Yolandi Visser
Interview with Ninja and Yo-Landi from the South African group Die Antwoord:
Ninja is also known as Watkin Tudor Jones (aka Waddy Jones), a South African artist heavily involved in the local South African hip-hop scene. He likes to adopt different stage personas – his current one is called Ninja, but before Die Antwoord, he was part of The Original Evergreens, Max Normal.tv and The Constructus Corporation.
MaxNormal.tv
Waddy called himself Max Normal, and was the frontman for “MaxNormal.tv”, who is said to have performed live with the group in 3 piece suits.
Here’s an interesting live performance with “PowerPoint Slides” in the background
The Constructus Corporation
After disbanding MaxNormal.tv for creative reasons, Waddy relocated to Cape Town and started a multi-media project which eventually became Constructus Corporation. Yolandi Visser went with him. The project culminated in the release of the concept album / graphic novel called The Ziggurat, an 88 page hard-covered book containing a hand-written hiphop fantasy story which follows the adventures of two kids on a giant futuristic floating world / shopping mall called The Ziggurat. It came with a soundtrack disc and digital illustrations.
Review of The Ziggurat (click for larger)
The Ziggurat
Die Antwoord
Jones’/Ninja’s current group Die Antwoord (with Yo-landi Visser and DJ Hi-Tek) self-identifies as different cultures mixed together. Much of their lyrics is in Afrikaans (a Germanic language that has origins in Dutch). You’ve seen plenty of it by now, we’re sure.
Chommie Toys
Waddy and Yolandi also make cool soft-toys called Chommie Toys. See MaxNormal’s blog.
Be sure to check out the crazy Gommie posters too!
Watch Die Antwoord do impromptu rapping in a Taxi Cab, courtesy of TaxiJam. Yo-Landi shows her ass, too. Wow.
