and no one else. In an industry with so much deception of identity and ownership, credit must be given to those that are not only true to their style, but have managed to create something new. I wouldn’t go so far as to call them brilliant, sophisticated or even pleasant, but there is certainly something genius about turning a concert into a piece of performance art.