Lange Frans Explained

Lange Frans
Birth Name:Frans Christiaan Frederiks
Alias:Lange Frans, Areka
Birth Date:12 November 1980
Birth Place:Amsterdam, Netherlands
Origin:Diemen, Netherlands
Genre:Hip hop, Urban music
Occupation:Rapper, radio personality, television presenter, record producer, conspiracy theorist
Years Active:1996present
Label:TopNotch
Associated Acts:D-Men, Brutus, Lange Frans & Baasm

Frans Christiaan Frederiks (born 12 November 1980), known by his stage name Lange Frans, is a Dutch rapper and television presenter. From 1997 to 2004 he was a member of the band D-Men. Between 1997 and 2009 he was part of the Lange Frans & Baas B duo before starting a solo career. In 2019 the duo reformed and made a few appearances, but in April 2021 Baas B returned with a solo album,[1] claiming that he and Frederiks were no longer on the same page "in terms of message".[2] Before taking the stage name Lange Frans, he used the name Akela.

Starting in 2008, Lange Frans worked for the Dutch television station Veronica presenting programs including My Best Friends, Veronica Poker, TelSell, Dutch; Flemish: Lange Frans stelt Kamervragen, Fobiac and Face It!.

Since 2020, Frederiks has produced a podcast in which he disseminates fake news and conspiracy theories.[3]

Career

In D-Men

See main article: D-Men. In 1997, Lange Frans was a founding member of a band alongside his brother and fellow rapper Brutus Frederiks and childhood friend Bart Zeilstra better known as Baas B. After a freestyle session on a basketball court in Diemen-Zuid, they created hiphop band D-Men.[4] The English pronunciation of "D-Men" is similar to the Dutch pronunciation of the name of their home town. As D-Men they released their first single entitled "Zoveel Mensen" ("So Many People"). In 2001, D-men won a talent contest that was organised by Stichting Grap ("Joke Foundation") in 2001. In later years, many artists joined D-Men, including Brace, Yes-R & Soesi B, Negativ and DJ MBA.

In Lange Frans & Baas B

In 2004, Frans and Bart Zeilstra, already part of D-Men formed the duo Lange Frans & Baas B and had a successful career lasting more than 4 years with three albums: Supervisie (2004), Het land van (2005) and Verder (2008). They also released a number of singles, the most successful of which were "Moppie", "Zinloos" (both in 2004) and "Mee naar Diemen-Zuid" in 2005. After the murder of Max Poncin on 2 November 2004 the single "Zinloos" was adapted and some of the lyrics amended to mourn his death. The duo split up in March 2009.

The duo were criticized for the over-commercialization of their music by D-Men colleague Negativ and by other Dutch rappers Def P, Remi Schouwenaars and Kimo.

Solo music and radio/TV career

Lange Frans continued his solo career with varied success. His biggest commercial success was the single "Zing voor me" featuring Thé Lau. It reached #5 on the Dutch Singles Chart.

Lange Frans has a 2-hour radio program named Lange Frans Goes Wild on WILD FM broadcast on prime time between 7 and 9 pm.[5] Together with his brother Brutus, he also had a weekly radio show at hip-hop station Lijn5 until the latter's demise.

Family

Lange Frans is the older brother of Dutch rapper Brutus (full name Thijs Frederiks).Lange Frans married former horse rider Daniëlle van Aalderen on 9 June 2008. They have one child, a son named Willem Frans Hendrikus born on 21 August 2008.

