Die Antwoord
Die Antwoord is a South African hip hop duo formed in Cape Town in 2008. The duo consists of rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser. Their music, a fusion of hip hop with rave music, is frequently produced by producer DJ Hi-Tek, and performed in both English and Afrikaans.
Die Antwoord rose to international fame in 2010 through the virality of the music video for their song "Enter the Ninja" on social media and through blog posts, soon signing to Interscope Records and reissuing their debut studio album, SOS, later that year. They parted ways with Interscope in 2011 and independently released their second studio album, Tension, in 2012. Their follow-up albums, the techno-influenced Donker Mag and the trap-based Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid, became their most commercially successful releases in the United States, each topping Billboards Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart. Their fifth studio album, House of Zef, was released in 2020.
In film, Die Antwoord starred as fictionalized versions of themselves in both Harmony Korine's short film Umshini Wam and Neill Blomkamp's science fiction film Chappie, while a documentary about them, Zef: The Story of Die Antwoord, was released in 2024. Die Antwoord's style revolves around the South African zef movement, which is largely based on working class Afrikaners and "white trash" motifs. They are known for their graphic and surreal music videos, energetic live performances—particularly at music festivals—and provocative public image. They have faced controversy since their inception for what critics have decried as cultural appropriation of numerous South African groups, the use of blackface in their music videos, homophobia, sexual assault allegations against Ninja, and abuse allegations from their adopted son. They have been regarded as one of the most internationally successful acts to come out of South Africa.
History
2004–2010: Formation, virality and ''SOS''
, who performed as Waddy Jones, began rapping at age 14, performing at Black nightclubs throughout Johannesburg and fronting various English-speaking hip hop groups. His first group, the Original Evergreen, released two albums through Epic Records and had their 1995 pro-marijuana song "Puff the Magik" banned from South African radio. He began performing under the name Max Normal in 1997 and later released his debut solo studio album, Memoirs of a Clone, under his own name. Max Normal became a band in 2001, consisting of Jones, guitarist Mark Buchanan, drummer Sean Ou Tim, and DJ Sibot, but later disbanded. He founded the horrorcore collective the Constructus Corporation, whose album The Ziggurat was released through African Dope Records in 2002 with an accompanying graphic novel, and released a second solo studio album, The Fantastic Kill, in 2005, also through African Dope.Around 2003, Jones met Anri du Toit, then a fine art student from Pretoria who was working as a waitress, outside of a club in Cape Town. After meeting again at one of his shows, he asked her to contribute vocals to a Constructus Corporation song. Jones offered to teach du Toit how to rap and they began making music together in 2004—with Jones directing Picnic, a mockumentary about du Toit, that year—before getting married and having a daughter named Sixteen together in 2005. Max Normal was later revived as MaxNormal.TV, a motivational hip hop group featuring du Toit, producer Justin de Nobrega, and Jakob Basson that performed in suits and played PowerPoint presentations during performances. In 2008, they released their debut studio album, Good Morning South Africa, and performed at Pukkelpop. Jones also performed under the names Yang Weapon, Metatron One, the Man Who Never Came Back, and MC Totally Rad. He later described his participation in his former acts, with which he did not "really have an emotional connection", as "experimenting, messing around and trying to find Die Antwoord".
Die Antwoord formed in 2008 in Cape Town, then consisting of Jones, known as Ninja; du Toit, known as Yolandi Visser and stylized as Yo-Landi Vi$$er; and de Nobrega, the group's producer who went by the name DJ Hi-Tek. Their name is. They performed at the South African music festival Oppikoppi and released their debut studio album, SOS, in 2009. The music video for their single "Enter the Ninja"—which starred South African DJ Leon Botha, who also opened for Die Antwoord's earliest concerts and was notable for being the oldest living person with progeria before his death in 2011 at age 26—was released in late 2009. Also released then was a short promotional video titled Zef Side, which was directed by Sean Metelerkamp and featured interviews with the group about their fictitious origin story in a public housing suburb as well as their song "Beat Boy", which samples the 1986 Bronski Beat song "Hit That Perfect Beat". Both videos went viral online after being posted on their website, dieantwoord.com, and shared on blogs such as Boing Boing and Dlisted in February 2010, bringing them attention internationally on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. By the end of 2010, "Enter the Ninja" had received over eight million views on YouTube and was named Myspace's Video of the Year, while Zef Side had over five million views and was one of 25 videos selected for the Guggenheim's YouTube Play exhibit, which showcased video art from YouTube.
