Watkin Tudor Jones

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Watkin Tudor Jones
Die Antwoord - Ninja (8382415968) (cropped).jpg
Watkin Tudor Jones (Ninja) in 2012
Background information
Also known as
  • Ninja
  • Max Normal
  • The Man Who Never Came Back
  • MC Totally Rad
  • Yang Weapon
  • Destructo
  • Waddy
  • WAD:e [1]
  • Ninjie [2]
Born (1974-09-26) 26 September 1974 (age 49)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Rapper
  • songwriter
  • singer
  • record producer
  • actor
  • music video director
Years active1993–present
Labels

Watkin Tudor Jones (born 26 September 1974), [4] better known by his stage names Ninja and Max Normal, is a South African rapper, songwriter, singer, record producer, performance artist, and director. Jones found international success as a member of Die Antwoord, with Yolandi Visser. He was formerly a member of Max Normal and The Constructus Corporation.

Contents

Jones also has had a number of acting roles, including a self-styled role as Ninja in the 2015 Neill Blomkamp film Chappie . [5]

Early life

Jones was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1974.

He frequented nightclubs where he would develop his skills as a rapper. He attended Parktown Boys High where he would meet his Original Evergreen band members. [6]

Career

1993–1999: The Original Evergreen

Jones was part of the South African rap band The Original Evergreen, which was signed to Sony Music. [7] He released one single with the group, "Puff the Magik," which was banned from radio for its controversial lyrics about marijuana usage. In 1996, after the track would later win a SAMA music award for Best Rap Album award, he left to release a solo album under Chameleon Records [8] and later form Max Normal. The band released Burn the Evidence in 1997, which caused more notoriety in the South African music scene. In 1998, the band resurfaced in Cape Town with a new lineup featuring Brendon le Roux (vocals), Sebastian Voigt (bass, programming), Richard Bruyns (guitar), Stephen Trollip (saxophone), Phat Jack (turntables), Tasha Baxter (vocals) and Sven Mc Alpine (drums), and played extensively in Cape Town and Johannesburg while working on a new album titled "Addictive Personalities," produced by Warrick Sony (Kalahari Surfers) and featuring a guest appearance by Arno Carstens (Springbok Nude Girls). The album was to be released on the Sheer Sound label. Still, it caused such uproar in the South African press due to the contents of its lyrics that Sheer Sound was forced to withdraw it and was the final chapter in The Original Evergreen story as it resulted in the band splitting up. The album "Addictive Personalities" was released in a limited run by Melt 2000 in 1999.

2001–2002: Memoirs of a Clone and Max Normal

In 2001, Jones released his debut solo album Memoirs of a Clone. [9]

At the time, he was the lead vocalist of Max Normal, a hip hop act, which released their debut album entitled Songs From The Mall in 2001, which he disbanded in 2002. [10] Their last gig was played with Faithless on the group's 2002 South Africa tour. [11]

2002–2003: The Constructus Corporation

When Jones disbanded Max Normal in early 2002, he and musician Sibot invited Markus Wormstorm and Felix Laband to collaborate on The Constructus Corporation project, which resulted in the concept album and graphic novel The Ziggurat, released on 3 June 2002. [12]

Jones asked Anri du Toit, better known as his Die Antwoord bandmate Yolandi Visser to lend vocals for the project. She was credited as Anica the Snuffling. [13]

The Constructus Corporation disbanded in 2003.

2005: The Fantastic Kill

In 2005, Jones released his second solo album The Fantastic Kill. [14] It was released in France in 2007 as MC Totally Rad And DJ Fuck Are Fucknrad under the name Fucknrad. [15]

2007–2008: MaxNormal.TV

In 2007, Jones resurrected and revamped Max Normal as the 'corporate' hip-hop group "MaxNormal.TV."

The new lineup consisted of Watkin Tudor Jones revising as Max Normal, and Anri du Toit as Yolandi Visser. The band also featured Neon Don playing various recurring characters and Justin De Nobrega making instrumentals.

