Ninja
Rap duo Die Antwoord found themselves in the middle of a Twitter storm on Wednesday after band member Yolandi Visser said Suicide Squad director David Ayer copied their style. Users of the social media platform soon responded to Visser’s rant, saying the duo found their success in the music industry through cultural appropriation and are in no position to call anyone out.
The M&G has not shied away from critically examining Die Antwoord and their style in the past. Criticism of their $O$ album even resulted in group leaking former editor Chris Roper’s number on one of their music videos. He wrote at the time:
The video in question is Fok julle Naaiers, from 2012’s Ten$ion, and features Waddy, Yo-Landi and a misshapen DJ Hi-Tek (who appears to have had botox to make himself look like an attack poodle), threatening to “fok” a “punk ass white boy” “in the ass”. Waddy does his usual aggressive look (in the film Zoolander, it would probably be called something like “Constipated Ninja”), regurgitates worms and spiders, and waves a couple of guns around. Dj Hi-Tek raps in front of a wall, on which is scrawled the number of the feared 28s gang of the Western Cape, a drawing of a dude with an unnaturally large penis, “Viva ANC”, “moffie”, and my mobile number with the invitation “4 Hot Bum Sex Call”.
See the rest of the the M&G‘s Die Antwoord package:
‘Are Die Antwoord blackface?’
Adam Haupt explores the idea in this edited extract of his book “Static: Race and Representation in Post-Apartheid Music, Media and Film”.
Video killed the radio star: Die Antwoord eats Lady Gaga
Turning down Lady Gaga’s request to be her opening act during one of her tours wasn’t enough for Die Antwoord, they had to have her eaten alive.
Die Antwoord: Defending the caveman (and woman)
When Die Antwoord’s “Enter the Ninja” video went viral, SA should’ve been ecstatic. But they ended up being our worst nightmare, writes Miles Keylock.