Controversies

On 24 March 2006, Lange Frans hit a school student during a performance. Someone had thrown an ice cube at Lange Frans's head to protest some of the lyrics he had used on stage. Lange Frans jumped from the stage and hit a student. The victim turned out not to have thrown the ice cube. Due to this incident, Lange Frans was not allowed to perform at a Liberation Day music festival in Haarlem.[6]

Kamervragen and conspiracy theories

In 2008 Lange Frans and Baas B released the single Dutch; Flemish: Kamervragen (English: Parliamentary Questions), in which various conspiracy theories are presented in reference to the Enschede fireworks disaster, the assassination of Pim Fortuyn, and the government construction fraud. In response, GroenLinks MP Tofik Dibi asked actual parliamentary questions about it in the House of Representatives,[7] which Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende refused to answer.[8] In 2015, Lange Frans released the sequel Dutch; Flemish: Kamervragen 2.[9] In the TV program Rambam in 2019, Frederiks said that his interest in conspiracy theories started in high school when he wrote a paper about the similarities between the pyramids of the Egyptians and those in Central America.[10]

On 30 November 2019, Lange Frans performed with Thierry Baudet at the party congress of the far-right Forum for Democracy with an adapted version of Het land van..., in which he sang, among other things, that he no longer trusts NOS Journaal weatherman Gerrit Hiemstra,[11] who is known for his work bringing awareness to climate change in the Netherlands.[12]

In the summer of 2020, Frederiks launched a podcast in which he mainly focuses on all kinds of conspiracy theories and invited guests who criticized the Dutch government response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2020 controversy arose around an episode of the podcast in which conspiracy theorist Janet Ossebaard made a guest appearance. Ossebaard is a self-proclaimed crop circle expert and believes, among other things, to be in contact with extraterrestrials through her laser pointer.[13] In the episode, the two fantasized about committing an attack on Prime Minister Mark Rutte, among others. Frederiks indicates that he can shoot well and could carry out such an attack, but does not intend to in order to keep his night's rest. Ossebaard states that she does not want to commit the attack in order to "keep [her] karma clean". Ossebaard further states that they "need help", according to RTL Nieuws, for an attack,[14] since both have indicated that they do not want to commit an attack themselves.[15] On 16 October 2020, YouTube removed Lange Frans' Lockdown (Fall Cabal), a song with more than a million views which makes reference to various conspiracy theories, from the platform for violating its community guidelines.[16] Following the VPRO broadcast Dutch; Flemish: de online Fabeltjesfuik (English: the online fairy tales trap) of Zondag met Lubach on 18 October,[17] Youtube closed Lange Frans' account on 21 October, removing all his music of the past decades.[18]

Discography

Albums

In Lange Frans & Baas B
YearAlbumChart
peak
(NED)
[19]
Certification
2004Supervisie48
2005Het land van...27
2008Verder56
Solo
YearAlbumChart
peak
(NED)
Certification
2012Levenslied7
2016Presenteren Blauwdruk Boothcamp 50

Mixtapes

In D-Men
Solo

Singles

In D-Men
As Lange Frans & Baas B
YearSingleChart
peak
(NED)
Chart
peak
(BEL)
(Vl)
[21]
CertificationAlbum
2004"Represent"99
"Moppi"
(feat. Brace)
3
"Zinloos"
(feat. Ninthe)
143
2005"Supervisie"26
"Het land van... " 1
"Mee naar Diemen-Zuid " 9
2006"Ik wacht al zo lang"
(feat. Brutus & Tim)
16
"Dit moet een zondag zijn" 79
2008"Kamervragen" 14
2009"Dit was het land van" 2
As Lange Frans
YearSingleChart
peak
(NED)
CertificationAlbum
2006"Als je maar gelukkig bent"
(Gordon & Lange Frans)
69
"De leipe Bauer flavour"
(Frans Bauer feat. Ali B & Lange Frans)
14
2007"Zwaard Van Damocles"
(Sef Thissen feat. Lange Frans)
10
2010"Ben mezelf"
(Lange Frans)
66
"Zing voor me"
(Lange Frans & Thé Lau)
1
2011"Stiekem"
(Fouradi feat. Lange Frans)
96
"Kom maar op (Vrij)"
(Marco Borsato with Lange Frans)
6
"Bloed gabbers"
(Lange Frans & Trijntje Oosterhuis)
58
2012"Nieuwe dag"
(Lange Frans & Jeroen van der Boom)
29
"Nergens goed voor"
(Lange Frans & Jah6 & DJ Mass)
73
"Beloofd is beloofd"
(Lange Frans)
46
featured in

