Every aspect of the performance fought violently for attention: the neon orange symbols on the equipment reflecting the blue lights, the incendiary raps, the thick beats, the giant inflatables, the video backdrop and the moving bodies saturated the senses of the spectators. They waved their middle fingers with pride and the audience responded in tandem.Īs the show progressed, Vi$$er and Ninja shed their hoodies and pants until they performed in nothing but their undergarments, flanked my masked dancers wearing the same. The dichotomous duo exuded playful defiance. The impish Vi$$er trilled the hook to “Fok Julle Naaiers” in her signature high-pitched taunt, and Ninja delivered rhymes with his usual ferocity, stepping to the edge of the stage and furrowing his brow at the crowd, as if daring them to rival his authority. The fervor and enthusiasm only increased when Ninja and Yolandi took the stage in matching neon orange jumpsuits, hoods up. The audience jumped and shrieked gleefully along with every obscene word. The eerie preshow music ceased, and Hi Tek dove into his only solo track on any Die Antwoord album, “DJ Hi Tek Rulez.” The reaction was immediate. You’re poor but you’re sexy, you’ve got style,” Vi$$er said.Īfter a suspenseful wait, the show began as a masked DJ Hi Tek approached his setup to the crowd’s ecstatic screams.

Die Antwoord’s genre is impossible to pin down – one can hear hints of everything from gangsta rap to dream pop – but the members identify themselves as zef, an Afrikaans slang word meaning “common.” Vi$$er elaborated on this in an interview with “The Observer.” 17, South African rap-rave group Die Antwoord performed in Crossroads KC at Grinders as part of a tour to promote its third studio album, “Donker Mag.”Ĭomprised of high-energy rappers Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja, along with beatsmith DJ Hi Tek, the group pulls from a multitude of influences, ranging from Snoop Dogg to South African artist and photographer Roger Ballen to electronic virtuoso Aphex Twin.

Die antwoord tour