Watkin Tudor Jones

Watkin Tudor Jones

Jones, December 2012
Background information
Birth name Watkin Tudor Jones
Also known as Ninja
Max Normal
The Man Who Never Came Back
MC Totally Rad
Yang Weapon
Destructo
Waddy
WAD:e[1]
Born 26 September 1974
Johannesburg, South Africa
Genres Alternative hip hop, rave
Years active 1995–present
Labels Interscope, Cherrytree,[2] Polydor, Rhythm Records
Associated acts Yolandi Visser
The Original Evergreen
MaxNormal.TV
The Constructus Corporation
Fucknrad
Die Antwoord

Watkin Tudor Jones (born 26 September 1974),[3] known as Ninja, is a South African rapper and record producer.

Jones was a part of South African hip-hop scene for many years, fronting such acts as The Original Evergreen, MaxNormal.TV and The Constructus Corporation.[4] He is known for adopting different stage personas.

He is best known as Ninja from Die Antwoord.

Jones has released several albums under different guises (including the Sibot-produced The Fantastic Kill and Markus Wormstorm-produced promo-only EP "Emmanuel Rothchild - My Favourite Songs" and "Markus Wormstorm Is Not Gay"), and expanded into graphic art, stuffed animal making, and other aspects of his creativity. He has a daughter named Sixteen with Yolandi Visser,[5] who is also a frequent collaborator.

He now lives in Cape Town, and comes from Johannesburg where he attended Parktown Boys' High School. Jones left school in 1992, one year before graduating.[6]

Max Normal

Jones was the lead vocalist of Max Normal, a live hip hop act, which released their debut album entitled Songs From The Mall in 2001. The band performed at various festivals around South Africa, including Up the Creek, Splashy Fen, and Oppikoppi. They also played in London and three shows at the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium.[7] A second version of this band evolved into the 'corporate' hip-hop group MaxNormal.tv in which they released an album, Good Morning South Africa," in 2008 with a sound not unlike the later-formed and more well-known group "Die Antwoord." They were a South African hip-hop crew that performed live wearing three-piece suits while frontman MaxNormal delivered his motivational speaking style raps to the audience. He also illustrated his lyrics to help the audience follow which were projected onto a big screen above the live performers and are triggered live to the beat by Max's personal assistant, Yolandi Visser, in a PowerPoint presentation style.

In early 2002, Jones disbanded Max Normal, just as the band was reaching South African stardom, headlining festivals like Oppikoppi and charting on 5FM (citing being creatively stifled as reason). He relocated to Cape Town and began collaborating with DJ Dope of Krushed & Sorted and Felix Laband on the music for a multi-media project he had conceptualised involving a graphic novel with soundtrack and live show. These sessions spawned the Man Who Never Came Back track on African Dope's 'Cape Of Good Dope' compilation in 2002, but gradually mutated into The Constructus Corporation outfit. Yolandi Visser, listed as Anica The Snuffling on the credits, was also involved.

The Constructus Corporation

When Jones disbanded Max Normal in early 2002, he and long-time DJ partner Sibot invited Markus Wormstorm and Felix Laband to collaborate on his ambitious The Constructus Corporation project, which resulted in the concept album / graphic novel The Ziggurat (ADOPECD009 African Dope Records 2002).[8]

After a production process including mix and master by Krushed & Sorted, in December 2002 "The Ziggurat" was released. This is an 88-page pink hard-covered book containing a hand-written hiphop fantasy story by Jones, which follows the adventures of two kids on a giant futuristic floating world / shopping mall called The Ziggurat, with detailed etched digital illustrations by artist Nikhil Singh, a soundtrack CD on which Jones plays several different characters, and a bonus blank CD at the back of the book with instructions on where to download an entire second album of music and narrations for free, with which to fill the CD. The Constructus Corporation disbanded in early 2003.

