Who is Yolandi Visser?
A controversial member of the rap band Die Antwoord, and also known as Anica the Snuffling and ¥o-Landi Vi$$er, Yolandi Visser rose to prominence back in 2009, when the band released their first album “$O$”. Movie lovers will perhaps recognize her as Yo-Landi in the 2015 action drama “Chappie”, starring Hugh Jackman, Sharlto Copley and Dev Patel. Perhaps you didn’t know that Yolandi declined the offer of the famous director, David Fincher, to star in his 2012 adaptation of the mystery thriller “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, based on the novel of the same title by Stieg Larson.
In April 2022, Yolandi’s name made headlines after she and her then-boyfriend were accused of physical and sexual abuse against their adoptive children. Stay with us if you want to discover the whole truth about Yolandi’s life, and what transpired.
Early life, family, and education
Yolandi was born under the zodiac sign Pisces on 3 March 1984, and soon after her birth, she was adopted by Reverend Ben du Toit and his wife, whose name hasn’t been disclosed. Yolandi was named Arti du Toit, and she spent most of her childhood in Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa, alongside her adoptive brother, Leon, who sadly died in 2015.
Yolandi has never met her actual parents, but she believes that her mother is White and that her father is African, and that her mother’s parents forced her to give Yolandi up for adoption. She shared her theory in an interview with Dazed.
She also shared that as a child she was ‘a little punk’, who often got into fistfights, Yolandi feeling that she didn’t belong anywhere, but when aged 16, she was sent to the boarding Menlopark High School in Pretoria, and was happy for the first time. As she put it, she blossomed being surrounded by other creative and artistic people.
Speaking of her educational background, upon matriculating in 2002, Yolandi didn’t go to college, but pursued her music career.
Music career
Sometime in 2003, Yolandi met Watkin Tudor Jones, known by his stage name ‘Ninja’, and he invited her to lend vocals for his project, “The Constructus Corporation”. The band released their only album “The Ziggurat”, and Yolandi was credited as Anica the Snuffling.
Later, Yolandi joined the hip-hop group MaxNormal.TV, and began using the name ‘Yolandi Visser’. The band released their debut album “Rap Made Easy” in 2007, followed by their second and last album, “Good Morning South Africa” in 2008. Later that year, Ninja and Yolandi founded their alternative hip-hop band, Die Antwoord, which in English means ‘The Answer’. The third member of the band was HITEK5000, a music producer whose real name was Leon Botha, also known as one of the world’s longest-lived people with progeria – he died in 2011, aged 26.
The band is a part of ‘zef’, the South African counter-culture movement, and has had mainstream success worldwide with its debut album “$O$”, which peaked at number one on the US Heatseekers Albums Billboard after the group signed with American record label Interscope Records.
Yolandi and Ninja have since released three more albums – the second was “Donker Mag” (2014) and the third was “Mount Ninji and da Nice Time Kid” (2016). They’ve stated that they have a ‘five album plan’ and that between every album, they’ll film a new movie. Most recently, in 2020 the band released their fourth album, entitled “House of Zef”.
I FINK U FREAKY pic.twitter.com/vGozyv9aIP
— yolandi visser (@yolandisblunt) September 4, 2014
Some of their hit songs are “Enter the Ninja”, “I Fink U Freeky”, “Banana Brain”, and “Pitbull Terrier”. The band’s official YouTube channel has been subscribed to by nearly 3.5 million people, and all of their videos combined have gained over a billion views. The most viewed on their channel is the video for the song “Baby’s On Fire” – over 250 million times.
Love life, relationships, and children
As mentioned, in the early 2000s, Yolandi met Ninja, a rapper and songwriter, ten years older than she. The two began a relationship, and in 2005 they welcomed a daughter they named Sixteen Jones. Five years later, the couple adopted a boy, Tokkie, and a girl, Meisie, while in 2015, Yolandi adopted another boy, Jemile. Allegedly, the couple broke up in 2013, although they stayed together as a band.
In April 2022, Tokkie, whose real name is Gabriel du Preez, accused Yolandi and Ninja of physical and sexual abuse against himself and Meisie. According to him, the children were exposed to pornography, rituals, and violence. Tokkie said that the couple made him feel that he was a slave, stating that Yolandi and Ninja used to take him and Meisie to a private clinic to have their blood drawn, which was supposedly used in rituals. Tokkie remembered how when he was 11 years old, Ninja showed him a pornographic video featuring Ninja’s former girlfriend. He said that Ninja encouraged his then-minor sister, Meisie, to take off her clothes and enter the sauna where naked adults were.
Tokkie suffered from a rare skin disease, and as he said, his foster parents made him believe that he’s a devil. According to him, Yolandi and Ninja made him swear at his biological family for being poor, and made him believe that he could bring darkness upon the world. He also said that most of the time he was home alone with a nanny. Tokkie said that the worst part of his childhood was seeing his adoptive mother drunk and naked, calling him to spend time with her.
Yolandi and Ninja have denied the allegations of which Tokkie has spoken.
When it comes to Yolandi’s love life, as of July 2023, she seems to be officially single.
Age, appearance, and net worth
This 39-year-old rapper is known for her petite figure. Yolandi is 5ft 1in (1.54m) tall and weighs around 100lbs (44kgs), with vital statistics of 31-20-31. When it comes to her look, Yolandi’s trademark is her hairstyle. She’s often referred to as ‘an albino gangster from another dimension’ because of her cyber-punky peroxide mullet and bleached eyebrows. She doesn’t allow anyone except Ninja to cut her hair.
If you have wondered how rich Yolandi is, according to sources as of July 2023, her net worth has been estimated at over $10 million.