Watkin Ninja Tudor Jones is a South African musician, artist, director and producer, a member of the famous rap-rave project Die Antwoord, performing under the stage name Ninja.

Biography of Watkin Tudor Jones

The outrageous musician was born on September 26, 1974, his biography began in the suburbs of the largest city in South Africa, Johannesburg. Watkin grew up in a creative family, from the first years of his life absorbing the traditions of classic rock music, which his parents adored. In addition to music, Watkin was fond of drawing, in 1992, less than a year before graduating from the oldest Johannesburg school, the Parktown Boys, he left his studies. For several years, Watkin was engaged in graphics and was a DJ, and in the late 90s he began to focus on developing a musical career.

The first significant project of the young musician was the experimental group Max Normal, which also included guitarist Mark Buchanan and multi-instrumentalists Sean Ou Tim and Simon Ringrose. Waddy was the frontman and songwriter. The debut album “Songs From The Mall” was released in 2001, the band toured South Africa quite successfully and took part in several European festivals.

However, Jones left her at the end of 2002 and moved to Cape Town, where he began to collaborate with Felix Laband. The revolutionary multimedia project combining music and graphics was named The Constructus Corporation, but the musicians failed to repeat the success of Max Normal. In 2003, Henri du Toit, who had just finished school, joined the team. After its collapse, Waddy and Henri went on a free voyage and worked for a while as DJs in trendy Cape Town clubs.

In 2005, Watkin reunited with other members of MaxNormal and the team became known as MaxNormal.TV. In addition to music, video clips and short films, the guys were engaged in the promotion of Chommies toys and were engaged in the production of graphics and advertising products. In 2007, they released Good Morning South Africa, after which they parted again, and Jones and du Toit created an ambitious new rap-rave project, in which Waddy took the stage name Ninja (Ninja), and the white-skinned Anri announced her African roots pseudonym Yolandi Visser.

Until 2009, according to Watkin, Die Antwoord was not noticed and their concerts rarely exceeded 300-400 spectators, and, contrary to popular belief in the fan community, in the course of reflection, the musicians came to the decision to create an “aggressive export product that destroys glamorous stereotypes , and similar to an attack.” And although in South Africa the guys were reproached for speculating on the trash culture of the slums, which originated in the 60s and came from the name of the car Ford Zephyr, a symbol of poverty and mass market, Zef aesthetics not only became an independent brand, but also gave rise to no less strange followers , for example, Brooke Candy, Tommy Cash or the notorious Little Big.

Since its formation, the group has released 5 albums and about 20 video clips, each of which can be considered an independent mini-movie. The video for the song “Banana Brain”, released in 2016, pretty much scared fans who wondered what Waddy had with his legs, but those who follow the events in the world guessed that the video, in the band’s signature sarcastic manner, recreates the tragic events that occurred in the home of the Paralympic Games champion, the pride of South Africa, the runner Oscar Pistorius, convicted of the premeditated murder of his girlfriend.

Personal life

ones prefers not to talk about the details of his personal life, but it is known that he is connected with Yolandi not only by creativity. In 2006, du Toit gave birth to a daughter, Sistine Jones, from the musician, in honor of her appearance, Watkin adorned his face with a tattoo of 16. A few years later, the couple adopted a homeless boy, Tokki, who, like Sistine, can be seen in the band’s videos.

It is known for sure that Jones and Yolandi did not officially register the marriage, and, according to some online sources, since 2014 they have been living separately. In an interview for Dazed & Confused, Watkin says that he and Yolandi simply could not help but be together, and when they took everything they could from each other, they broke up, while remaining parents and best friends. Yolandi and I are one, the performer says, we are like twins connected by music.

Ninja now

At the end of 2017, the raver became the face of the luxury brand Alexander Wang, his main occupation is participation in Die Antwoord, where he acts as a vocalist, co-writer of songs and director of video clips. In the summer of 2019, the eccentric band performed at the Moscow Park Live festival. In an interview after the concert, Watkin said that he could not imagine his life without the band and thanked the Russian fans for their support and attention to the work of Die Antwoord.

Image source: Die Antvoord group Instagram.