Songs and collaborations except for Lange Frans and Baas B

Appearances / Featured in

In albums
In Compilation albums and mixtapes

Television appearances

Lange Frans took part in a number of television programs including:

Notes and References

  1. News: Eenennaam. Alexander van. 7 April 2021. Baas B maakt comeback zonder Lange Frans: 'Ik wil zo gelukkig blijven als ik nu ben'. nl. Algemeen Dagblad. 9 September 2022.
  2. Web site: Baas B hoeft even geen samenwerking met Lange Frans. 17 April 2021. RTL Boulevard. 9 September 2022.
  3. News: 9 September 2020. Dit is waarom ook jij nu meer complotten online ziet. nl. Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. 9 September 2022.
  4. Web site: Hiphopenmark: Biographies . Hiphopenmark.mysites.nl . 2014-01-22.
  5. Web site: Radio Freak: Lange Frans krijgt programma op WILD FM . Radiofreak.nl . 2014-01-22.
  6. Web site: Geslagen scholier wil straf voor Lange Frans ("Struck student wants punishment for Lange Frans") . Archief.nieuws.nl . 2014-01-22 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120207012239/http://archief.nieuws.nl/2006-3-31/204410/Geslagen_scholier_wil_straf_voor_Lange_Frans . 2012-02-07 .
  7. News: 14 February 2008. Single Lange Frans lokt Kamervragen uit. nl. Trouw. 9 September 2022.
  8. Web site: Balkenende wil niet reageren op Lange Frans en Baas B.. 26 February 2008. 3voor12. nl. 9 September 2022.
  9. Web site: Wat jij moet weten over 'Kamervragen 2' van Lange Frans. 16 December 2015. NPO 3FM. nl. 9 September 2022.
  10. Web site: Rambam: Complotten. https://web.archive.org/web/20200222135419/https://www.npostart.nl/rambam/14-02-2019/BV_101391612 . 2020-02-22 . 14 February 2019. BNNVARA. 9 September 2022.
  11. News: 30 November 2019. Lange Frans vormt muzikaal duo met Thierry Baudet. nl. de Telegraaf. 9 September 2022.
  12. News: 4 January 2022. Machiavelliprijs 2021 voor Gerrit Hiemstra. nl. Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. 9 September 2022.
  13. Web site: De wereld van complotdenker Janet Ossebaard. Mostert. Dirk. Waal. Wendy van der. Hoek. Wouter. 18 April 2020. KRO-NCRV. nl. 9 September 2022.
  14. News: 6 August 2020. Woedende reacties op complotfilmpje Lange Frans. nl. RTL Nieuws. 9 September 2022.
  15. News: Quekel. Sebastiaan. 6 August 2020. Verbijstering om podcast Lange Frans: 'OM moet onderzoeken of video strafbaar is'. nl. Algemeen Dagblad. 9 September 2022.
  16. langefrans. 1317068699967291392. 16 October 2020. Na 6 maanden en ruim 1 miljoen weergave is de track en videoclip verwijderd van @YouTube intimidatie? bedreiging? Cyberpesten? #lockdown. nl. 9 September 2022.
  17. Web site: Zondag met Lubach: De online Fabeltjesfuik. 18 October 2020. VPRO. 9 September 2022.
  18. News: 21 October 2020. YouTube verwijdert kanaal van rapper en complotdenker Lange Frans. nl. Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. 9 September 2022.
  19. Web site: DutchCharts.com Lange Frans discography page. DutchCharts.com. 2012-10-14.
  20. Web site: DutchCharts.com D-Men discography page. DutchCharts.com. 2012-10-14.
  21. Web site: Ultratop.be/nl/ Langr Frans discography page. Ultratop.be/nl. 2013-12-23.