Die Antwoord’s frontman, Ninja (or Waddy Jones, depending on how old you are), has posted a scathing attack on former band photographer and film maker Sean Metelerkamp and the company he works for, Harry & Co.

The attack came after Harry & Co claimed that Metelerkamp directed the video, Zef Side, which won in the YouTube Biennial of Creative Video at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Ninja originally posted on their Facebook page:

“Check it: SEAN METERLEKAMP who claimed to ‘direct’ ZEF SIDE is a fuckin parasite and a liar. Ninja, Yo-landi and DJ HI-TEK started DIE ANTWOORD 5 years ago on our own. Sean took some photos of us and interviewed us under our direction then stabbed us in the back and keeps using our music and imagery without our permission. That art award is a fuckin wank. Sean fuck you and your old alcoholic slut boss in the face.”

This is in spite of the fact that Metelerkamp is credited on the band’s own website as being the director of the video.

As with any article about Die Antwoord, we have to include the usual caveat that this could just be another publicity stunt by the masters of media manipulation. It’s worth noting that Harry & Co is also the home of Ninja’s former bandmate from his days as Contructus, Markus Wormstorm.

However, also affiliated with Harry & Co is Lark vocalist, Inge Beckmann, who took to Meterlekamp’s Facebook page to write:

Sean directed the ZEFSIDE video and deserves to be acknowledged for that. He also took the BEST photographs of die Antwoord to date. It angers me that die Antwoord is trying to ruin his reputation out of pure EGO. I have NEVER heard anyone I know say that sean is unprofessional or opportunistic or a liar. He is assertive and focussed and works very very hard. This is bullshit.

Ninja later wrote a lengthy note on Facebook which explained the bands “position”:

A short story about how we started DIE ANTWOORD.

NINJA, YO-LANDI and DJ HI-TEK started building Die Antwoord 5 years ago all on our own with a pc computer, some funky rap lyrics and a futuristik zef vision.We set fire to the South African underground in 2008 when people started hearing our spif new zef sound on the interweb.Even though though the big South African music festivals were too scared to book us, every single fokken car parked in the camping site at these festivals was always pumping Die Antwoord tjoons fucked up loud.Through our new zef music we also started making friends with some real soldiers who have stood by us through thick and thin like Zef Master Grif, the Wedding DJ’s, DJ Solarize and WANGA.

We also started working closely with some fuckin talented photographers / cinematographers like Roger Ballen and Rob Malpage who helped us manifest a visual identity for Die Antwoord that was as strong as our music.All the music videos, short-films and photographic imagery we were creating was based directly on a full-length feature film we had been working on called THE ANSWER which is the story of how DIE ANTWOORD began.During this time we also met a kid called Sean Meterlekamp who took some photos of Die Antwoord.We became very good friends with Sean and let him into our inner sanctuary that not many people get access too.We also started telling Sean about a feature film we had been working on for the last 3 years called THE ANSWER.

Over the period of about a year or so we let Sean take photographs of Die Antwoord’s zef style we were developing.We also gave Sean access to all our secret locations like the ZEF SIDE and DRAGON’S LAIR which was going to be the backdrop to our film.Sean became obsessed with our ideas  for the film and asked if he could shoot a short video clip from our film to use for his portfolio.We were a little nervous about this at first but finally agreed to let Sean film us on the conditions that NINJA would have final cut on the short-film and would co-direct the film with Sean.Ninja told Sean he doesn’t need to be credited for this, because Sean was using the piece to show-case himself.However we needed a very clear understanding from Sean at this point that we were the guardians of this world he was about to present with us.

NINJA, YO-LANDI came up with the name ZEF SIDE and the idea for the video clip which was based directly on the feature film THE ANSWER we were working on. We had recorded the BEAT BOY song 3 years before this. This song was very special to us as it was Die Antwoord’s 1st song ever that our whole world poured out of.Sean organized some camera and lighting equipment.We all edited the ZEF SIDE video together with a friend called Haezer till it was nice and tight.We then put ZEF SIDE and ENTER THE NINJA onto DieAntwoord.com along with our raw $O$ album.

When Die Antwoord started getting a lot attention in February 2010, some of our friends were fokken proud of us and continued to stand by our side.However Sean started acting fucking weird.When magazines from all around the world started asking for photographs of DIe Antwoord we asked Sean for hi-rez versions of the images we had created together so we could pump them out. These weren’t just ordinary photographs.These were over a years worth of super intimate  art work that we had put everything on the line for to create.To our fokken amazement, Sean said, “No you can’t have them.”

Sean then told us the small time advertising agency he had recently signed to (after he took all these photos) said if anyone needs these photos of Die Antwoord, they had to contact them directly. They told Sean that they need all these new contacts that were sitting in Die Antwoord’s inbox.This totally fokken freaked us out and we told Sean we have nothing to do with his new fokken advertising agency, but Sean just shrugged his shoulders and said he doesn’t know what to do .

We then found out from other people that the owner of this small time advertising agency was this old evil bitch with a long history of bad news behind her.Sean’s boss then started announcing to the press that ‘Sean Meterlemp is The Answer’ and that Sean ‘created’ this band.

We knew this wasn’t Sean speaking when we heard these mental rumors. So we met with Sean in private and asked him nicely to sort this chick out and only deal directly with us like we had been doing up to this point.Sean told us that his boss is a bit psycho and that he is bound by the contract he signed and that there’s not much he can do about her lies to the press.At this point, we decided to just let it all be and not make a big scene.We were kind of let down that Sean didn’t have enough of a spine to stick up for his ‘friends’ but we also thought, “Fokkit, let’s just carry on making new shit…whatever.”

However when we heard last night that Sean’s boss had told the Guggenheim museum that her new up and coming director was the mastermind behind DIE ANTWOORD we kind of lost it.Sometimes enough is enough.

With all this said, Sean is fuckin talented and a sweetheart, but in life it’s good to keep it real, tell the truth, and stick up for your friends.

So what do you reckon? Genuine anger at a company claiming to have been behind Die Antwoord or just another brilliant marketing gimmick?

[UPDATE] Check out Harry & Co’s official response here.