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Yolandi Visser

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Yolandi Visser
Visser, on-stage, wears a large hoodie showing her legs and holding the mic sideways.
Visser performing with Die Antwoord in 2019
Background information
Birth nameAnri du Toit
Also known asAnica the Snuffling
Born (1984-12-01) 1 December 1984 (age 39)
Port Alfred, South Africa
Genres
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
Years active2002–present
Labels

Anri du Toit (born December 1, 1984), known professionally as Yolandi Visser (stylised as ¥o-Landi Vi$$er),[2] is a South African singer, rapper, and songwriter. She is the female vocalist in the alternative hip-hop group Die Antwoord. Her partner in the group is Watkin Tudor Jones.

Visser appeared in the 2015 Neill Blomkamp film Chappie.[3]

Early life

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Anri du Toit was born on December 1, 1984 in Port Alfred, South Africa. She was adopted by clergyman Reverend Ben du Toit and his wife, and had an adoptive older brother, Leon (d. 2015).[4] Growing up, she has said she felt like she did not fit in or belong anywhere, and describes herself as 'a little punk' who frequently got into fistfights, and listened to the music of Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Nine Inch Nails, Cypress Hill, Eminem, Marilyn Manson and Aphex Twin.[5][6] At the age of 16, du Toit was sent to Pretoria to attend Die Hoërskool Menlopark, a boarding school which was nine hours away from her family's home. Du Toit said that she blossomed among other creative and artistic-minded people while there.[5]

Du Toit does not know much about her biological parents, and questioned her ethnicity after a portrait artist specializing in identifying genetic history told her she has a facial structure similar to coloureds. Visser initially thought she was white, but now thinks that because she was born during apartheid, her white mother’s parents may have forced her to give her baby up for adoption, after getting pregnant by a black man.[6]

Career

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The Constructus Corporation

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Main article: The Constructus Corporation

Du Toit was asked by Watkin Tudor Jones (aka "Ninja") to lend vocals for his project The Constructus Corporation.[5] She was credited as Anica the Snuffling.[7] The band released their debut and only album The Ziggurat in 2003.[8]

MaxNormal.TV

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Main article: MaxNormal.TV

Du Toit was a member of the South African 'corporate' hip-hop group MaxNormal.TV, in which she played the role of Max Normal's personal assistant. In MaxNormal.TV, she went by the stage name Yolandi Visser.

In the song "Tik Tik Tik", du Toit's fictional backstory is detailed. The song claims that she was born into poverty in a large family, and eventually ran away out of boredom and loneliness. In "Option A", she meets a drug dealer, and eventually begins working for him, transporting drugs in exchange for food and money. She becomes addicted to meth, and regrets her choices. In "Option B", she ignores the drug dealer when he tried to talk to her, and instead begins working at a cafe, and rents a room there. She then is offered to join MaxNormal.TV after watching a rap show outside the cafe.[9]

The group released their debut and only album Good Morning South Africa in 2008.[10] A DVD featuring 13 skits, music videos and short films was released in the same year, titled Goeie Morge Zuid Afrika.[11]

Die Antwoord

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Main article: Die Antwoord

Du Toit is currently a member of the South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord. The group was formed by du Toit, her then-partner Tudor Jones, and producer HITEK5000 (formerly referred to as DJ Hi-Tek and God). They have since added a second producer Lil2Hood.[12]

Die Antwoord is part of the South African counterculture movement known as zef. For the band, du Toit goes by the stage name ¥o-Landi Vi$$er. She styled her hair into a bleach-blonde mullet at the start of the band, which was originally done to have an edge. She has said cutting her hair felt like a birth, and a statement of outsider and zef pride.[5]

The band released their debut album $O$ in 2009. It was made freely available online and attracted international attention for their music video "Enter the Ninja". They briefly signed with Interscope Records, and left after pressure from the label to be more generic. du Toit explained that Interscope "kept pushing us to be more generic" in order to make more money: "If you try to make songs that other people like, your band will always be shit. You always gotta do what you like. If it connects, it's a miracle, but it happened with Die Antwoord."[13] They formed their own independent label, Zef Recordz and released their second album Tension through it.[14]

