Die Antwoord's latest is another in a long line of no-holds-barred NSFW artistic assaults on the senses – this time directed by singer Yolandi Visser.
Speaking to the other half of the duo Yolandi Visser in a video posted to YouTube, he recounts going to Kanye’s house which is “the biggest house on the block” for a recording session which turned very strange.
Die Antwoord’s Ninja – AKA Watkin Tudor Jones – claimed in response that the clip of the incident had been “cleverly edited to make it seem like me and Yolandi [Visser] committed a hate crime towards a person because they are gay”, and denied that the band were homophobic.
Gabriel "Tokkie" du Preez was adopted by Yolandi Visser and Ninja at the age of 9
Waddy Jones and Yolandi Visser are committed to this project, and that takes an incredible amount of nerve. I don’t know if they’ve pushed Die Antwoord as far as it can go, but I can’t help but root for their queer, underdog sort of success. This stuff is as novel as they come, so as they say on “Fatty Boom Boom”:
Given that he has a penchant for appearing in larger-than-life freak-ball videos, when the South African rapper-cum-surrealist showman Ninja goes to the freezer and pulls out half a dozen bottles of Veuve Cliquot, I envision a crazed bacchanal, but alas, they are props for the shoot that’s about to happen and are not yet cold enough to foam up properly. Instead, Ninja opts to attack a water and some carrot sticks—my rock star dream evaporating like the bubbles. Ninja, Yolandi Visser, and DJ Hi-Tek (who has remonikered as God) are the trio behind Die Antwoord (Afrikaans for ‘The Answer’) one of the seminal pop bands of the their generation. Propelled from Cape Town obscurity to Los Angeles notoriety, they have created a one-of-a-kind intersection of sonic punches in the face and comically disturbing videos that have amassed hundreds of millions of views, and now they sell-out shows around the world. “It has to be surprising—that is the only characteristic of that work.” Ninja explains between carrots, “I mean the cartoon violence. We’re from South Africa. There’s this murder-death-kill shit around you all the time.”
Die Antwoord’s Ninja and Yolandi Visser – real names Watkin Jones and Andri du Toit – have hit back at child abuse claims made by their former foster son Gabrielle “Tokkie” du Preez.
The relationship between Sparkes and Die Antwoord began in June 2013, after Jones’ partner, Yolandi Visser, reached out to the then 19-year-old Sparkes on Instagram.
The allegations from Sparkes began in June 2013 when Yolandi Visser commented on the then 19-year-old fan’s Instagram.
“He referred to Yolandi as his little sister, basically disassociated their relationship,” Sparkes said of Visser. “Within the next couple of days, correspondence became more intense. I was receiving up to six emails from him per day and I would reply twice. I was quite overwhelmed.”
