Die Antwoord lead vocalist Ninja (born Watkin Tudor Jones) was a part of the South African hip-hop scene for many years, fronting such acts as The Original Evergreens, MaxNormal.TV and The Constructus Corporation. He is known for adopting different stage personas. In the case of Die Antwoord his persona is Ninja: a hyper violent character who is very different from his previous incarnations. 

Die Antwoord was later created as a group in 2009, consisting of performers Ninja, Yo-Landi Vi$$er, and DJ Hi-Tek. Their debut album $O$ was made available as a free download on their official website. $O$ features Cape Flats rappers, Jack Parow, Jaak Paarl (aka Jaak), Knoffel (aka Garlic Brown), Scallywag and Isaac Mutant. In 2009 South African cinematographer Rob Malpage (along with co-director Ninja) shot the video for their single "Enter the Ninja." The video became a viral phenomenon on the internet nine months later, delivering millions of hits to the official Die Antwoord website. 

Their original South African hosting provider, Hetzner, disabled their hosting account following massive bandwidth overage caused by the traffic following the site launch. The group were forced to move their hosting to a US-based hosting provider to handle the traffic. The "Enter The Ninja" video also features South African progeria sufferer Leon Botha, a prominent Cape Town artist. They played ACL 2012.