Die Antwoord

Main article: Die Antwoord

Die Antwoord is a rap-rave group formed in 2008 and composed of Ninja, Yolandi Visser and DJ Hi-Tek.[9] The band self-identifies as a melange of several diverse cultures all mixed into one.[9] Die Antwoord toured Europe in April 2010 and the USA later that same year.[9] Their debut album $O$ was made available as a free download on their official website.[10] In late 2009 South African cinematographer Rob Malpage co-directed (with Jones), co-produced (with Left Films and Die Antwoord) and lensed the video for their single "Enter the Ninja."[11] The promo became a viral video on the internet nine months later, delivering millions of hits to the official Die Antwoord website, eventually crashing the website's server.[9] The video also features South African progeria sufferer Leon Botha, a prominent Cape Town artist.[12] Die Antwoord performs "Zef" music, zef being a South African slang term that describes a unique South African style which is modern while including out-of-date, discarded cultural and style elements.[9] Their lyrics are humorous and explicit, and performed in both Afrikaans and English.[9][10][13] Members of the band consider themselves as hip hop artists, but specifically refer to their music as zef rap-rave.[14]

Both Visser and Ninja are vegetarian according to a 2012 interview.[15]

Acting career

Sometime after splitting from The Original Evergreen, Waddy firstly played a support actor as a prisoner inmate in 1995 Direct-To- Video film sequel Kickboxer 5[16][17] and has appeared in nonspeaking roles in various South African Nando's Commercials with South African comedian Marc Lottering.[18] In 2015, Jones, along with Yolandi Visser, was co-starred in Neill Blomkamp's science-fiction film Chappie.[19] The film features the songs "Ugly Boy", "Cookie Thumper" and "Enter the Ninja" from his band Die Antwoord.[20]

Personal life

Jones was born in Johannesburg in 1974. He has a daughter named Sixteen with Visser.[5] Sixteen occasionally appears in Die Antwoord videos, including "I Fink U Freeky". Jones has stated that he and Visser are not in a relationship.[21]

Jones frequently contradicts himself about his personal history: he has stated that he and Yolandi have known each other since childhood,[22] but has also said they met as adults.[23] He has stated that his father has been shot and his brother committed suicide.[23]

Discography

With The Original Evergreen
As a solo artist
With Max Normal
With The Constructus Corporation
As The Man Who Never Came Back
With Fucknrad
As MaxNormal.TV
With Die Antwoord

References

  1. ↑ "Anything But Normal (archived)". Levi's Original Music Magazine. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  2. ↑ Die Antwoord to sign with Interscope, Neill Blomkamp to direct next video Boing Boing
  3. ↑ archived interview of the Max Normal.Tv site last accessed 10-11-06
  4. ↑ 24 Facts: Die Antwoord Channel24
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Coetzer, Diane (31 January 2012). "Die Antwoord: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone Magazine (South African Edition) (Rolling Stone). p. 1. Retrieved 2012-02-07.
  6. ↑ Max Normal - Total F*ck Up [www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKwSAYGgyAI Youtube] 1:05 - 1:07 'never had a job since I left school in '92'
  7. ↑ bio of max normal, taken from the sovereign express website.
  8. ↑ http://www.africandope.co.za/albums/ziggurat.htm
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 S.African Afrikaans rappers takes Internet by storm Reuters. Accessed 10:20, 6 February 2010 (UTC).
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 15 Minutes With a Ninja Mahala
  11. ↑ Editor was Luke Apteker. Die Antwoord – Enter the Ninja Music Video
  12. ↑ Die Antwoord, S. African zef-rap, and Progeria sufferer Leon Botha BoingBoing
  13. ↑ Wat Pomp Lyrics Wat Pomp
  14. ↑ Die Antwoord - Zef So Fresh Vice Magazine
  15. ↑ "A Heart-to-Heart with Die Antwoord".
  16. ↑ Scene From Kickboxer 5
  17. ↑ IMDB entry
  18. ↑ Watkin Tudor Jones Nando’s Commercial – Before He Became Ninja From Die Antwoord
  19. ↑ Ninja and Yolandi Visser, voices of the South African Zef counter-culture movement and members of rap-rave duo Die Antwoord, play two local gangsters who want to use Chappie
  20. ↑ Die Antwoord Featured In Latest ‘Chappie’ Featurette
  21. ↑ Die Antwoord: STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S PIEL Youtube
  22. ↑ Die Antwoord: Zef Side Youtube
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Die Antwoord: Music video commentary Youtube

External links