This summer, the South African trio Die Antwoord—frontman Ninja, vocalist Yo-Landi Vi$$er, and DJ Hi-Tek—released a video for the bizarre rap-rave track, “Enter the Ninja.” The clip features a shirtless, tattooed Ninja ferociously spitting out his rhymes, the progeria-stricken Cape Town painter Leon Botha bopping around, an actual black-clad ninja wielding a sword, and the pixie-ish Yo-Landi mewling her vocals while undressing in a bedroom wallpapered with pictures of Ninja. At the end of the song, Ninja mutters, “This is like the coolest song I heard in my whole life.” Die Antwoord—Afrikaans for “The Answer”—has had bloggers speculating for months whether they’re a joke group or performance artists. Regardless, “Enter the Ninja” went viral on YouTube and, after millions of views, crashed the group’s own website. Serious or not, Die Antwoord claims to represent South Africa’s zef sector of society; our closest translation of zef would be “white trash.” Accordingly, Die Antwoord’s music is wild, vulgar, tough, and full of braggadocio. (Their debut album, $0$, drops this week.) And as further proof of their appeal, I recently saw a bottle-blonde hipster chick at Capitol Hill’s Redwood with her hair cut in Yo-Landi’s signature shaved bangs/half-mullet hairstyle. Music videos aren’t the only things that go viral. This evening, before opening for Deadmau5 at the Paramount (8 p.m., $36.50), the trio will perform an exclusive in-store and sign records. ERIN K. THOMPSON

Wed., Oct. 13, 5:30 p.m., 2010