File:Xeni Jardin interviews die Antwoord.jpg|thumb|right|Xeni Jardin of Boing Boing interviewing Die Antwoord at Coachella in 2010
Die Antwoord's plans to release their debut studio album through Dutch record label Magnetron Music fell through by mid-February 2010. Die Antwoord met with Jimmy Iovine to sign a US$1 million deal with Interscope Records, which they announced in May 2010. They made their debut performance in the United States at Coachella, which was retrospectively described by Caroline Ryder of Dazed as "the most buzzed-about performance of the festival". Their debut extended play, 5, was released on 12 July 2010 through Cherrytree and Interscope Records. SOS, which had previously been released online for free with 23 tracks, was reissued with 10 tracks, including by Interscope in the United States and by Polydor Records in the United Kingdom, on 12 October 2010. It peaked at number four on Billboards Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart and, by 2011, had sold 26 thousand copies. It was preceded in October 2010 by the single "Evil Boy", featuring teenage Xhosa rapper Wanga Jack and produced by Diplo. Its lyrics take a stance against the practice of ulwaluko, a Xhosa initiation rite involving circumcision. Ninja stated in 2010 that SOS was the first in a five-album plan.
Also in 2010, Visser and Ninja adopted Gabriel du Preez, a then–nine-year-old with hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia from Vrededorp. They nicknamed him Tokkie and he was later featured in several of their music videos including "I Fink U Freeky", after Ben Jay Crossman, a photographer who frequently collaborated with Die Antwoord, photographed him and his family for a documentary about Vrededorp. Die Antwoord performed at the London Electronic Dance Festival alongside Aphex Twin in August 2010 and on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in October 2010, where they performed "Enter the Ninja". By late 2010, they had become "arguably the first-ever pop phenomenon to spring out of Cape Town", according to Interviews T. Cole Rachel.
2011–2012: Interscope departure and ''Tension''
Karin Nelson described Die Antwoord in W as "the biggest pop sensation ever to come out of South Africa" in 2011. Mathilde Boussion of Le Monde later wrote that they had become "South Africa's most famous musical group abroad" in the early 2010s. They performed at the Australian Big Day Out festival in January 2011. They were nominated for the Left Field Woodie at the 2011 Woodie Awards, which was won by Kanye West. The duo starred as wheelchair-using versions of themselves in Harmony Korine's short gangster film Umshini Wam, named after a Zulu protest song of the same name. It premiered at South by Southwest in March 2011 before being released online the following day. For Vulture, Amos Barshad praised the film as "a thoroughly engaging fifteen minutes" that "smartly stirs up the Die Antwoord argument". Also that month, a music video for their song "Rich Bitch" was released. They were an opening act for Linkin Park on European dates of their Projekt Revolution tour in June 2011.In November 2011, Die Antwoord left Interscope Records over disputes concerning their upcoming album, Tension, including over the vulgarity of its lead single "Fok Julle Naaiers" and, according to Ninja, label executives' suggestions that they focus the album on collaborations with Interscope labelmates such as Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas, and Far East Movement, to which they objected. Visser also stated that Interscope "kept pushing us to be more generic" in order to make more money. Die Antwoord formed their own independent label, Zef Recordz, and released "Fok Julle Naaiers" that same month with a video. They announced Tensions release date and tracklist the following month. Ninja described their aim for Tension as feeling "like an exact continuation of SOS.
Tensions second single, "I Fink U Freeky", was released in January 2012 alongside a music video co-directed by Ninja with photographer Roger Ballen, featuring recreations of scenes from Ballen's photo books Boarding House and Shadow Chamber. It won the award for Best Music Video at the 20th Plus Camerimage film festival in Poland and was praised by The Guardians Andrew Frost as a rare success among collaborations between contemporary artists and popular musicians. By October 2012, the video had more than 16 million views. They also performed the song the following month on the Late Show with David Letterman. Die Antwoord released Tension on 7 February 2012 through Zef Recordz, in association with the Good Smile Company, which also collaborated with the group to release vinyl toys of their character Evil Boy, which resembles Casper the Friendly Ghost with an oversized erection, and Downtown Records, which handled and distributed the record worldwide. The Observer gave the record three out of five stars, with Ally Carnwath writing that, though "the cheap thrills of fairground synths have palled" since SOS, their "double act still sounds weird and abrasive in the best possible way". Camille Dordero of Spin derided Tension as "a thumping collection of skits" that "hews a little too close to the fake-gangster thing to be nearly as fun ", also hypothesizing that it was "deliberately bad" and "ruthless white-rap pastiche", while Derek Staples of Consequence wrote that, despite its "foul-mouthed impish fun", Tension "could have benefited from some artistic restraint" and "doesn't offer much punch or cohesive power".
Die Antwoord went on an American tour starting shortly after Tensions release and, that summer, at the request of guitarist Dave Navarro, toured as an opener for the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. "Baby's on Fire", the third single from Tension, was released in June 2012 with a music video wherein Ninja and Visser play siblings arguing over Visser's lover. They went on tour from June to October throughout Europe and the United States to support the release of Tension. Their single "Fatty Boom Boom" and its music video were released in October 2012. The music video was met with controversy due to Visser appearing in blackface, which she responded to by stating that she "doesn't know what blackface is". It also experienced an uptick in views due to a Twitter feud between the duo and Lady Gaga, who is depicted in the video being eaten by a lion. Visser and Ninja fronted a campaign for Alexander Wang's T by Alexander Wang collection in February 2012. Tension was followed up with a non-album single, "Xpensiv Shit", in July 2012.