Watkin Tudor Jones

Watkin Tudor Jones, better known by his stage name Ninja, is a prolific artist who has made his mark in South Africa as a rapper, songwriter, actor, record producer, and director of music videos. He was born into the rap scene, and his father was a huge fan of hip hop. Jones, having abandoned his high school studies, launched his music career full time in 1993. His oddball rave-rap crew, Die Antwoord, finally paid off after years of trying and failing. The group’s tune, “Enter the Ninja,” went viral and is still played frequently by his devoted followers. In addition to his singing career, Jones has starred in several movies, including “Umshini Wam,” “Chappie,” and “Die Antwoord: Ugly Boy.” Behind the scenes, the South African performer has a calm and collected demeanour. On a more personal note, he is dating Yolandi Visser, a singer and member of his band.
Musical Profession
Watkin Tudor Jones first performed with the live hip hop band Max Normal as the band’s lead vocalist. The band’s first album, which was just called “The Band,” came out in 2001. Since then, they have played at many South African festivals, such as Splashy Fen, Oppikoppi, and Up the Creek.They split up in early 2002, and Jones moved to Cape Town to work on a multimedia project called “The Ziggurat” with Felix Laband and DJ Dope of Krushed & Sorted, who formed the band The Constructus Corporation. They called it quits in 2003.
In 2005, Jones reimagined the band Max Normal as the “MaxNormal.TV” corporate hip hop team. Jones, Yolandi Visser, Justin De Nobrega, and Neon Don made up this particular line-up. In 2008, Jones and his pals from MaxNormal.TV dropped an album called “Good Morning South Africa.”
Jones, DJ Hi-Tek, and Visser all came together in 2008 to form the rap-rave ensemble Die Antwoord. The group’s sound reflected a synthesis of traditions from a wide range of countries. They used to play music known as “Zef.” On their official website, Antwoord dropped their first album, titled “O”. A promo for their song “Enter the Ninja” was eventually made public. The film was so popular that it quickly spread throughout the Internet, resulting in so many views that it crashed the server hosting the band’s website. Interscope Records offered Die Antwoord a record deal after seeing this video.
They made their live debut at the Coachella Music Festival in 2010. They put out the EP “5” and the singles “Super Evil” and “Very Fancy” in the same year. After releasing a new album titled “Ten$Ion” on their own label Zef Recordz in 2011, the band parted ways with Interscope Records. Singles like “Fatty Boom Boom” and “Baby’s on Fire” were released from the album. After that, Jones and his band Die Antwoord released a non-album single titled “XP€N$IV $H1T.” They left soon after on a fast tour of Europe.
Their third studio album, titled Donker Mag, was released on June 3, 2014. The “Cookie Thumper” and “Pitbull Terrier” music videos were uploaded to YouTube afterwards. They released a mixtape on SoundCloud in February 2015 titled “Suck on This,” a collaboration with DJ Muggs. The music videos for “Banana Brain” and “Fat Faded Fuck Face” were released on the same day as Die Antwoord’s 2016 album, “Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid,” on September 16. They issued their final album, The Book of Zef, in 2017 before calling it quits.
Acting Experience on the Job
Watkin Tudor Jones appeared in the 1995 film Kickboxer 5 in a supporting role. A short documentary titled “Tokoloshe” starring him premiered in 2010. He and Yolandi Visser co-starred in Harmony Korine’s short film “Umshini Wam” the following year. Later, Jones appeared in the sci-fi film Chappie.
Family & Personal Life
He entered the world on September 26, 1974, in Johannesburg, South Africa, as Watkin Tudor Jones. He started out at Parktown Boys’ High School, but left early to focus on his music career. Jones, who is in a relationship with his bandmate Yolandi Visser, talks about his love life. The couple’s daughter is 16 years old.