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The story was never about Die Antwoord signing to Interscope Records. The story was always going to be about what happened when Die Antwoord told Interscope to go f*** itself.

“Its amazing,” commented an SA music industry insider. “Ninja stuck it to the biggest record company in the world. They tried to censure him and he said: ‘F*** you, I’ll walk.’ They never thought he’d walk and he walked. Lady Gaga, Eminem, Marilyn Manson, or whatever big stars have never told Interscope to f*** off. But Ninja did.”

Yeah, well, Ninja, aka Max Normal (dress code strictly formal), aka Watkin Tudor Jones III, is in the habit of telling record companies where to get off. And the fact that Interscope’s head, Jimmy Iovine, thought he could control such a wildly insane spirit speaks volumes about Iovine’s ego.

Ninja cannot and will not be controlled when it comes to his music. While this is an admirable quality in any artist, Ninja is also known in the SA music industry for his temperamental nature. That, and the fact that he loses interest in his projects in his tireless quest to continually reinvent himself.

By now we all know that America (and that includes middle America) has fallen in love with Die Antwoord. According to artists such as The Parlotones and Goldfish who tour the US, the first thing the Americans ask when they discover they are South African is not: “Wow, Nelson Mandela?” It is: “OMG, you’re like from South Africa! Wow, do you know Die Ant Woord?” (US accent).

They appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman, are the face for Alexander Wang and were pictured in the front row at New York Fashion Week – and all this in the past month.

They are touring the US and are riding high on Youtube with their endless number of controversial videos.

Fellow band member Yo-Landi Vi$$er’s hot, young body inspires the dark side of male sexuality – naughty little schoolgirl kinda freak-sex fantasies.

But that aside, why have the Americans gone gaga for a trio who don’t even sing in their first language? Their second album, Ten$ion, is a mixture of hard-core techno and rapping with raw lyrics and sentiments expressed all in the name of zef.

“The US has been raped of content,” explained the talkative Ninja from his hotel in Chicago.

“They gave us everything from cowboy movies to war films. They are big on presentation and we deliver good presentations in our videos. The Americans love us. They come dressed as Yo-Landi. They mosh to our music. But we are also sold out from Poland to Japan. For us, we are the answer.”

Their latest single, I Fink U Freeky, is a prime example of their visual presentation.

“It’s like when you whisper in someone’s ear. If you say you like someone for the first time, it is a softly-spoken phrase, but the actual feeling is so powerful. It was a mood. When we were making the song, I told DJ Hi-Tek to do it f****** Mortal Combat-style, but also make it an opera, build it up.

“It was the hardest song to make a video for so far. We tried to make the video three times before we got it right.

“The bathroom scene is the most intimate scene because that is the most intimate you can be, to let someone watch you bath.

“When we create music, DJ Hi-Tek, Yo-Landi and I must freak out about the song first and then we put it out there. We don’t care if people don’t like it. It’s real to us. It’s emotional to us. If they get the same ‘furiosity’ as us, then it is amazing. If you like us you are right. If you don’t like us you are wrong.”

Woah, easy with the ego, young Ninja. Although, we should be used to it by now. Ninja does come with an ego. He wasn’t always Ninja, though. As Waddy he was part of The Original Evergreens, the first hip hop group to be signed to a major label in SA. This was in the mid-1990s. But he soon lost interest and legend has it, he wandered into the forests of Knysna.

He returned as the hallowed Max Normal with one of the best albums of all time, Songs From the Mall. It was around this time that Eminem released his debut, The Slim Shady LP, and unfortunately the comparisons between two white boy rappers was inevitable. The sad reality was that Max Normal was first and far better.

Ninja is a brilliant rapper and a dynamic live performer. In fact, he is one of the most talented artists to have come out of SA.

Max Normal led to Max Normal TV which was an experiment in structured insanity. But that, too, wasn’t enough for his insatiable musical mind. Konstruktus would eventually lead to Die Antwoord and the rest is history.

Ninja has always placed great emphasis on visuals, but with Die Antwoord he has successfully integrated controversial viral video campaigns with his crazy beats.

The theme running throughout their videos is one of suggested violence and not-so-suggested violence. Yo-Landi is vicious, Hi-Tek is terrifying and Ninja stares into your very soul.

“In terms of video per- formances, if you look at Evil Boy, my performance has changed. My face was closed in the earlier videos.

“With the track F*k Julle Naaiers, we worked with these criminals who had come straight out of Pollsmoor. I noticed the way they looked at the camera. They looked like hyenas or lions about to go in for the kill. They taught me how to open my face. Most of them have landed back in jail again.”

Well, that video of real-life gangsters is not as controversial as what they have to say about Interscope’s Iovine. In almost every song, they have a dig at their former boss. They vindictively paint him as a slimy sex pest who enjoys abusing his power.

“In the beginning he was cool, when we were first signed and we were being familiar with him. Like, this guy is huge. He lives next door to Hugh Hefner and produced Bruce Springsteen. Then, at the end, he had his b**** boys referencing us.”

Die Antwoord’s “screw you” attitude to Interscope has gained Ninja even more street cred. The group also apparently walked away with a few million in their pockets.

Ten$ion has been released on their own label and distributed by Universal in SA. It is also Ninja’s most commercial album in his fluctuating career.

The album combines hard-core Euro techno beats with Afrikaans rhymes that are performed mostly by Yo-Landi.

But when Ninja kicks in, you can hear and see why Die Antwoord are on their way to becoming superstars, because talent like that cannot be ignored.

This is only part one.

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