The group released its debut and only album Good Morning South Africa in 2008. [16] A DVD featuring 13 skits, music videos and short films was released in the same year, titled Goeie More Zuid Afrika. [17]

2008–current: Die Antwoord

Jones is currently a member of the South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord. The group was formed by Jones as Ninja, Anri du Toit as ¥o-Landi Vi$$er, and producer Justin De Nobrega as HITEK5000 (formerly referred to as DJ Hi-Tek and God). They have since added a second producer Lil2Hood. [18] Die Antwoord is part of the South African counterculture movement known as Zef.

The band released its 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" 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.". [19] They formed their own independent label, Zef Recordz and released their second album Ten$ion through it. [20]

They have since released 3 other albums; Donker Mag in 2014, [21] Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid in 2016, [22] and "The House of Zef" in 2020. As well as this, Jones played a self-styled role as Ninja in the 2015 Neill Blomkamp film Chappie . [23]

Controversies

In March 2019, Australian musician Zheani Sparkes released a diss track titled "The Question" detailing an alleged sexual assault on her by Jones in South Africa in 2013. [24] [25]

Italian-American singer Dionna Dal Monte also accused Jones of sexual assault, which she claimed occurred at a Die Antwoord show in 2014. [26]

In 2019, a video from 2012 surfaced, showing Jones and Visser fighting Hercules and Love Affair founder Andy Butler. [27] Jones claimed that the person who filmed the video edited it to make it seem like he and Visser were in the wrong. [28] [29]

In April 2022, adopted son Tokkie (born Gabriel du Preez) accused Jones and Visser of physical and sexual abuse against himself and his younger sister Meisie. [30]

City Press / News24 reported that six of the cast and crew of Chappie confirmed that he had "made life on set hell during filming." [31] [32]

In June 2022, American rapper Danny Brown accused Jones of attempted sexual assault against him. [33]

Jones denies all allegations against him.

Personal life

Jones' father died in Johannesburg from a fatal shooting during a hijacking in 2000. [34]

Jones has a daughter, Sixteen Jones, born in 2005 from a previous relationship with Die Antwoord bandmate Yolandi Visser. [35] He also has 3 adopted children. Tokkie and his sister Meisie were adopted in 2010, and Jemile was adopted in 2015. [36]

Jones lives in Cape Town.

Discography

The Original Evergreen

Max Normal

The Constructus Corporation

MaxNormal.TV

Die Antwoord

Solo

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zef</span> South African counter-culture

Zef is a South African counter-culture movement. Kyle Hans Brockmann has compared zef counter-culture to many similar anarchic sub-cultures in the northern hemisphere.

A ninja was a secret agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war.

Butcher Boys (1985/1986) is a sculpture made by South African artist Jane Alexander of three, life-size, oil-painted plaster figures with animal horn and bone details, seated on a bench. The work formed part of her MAFA submission and was first exhibited at the Market Theatre Gallery in Johannesburg in 1986. It was acquired by the South African National Gallery in 1991. The work was a response to the state of emergency in South Africa at the time.

Markus Wormstorm is a South African electronic musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Constructus Corporation</span> Former South African musical group

The Constructus Corporation were a South African electronic music group.

"Umshini wami", also known as "Awuleth' Umshini Wami", is a Nguni language struggle song used formerly by members of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the African National Congress during the struggle against Apartheid in South Africa with machine allegedly referencing machine gun. Nowhere in the song is the term "machine gun" used, but the reference is strong. Most recently, the song is identified with the persona of Jacob Zuma, the ex President of South Africa, and is often sung at rallies which involve him and his supporters, including the ANC Youth League.

<i>FutureClaw</i> Magazine

FutureClaw is an occasionally published fashion, art, music, and culture print magazine founded in 2007 by a group of friends in Burlington, Vermont, US. The magazine took its name from an electro music blog and DJ crew run by Guy Derry and Adam DeMartino. Bobby Mozumder introduced the idea of creating a photo style-press magazine after collaborating with Derry on a street photo project during Burlington's Art-Hop festival in 2007. The idea of the magazine came to the founders after seeing few high-end American style-press publications compared to the many that exist in Europe and elsewhere around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Die Antwoord</span> South African rap-rave group

Die Antwoord is a South African alternative hip hop group formed in Cape Town in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leon Botha</span> South African artist (1985-2011)

Leon Botha was a South African painter and disk jockey. He was known for his close association with the hip hop group Die Antwoord, as well as for being one of the world's longest-lived persons with progeria.

