Who are Die Antwoord? Or, more to the point, is Die Antwoord? “The answer,” MC Ninja, the band’s front guy with the WW2 razor sharp crop, answers here. The answer to what? Silence, then, “Whatever, man. Fuck.”
Their video, ‘Enter The Ninja’, went viral and before long it became a blogger’s quest to uncover the truth. Were Die Antwoord serious? Was it considered ironic to like them because you were ‘in’ on the joke? Did MC Ninja posses the world’s worst tattoos? Maybe, Maybe, Yes.
Die Antwoord are three people; MC Ninja, Yo-Landi Vis$$er and DJ Hi-Tek and have been together since 2009. That’s pretty much all I know. I also know that on paper Die Antwoord seem like shit. And then you listen to their music and you realise that they actually are the shit. Self confidence with extra lashings of insane rapping interwoven with their local Afrikaans slang with seriously intense beats sounds like a recipe for disaster. And yet, strangely, it’s not. At all.
On ‘Enter The Ninja’ Ninja actually stops the song to declare that his own song, is, in fact, “like the coolest song I ever heard in my whole life.” I admit, when I first watched the video my first thought was, WTF. Swiftly followed by, WTF I NEED TO WATCH THAT AGAIN. Followed by, WHERE CAN I SEE ANOTHER VIDEO.
Then I watched this interview and my obsession was sealed -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_pS46YRMIQ&feature=player_embedded
What the fuck is going on? Why is there a slow motion shot of him thrashing his dong? Yo-Landi is like a quivering nymph, her non-supported boobs free to dance alongside Ninja, the wonky handwritten tattoos that adorn his chest now almost making sense. The post-modern ironic factor is apparent, yet there is something about their beats and the craft of the songs that make me realise that if this is a joke, then it’s a very clever one. Because like the million other new fans, I’m utterly hooked.
