Bad news for fans of lunatic South African rappers (or movies about adorable gangster-rapping robots): Noisey is reporting that Die Antwoord is planning on breaking up. According to Ninja, the group’s male vocalist, the band will call it quits in 2017: “Die Antwoord dies on that day,” he said. “It’s all over. I feel beautiful about it. I’m not scared of the end. I’m a Ninja. I’m not scared of death.”
Formed in 2008, the band has its origins in South Africa’s zef culture—a complex counter-cultural movement that emphasizes solidarity in trashiness and poverty. Self-identifying with the “poor but you’re sexy” vibe, Die Antwoord burst onto the international scene with 2009’s $O$, and a bizarre, massively successful music video for its single, “Enter The Ninja.”
After briefly attempting to work inside the mainstream music system, Die Antwoord (translated as “The Answer” in Afrikaans) broke out on its own and formed Zef Recordz, which released the band’s next two albums. In 2015, Ninja and female vocalist Yolandi Visser co-starred in Neill Blomkamp’s high-profile flop Chappie, where the band’s adopted parenthood of the movie’s titular robot was just one of its critically derided mis-steps.