Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Coming from Cape Town, South Africa, the hip-hop duo Die Antwoord struck Internet viral gold with their video hit "Enter the Ninja," but they're really conceptual artists Watkin Tudor Jones and Yolandi Visser presenting their "inner zef." Before assuming the roles of Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er for Die Antwoord, the two were involved with satirical projects like MaxNormal.TV -- who wore three-piece business suits and delivered motivational hip-hop -- and the Constructus Corporation: a hip-hop fantasy group based around a comic book called the Ziggurat. The idea for a more vulgar rave-rap group began in 2008, but it wasnt until a year later that Die Antwoord -- which is Afrikaans for "The Answer" -- began playing live. Their stage show was outrageous with Yo-Landi baiting and flipping off the audience, while Ninja rapped and danced, wearing only his trademark Dark Side of the Moon boxer shorts. That same year they recorded their debut album $O$, and introduced "Zef," which fused hip-hop, electro, and rave music. A year later, the videos they created for the tracks "Zef Side" and "Enter the Ninja" became viral hits. The latter featured Leon Botha, an experimental South African artist and one of the worlds oldest survivors of the premature aging disease progeria, who appeared as the groups DJ. "Enter the Ninja" cracked the British Top 40, and major label Interscope soon signed the group and released their 5 EP in July of 2010. That October, the label released a revised $O$. A world tour followed.
Wikipedia:
Die Antwoord (Afrikaans for "The Answer") is a South African rap-rave group whose style draws from the Zef counter-culture movement. Its members are Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er as lead vocalists, with tracks by DJ Hi-Tek.
Background and style
Die Antwoord lead vocalist Ninja was part of the South African hip-hop scene for many years, fronting acts such as The Original Evergreens, MaxNormal.TV and The Constructus Corporation. 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."
Die Antwoord's musical and visual style incorporates elements of Zef culture, described as modern and trashy, appropriating out-of-date, discarded cultural elements. Yo-Landi said, "It's associated with people who soup their cars up and rock gold and shit. Zef is, you're poor but you're fancy. You're poor but you're sexy, you've got style." Their lyrics are performed in Afrikaans, Xhosa, and English.
Die Antwoord observed that journalists and critics, particularly in the United States, frequently ask if their creative output is a joke or a hoax. When asked if he was playing a character, Ninja said, "Ninja is, how can I say, like Superman is to Clark Kent. The only difference is, I don't take off this fokken Superman suit." They have described their work as "documentary fiction" and "exaggerated experience" designed for shock value. Ninja told Spin:
People are unconscious and you have to use your art as a shock machine to wake them up. Some people are too far gone. They'll just keep asking, "Is it real? Is it real?" That's dwanky. That's a word we have in South Africa, "dwanky." It's like lame. "Is it real?" Dwanky. You have to be futuristic and carry on. You gotta be a good guide to help people get away from dull experience.
The band is known for its cult following, especially the unusually prolific creation of fan art by their followers.
History
Debut album: $O$
Die Antwoord formed in 2008. Their debut album $O$ was made available as a free download on their official website. $O$ features Cape Flats rappers Garlic Brown (aka Knoffel Bruin), Scallywag, Isaac Mutant, Jack Parow, and Jaak Paarl (aka Jaak). In 2009 South African cinematographer Rob Malpage (along with co-director Ninja) shot the video for their single "Enter the Ninja." The video features the late Cape Town artist and turntablist Leon Botha. The video got millions of views online nine months later, forcing them to move their website to a US-based hosting provider to handle the traffic. The single Evil Boy contained a verse by guest vocalist Wanga (a Xhosa rapper) in his native language, which rejects the traditional Xhosa passage to manhood achieved in part by circumcision, electing to remain uncircumcised; thus an "evil boy for life". The video has garnered over 6.5 million views as of 29 Feb 2012.
Interscope deal and $O$ re-release
Following the success of the video, Die Antwoord signed a record deal with Interscope Records. In April 2010, they performed their first international concert at the Coachella Music Festival, in front of 40,000 people. Die Antwoord then toured internationally in support of $O$. Shortly after, they joined the 2011 Big Day Out circuit which took them to New Zealand and Australia, sharing back-to-back, sold-out sideshows with M.I.A.. At the end of 2010, Die Antwoord won the Myspace 'Best Music Video of 2010' award for their debut video, Enter The Ninja.
Interscope dispute, Zef Recordz and independent Ten$Ion release
In November 2011, Die Antwoord left Interscope Records over a dispute concerning their upcoming album and its lead single, Fok Julle Naaiers. Vi$$er explained that Interscope "kept pushing us to be more generic" in order to make more money: "If you try to make songs that other people like, your band will always be shit. You always gotta do what you like. If it connects, it's a miracle, but it happened with Die Antwoord." Die Antwoord formed their own independent label, Zef Recordz, and released their new album Ten$Ion through it. The release was in association with with the Good Smile Company (a Japanese company that is also making Die Antwoord toys), and Downtown Records N.Y.C., which is handling the marketing and distribution for the record worldwide.
Media projects
In an interview with Exclaim! magazine, the group revealed they have a five album plan. According to Ninja, "We'll be dropping films between each of the albums, feature films... We have one we're working on for next year called The Answer. It's like the story of how Die Antwoord started. But that's like, our power, and where our energy is at right now"
They have filmed a short film for the song "Wat Kyk Jy?" (Afrikaans for "What Are You Looking At?") with American filmmaker Harmony Korine. The short film premiered at SXSW as "Umshini Wam" and features "furry costumes, wheelchairs, a music video breakdown, and plenty of zef slang". The film is available online.
