Lange Frans & Baas B

Lange Frans & Baas B
Lange Frans & Baas B performing at Koninginnedag in Delft on April 30, 2007.
Background information
Origin	Diemen, Netherlands
Genres	Nederhop
Years active	1997–2009
Associated acts	D-Men

Lange Frans & Baas B ("Tall Frans & Boss B") was a Dutch hip hop duo. Both Lange Frans (alias of Frans Frederiks) and Baas B (alias of Bart Zeilstra) grew up in Diemen, Netherlands.

In 1997, after a freestyle session on a basketball court in Diemen-Zuid, the duo created hiphop collective D-Men alongside Brutus, Frans' brother. 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 in 1999, entitled "Zoveel Mensen" ("So Many People"), and they won a talent hunt that was organised by Stichting Grap ("Joke Foundation") in 2001. In 2003, D-Men was joined by the artists Brace, Yes-R & Soesi B, Negativ, C-Ronic and DJ MBA.

Lange Frans & Baas B started to release singles as a duo in 2004. Their second single "Moppie" ("Babe") became a huge hit. Though they performed as a duo, the chorus of this song was sung by Brace. Their third single "Zinloos" ("Senseless"), a protest against so-called senseless violence (random street violence without a clear reason or sprung from minor incidents — a current hot topic in the Netherlands), became a number one hit in the Dutch charts at the end of the same year. On this track they were joined by singer Ninthe, who won TMF's 'Kweekvijver' later on. After the assassination of filmer and critic Theo van Gogh by Muslim fanatic Mohammed Bouyeri on November 2, 2004, a special version of "Zinloos" was recorded with adjusted lyrics. Parts of the lyrics were changed in order to address Theo van Gogh's assassination.