They have since released three other albums: Donker Mag in 2014,[15] Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid in 2016, and House of Zef in 2020.[16] As well as this, du Toit played a self-styled role as ¥o-Landi Vi$$er in the 2015 Neill Blomkamp film Chappie.[3]

Personal life

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Du Toit has a daughter named Sixteen (b. 2005) with Watkin Tudor Jones.[17] Du Toit and Tudor Jones also adopted or fostered three children.[18]

In 2019, a video from 2012 surfaced, showing Tudor Jones and Visser fighting and hurling homophobic slurs against Andy Butler, founder of the American dance project Hercules and Love Affair.[19] Tudor Jones claimed that the person who filmed the video edited it to make it seem like they were in the wrong.[20][21]

Discography

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The Constructus Corporation

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  • The Ziggurat (2003)

MaxNormal.TV

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  • Rap Made Easy (2007)
  • Good Morning South Africa (2008)

Die Antwoord

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Filmography

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  • Goeie More Zuid Africa DVD (2008)
  • Tokoloshe (2011)
  • Umshimi Wam (2011)
  • Chappie (2015) – features "Baby's On Fire", "Ugly Boy", "Cookie Thumper" and "Enter the Ninja".[22]
  • ZEF: The Story of Die Antwoord (2024)

References

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  1. ^ "Die Antwoord to sign with Interscope, Neill Blomkamp to direct next video". Boing Boing. 12 March 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  2. ^ Michelle Jones (13 February 2012). "Band have the answer to secret of success". IOL.co.za. Archived from the original on 10 October 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b ScreenPrism. "Why cast Die Antwoord in "Chappie"? What is Zef? Was all the obvious product placement good or bad | ScreenPrism". screenprism.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Yolandi Visser se broer sterf". article.wn.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d Dazed (26 February 2015). "Yo-landi Visser's rise from hood rat to heroine". Dazed. Archived from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Yolandi Visser". CAROLINE RYDER. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  7. ^ "High Energy Shit – Die Antwoord klettern aus dem Netz - Netzpiloten.de". Netzpiloten Magazin (in German). 27 August 2010. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  8. ^ "The Constructus Corporation – The Ziggurat". Discogs. Archived from the original on 19 January 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  9. ^ MaxNormal.TV - Tik Tik Tik, archived from the original on 21 December 2021, retrieved 13 February 2020
  10. ^ "MaxNormal.TV – Good Morning South Africa". Discogs. Archived from the original on 20 February 2021. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  11. ^ "MaxNormal.TV – Goeie More Zuid Africa". Discogs. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  12. ^ "About". Die Antwoord. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Die Antwoord's Totally Insane Words of Wisdom". Spin. 7 February 2012. Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  14. ^ "Die Antwoord leave Interscope, will release "TEN$ION" on their own new indie label". Boing Boing. 7 November 2011. Archived from the original on 2 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Die Antwoord Reveal 'Donker Mag' LP, Share New Video". exclaim.ca. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  16. ^ "Album Review: Die Antwoord – Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid". DrownedInSound. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Meet Sixteen, The Daughter Of Ninja And Yolani Vi$$er – 2oceansvibe.com". 2 February 2012. Archived from the original on 2 July 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  18. ^ "YOHO! MAGAZINE". Die Antwoord. 3 December 2019. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  19. ^ Earls, John (20 August 2019). "Die Antwoord axed from festivals for 'homophobic attack' on Andy Butler". NME. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  20. ^ Ninja (18 August 2019). "Die Antwoord". facebook.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  21. ^ Norris, Chelsey (26 September 2019). "Die Antwoord Reschedules Dallas Show Amid Controversy. We're Not Surprised". Dallas Observer. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019. Alternate link (single page) Archived 15 June 2023 at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ^ "Die Antwoord Featured In Latest 'Chappie' Featurette". Bloody-disgusting.com. 20 February 2015. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
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