Die Antwoord is a trashy-looking group of rapping ravers from South Africa and they’re dropping their debut, $0$, on Tuesday. But are we getting “the answer,” as their moniker translates to, or a lot of questions?
Their debut comes out just over half a year from when their videos for Zef Side and Enter the Ninja went hugely viral, as they say, crashing servers and garnering overseas attention to the point where they’re now on a major label (Universal).
Quick-rapping tattooed leader Ninja, who claims to be 35 but looks suspiciously much older, and his pixie-voiced partner Vi$$er, who may or may not be his wife but is the confirmed mother of his child, were virtual unknowns even in South Africa before the videos.
Now they have the music world’s attention, a North American headlining tour kicking off tonight in Vancouver, and, perhaps the surest sign of trendy approval, Blackberry-shilling producer Diplo mime DJing in their new video for Evil Boy. Needless to say they’ve come a long way in a very short time. However, much of what is propelling this rise is a very typical question of our time: is what we are seeing real?
Only weeks removed from Joaquin Phoenix’s fake documentary fiasco, we are again questioning authenticity and demanding answers on whether what we are seeing is performance art or a creative stroke of success. In this case it’s trailer park types who have made hip hop-infused drum n’ bass that is, by their own admission, some “fokken next level shit.”
The Vancouver Straight’s John Lucas dug deep in a recent Die Antwoord piece, exposing some of Ninja’s (born Watkin Tudor Jones) past incarnations, including a clean cut character named Max Normal who made power-point presentations involving motivational raps. Sounds even stranger than his current reefer-blazed SA ghetto rap character.
Before Lucas’s interview with the duo, he is instructed to watch a video called Straight From the Horse’s Piel which answers all the lingering questions you might have about Die Antwoord. On whether the group is for real, Ninja is expectedly opaque, saying something about Ninja is like the Superman to his Clark Kent and that the only thing real in life is the unexpected.
One pertinent question the video fails to answer is whether it’s possible to build a long-lasting music career this way? In other words, can you build a fan base by being a internet video curiosity and what happens when the story loses steam and the media inevitably moves on? Ninja and Vi$$er can only hope those viral video hits lead to fans connecting with $0$ and that the group can deliver in a live setting.
Otherwise, a year from now we won’t be asking whether Die Antwoord is for real, but more like: what whatever happened to . . . ?
Die Antwoord play the Phoenix on October 24th.