MaxNormal.TV was a South African music group that formed in 2001 and eventually evolved into Die Antwoord. The group's name was taken from a comic book character in the Judge Dredd comic of the same name.

<i>5</i> (Die Antwoord EP) 2010 EP by Die Antwoord

5 is an EP by South African hip hop group, Die Antwoord. The EP was the first official release by Die Antwoord on a major record label, Cherrytree Records. It followed up on internet circulation of the album $O$ and the viral "Enter the Ninja" music video, which featured on a number of high-traffic blog sites, most notably BoingBoing. The song incorporates elements of Smile.dk's song "Butterfly", famous for appearing in the Dance Dance Revolution series. The EP features some previously released material, as well as one new track and a remix. 'Fish Paste' was released as a promo single. Pitchfork Media made the entire EP available to stream on 12 June 2010.

<i>$O$</i> 2010 studio album by Die Antwoord

$O$ is the debut album by South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord. The album was initially a widely circulated internet-only release, and made available to stream for free on the band's website prior to Interscope Records signing the band. The song "Wat Pomp?" had a music video released on 6 June 2009, followed by "Enter the Ninja", which received an official release on 9 August 2010. "Fish Paste" and "Beat Boy" have also been released as promotional singles. "Enter the Ninja" debuted at #37 in the UK Music Charts on 19 September 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yolandi Visser</span> South African singer/rapper

Anri du Toit, known professionally as Yolandi Visser, is a South African rapper and singer. She is the female vocalist in the rap-rave group Die Antwoord. Her partner in the group is Ninja, Watkin Tudor Jones.

<i>Ten$ion</i> 2012 studio album by Die Antwoord

Ten$ion is the second studio album by South African hip-hop/rave group Die Antwoord. The album was released on the iTunes Store on 29 January 2012 and on CD on 7 February. The album was released on Die Antwoord's label Zef Recordz after leaving their previous label Interscope due to pressure on Die Antwoord to become "more generic". The album debuted at number 20 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evil Boy</span> 2010 single by Die Antwoord featuring Wanga

"Evil Boy" is a song by South African hip hop group Die Antwoord featuring rapper Wanga. It was written by Tony Cottrell, Watkin Tudor Jones (Ninja), Justin De Nobrega, Hugo Pasquin, Thomas Wesley Pentz (Diplo), and Yolandi Visser, and was produced by Diplo. It was released by Interscope Records and it serves as the final single from their album $O$.

"Fatty Boom Boom" is a song by South African hip hop group Die Antwoord from their second studio album Ten$Ion. The song was written by DJ Hi-Tek, Ninja, and Yolandi Visser. The song's chorus is an interpolation of Carl Malcolm's 1975 reggae single "Hey Fattie Bum Bum". The term derives from Jamaican Patois and remains commonly used in Jamaica since emerging in the late seventies.

<i>Chappie</i> (film) 2015 film directed by Neill Blomkamp

Chappie is a 2015 American dystopian science fiction action film directed by Neill Blomkamp and written by Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. It stars Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Ninja, Yolandi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo, and Sigourney Weaver. The film, set and shot in Johannesburg, is about an artificial general intelligence law enforcement robot captured and taught by gangsters, who nickname it Chappie.

<i>Donker Mag</i> 2014 studio album by Die Antwoord

Donker Mag is the third studio album by South African hip hop and rave group Die Antwoord. It was released on 3 June 2014 by Zef Records.

<i>Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid</i> 2016 studio album by Die Antwoord

Mount Ninji and Da Nice Time Kid is the fourth studio album by Die Antwoord. It was released on 16 September 2016 through streaming platforms and as a digital download.

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