Anri du Toit, known professionally as Yolandi Visser (stylised as ¥o-Landi Vi$$er), is a South African rapper. She is the female vocalist in the

rap-rave Hip house, also known as rap house or house rap, is a musical genre that mixes elements of house music and hip hop, that originated in both London, United Kingdom and Chicago, United States in the mid to late 1980s. British group the Beatmast ...

group

Die Antwoord Die Antwoord (, Afrikaans for "The Answer") is a South African alternative hip hop group formed in Cape Town in 2008. The group comprises rappers Watkin Tudor "Ninja" Jones and Anri "Yolandi Visser" du Toit, a male/female duo, and producers H ...

. Her partner in the group is Ninja,

Watkin Tudor Jones Watkin Tudor Jones (born 26 September 1974), better known by his stage names Ninja and Max Normal, is a South African rapper, songwriter, record producer, performance artist, and director. Jones found international success as a member of Die An ...

. Visser appeared in the 2015

Neill Blomkamp Neill Blomkamp (; born 17 September 1979) is a South African filmmaker. He employs a documentary-style, Hand-held camera, hand-held, cinéma vérité technique, blending naturalistic and photo-realistic computer-generated imagery, computer-gene ...

film '' Chappie''.

Early life

As a baby, du Toit was adopted by

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

Ben du Toit, and his wife. She had an adoptive older brother, Leon, who died in 2015. 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. At 16, du Toit was sent to a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

, Menlopark High School, nine hours away from her family's home where she says that she blossomed among other creative and artistic-minded people.

Career

The Constructus Corporation

Du Toit was asked by

(aka "Ninja") to lend vocals for his project

The Constructus Corporation The Constructus Corporation were a South African electronic music group. Formation of the band Following the breakup of Watkin Tudor Jones' project Max Normal in 2002, Jones moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town and began collaborating with DJ D ...

. She was credited as Anica the Snuffling. The band released their debut and only album ''The Ziggurat'' in 2003.

MaxNormal.TV

Du Toit was a member of the South African 'corporate' hip-hop group

MaxNormal.TV MaxNormal.TV (formerly Max Normal) 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. Early days Watkin ...

, 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 Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

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 Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamphe ...

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

Die Antwoord

Du Toit is currently a member of the South African rap-rave group

. The group was formed by du Toit, her then-partner Jones, and producer HITEK5000 (formerly referred to as DJ Hi-Tek and God). They have since added a second producer Lil2Hood. Die Antwoord is part of the South African counterculture movement known as

zef 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. Etymology Yolandi Visser of Die Antwoord said, "It's associated with peo ...

. 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. 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 Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

, 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.". They formed their own

independent label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, Zef Recordz and released their second album ''Tension'' through it. They have since released two other albums; ''

Donker Mag ''Donker Mag'' (Afrikaans for "dark power") 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. Singles The album's lead single "Cookie Thumper!" was released on 18 ...

'' in 2014, and ''

Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid ''Mount Ninji and Da Nice Time Kid'' (commonly referred to as simply "Mount Ninji") is the fourth studio album by Die Antwoord. It was released on 16 September 2016 through streaming platforms and as a digital download. Track listing Notes *"W ...

'' in 2016. As well as this, du Toit played a self-styled role as ¥o-Landi Vi$$er in the 2015

film '' Chappie''.

Controversies

Andy Butler incident

In 2019, a video from 2012 surfaced, showing du Toit and Jones fighting with

Hercules and Love Affair Hercules and Love Affair is a dance music project created by American DJ, singer, composer, musician and producer Andy Butler in 2004. Consisting of a rotating cast of performers and musicians, the band work within the genres of house music, dis ...

founder Andy Butler at the Australian festival Future Music while calling him insults, such as "

faggot Faggot, faggots, or faggoting may refer to: Arts and crafts * Faggoting (metalworking), forge welding a bundle of bars of iron and steel * Faggoting (knitting), variation of lace knitting in which every stitch is a yarn over or a decrease * F ...

". Butler is openly gay. After fighting him, du Toit and Jones alert security staff, and, while crying, du Toit claims that she was

sexually assaulted Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

in a bathroom by Butler. Later on in the video, Jones tells her that her performance was "

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

-winning". Jones responded on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

, claiming that the person who filmed the video edited it to make it seem like they were in the wrong. He claims that Butler harassed them in the days leading up to the fight, and that the fight had nothing to do with his being gay. Jones said he told du Toit to act as "dramatic as possible" about what Butler did to avoid getting detained by security after the fight. Die Antwoord and Butler were subsequently dropped from the lineup of several upcoming festivals. The incident went viral after a video was placed online seven years later by former Die Antwoord videographer

Ben Jay Crossman Ben Jay Crossman is a Britishborn South African raised graffiti-style street artist, concept artist, illustrator, photographer, film producer, and director, known for his collaborations with Roger Ballen and Die Antwoord. Works Veronika Be ...

Personal life

Visser has a daughter, Sixteen Jones, who was born in 2005 from a previous relationship with Die Antwoord bandmate (Ninja) Jones. She also has three adopted children; a boy, Tokkie, and a girl, Meisie, were adopted in 2010 and another son Jemile was adopted in 2015. In April 2022, Tokkie (born Gabriel du Preez) accused Du Toit and Jones of physical and sexual abuse against himself and his younger sister Meisie.

Discography

The Constructus Corporation

* ''

The Ziggurat The Ziggurat is a ten-story, stepped pyramidal office building and adjacent five-story concrete parking structure located at 707 3rd Street in West Sacramento, California, on the shore of the Sacramento River. Designed by Sacramento architect Edw ...

'' (2003)

MaxNormal.TV

* ''Rap Made Easy'' (2007) * ''Good Morning South Africa'' (2008)

Die Antwoord

* '' $O$'' (2009) * '' TEN$ION'' (2012) * ''

'' (2014) * ''

'' (2016) * ''House of Zef'' (2020) * TBA (2022–2023)

Filmography

* ''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".

References

External links

*
Yolandi Visser Discography at discogs.com

The Constructus Corporation Discography at discogs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Visser, Yolandi Alternative hip hop musicians Afrikaner people South African dance musicians 21st-century South African women singers South African rappers Afrikaans-language singers South African women rappers Living people Polydor Records artists Die Antwoord members South African adoptees Women in electronic music Women hip hop musicians People from Sarah Baartman District Municipality Year of birth missing (living people)