Yo-Landi Visser, also known as $O$ (formerly Yo-Landi VI$$ER),is a South African rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born in Port Alfred, South Africa, she was adopted as a baby by an Afrikaans family and grew up in Pretoria.
Visser's early life was marked by rebelliousness, often getting into fistfights, which led to her being sent to boarding school at the age of 16. In 2003, she moved to Cape Town, where she met Ninja (real name Watkin Tudor Jones),with whom she started rapping and found a passion for performing thugged-out, "zef" rap music.
In 2007, Visser and Ninja formed the Zef-Rave-Rapper band, Die Antwoord, along with Hi-Tek and DJ, and released their debut album $O$. The group gained popularity, and in 2010, their video "Enter the Ninja" went viral.
Visser's personal life is also notable. She fell pregnant to Ninja in 2006 and had a daughter, Sixteen Jones. Although they never got married, they remained close. In 2009, she changed her image by cutting off the sides of her hair and bleaching her hair and eyebrows white, a statement of her outsider pride.
Die Antwoord's subsequent albums, including Ten$ion (2012),received critical acclaim. The group has also collaborated with notable artists, including Marilyn Manson, Flea, Jack Black, and Dita Von Teese.
Visser has been approached for film roles, including the lead in David Fincher's adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011),but declined to focus on her music. She and Ninja were also offered roles in Neill Blomkamp's Elysium (2013),but Visser talked Ninja out of it.
In 2015, Visser and Ninja starred in Blomkamp's Chappie, playing themselves, and received critical acclaim. They are now planning to produce a TV show about their Zef lives.
