Afrika Bambaataa

Lance Taylor (born on April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York.

Some suggest he began as early as 1970, predating noted "father of hip hop" Kool Herc, while others contend he began after Herc in 1976, in fact, attending and drawing inspiration from Kool Herc parties.

He vowed to use hip-hop to draw angry kids out of gangs and form the Universal Zulu Nation.

Inspired by hip-hop icons like DJ Kool Herc, Bambaataa began hosting block parties throughout the South Bronx, including at the Bronx River Organization.

Bambaataa engaged primarily as a hip-hop artist.

Due to his ties to organized crime, much of his early fan base was centered around the hip-hop movement, as Bambaataa established numerous rap groups including the “Jazzy 5” and the “Soulsonic Force”, which featured many artists that had overlapped with the Universal Zulu Nation.

The term was first used in print to refer to the music by reporter Robert Flipping, Jr. in a February 1979 article in the New Pittsburgh Courier, and to refer to the culture in a January 1982 interview of Afrika Bambaataa by Michael Holman in the East Village Eye.

The term gained further currency in September of that year in another Bambaataa interview in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager.

He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture.

Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.

Through his co-opting of the street gang the Black Spades into the music and culture-oriented Universal Zulu Nation, he has helped spread hip hop culture throughout the world.

In 1982, Bambaataa began playing "authentically" electronic music in the form of EBN-OZN’s “AEIOU Sometimes Y”, which was the first ever commercially released American single made on a computer, namely the Fairlight CMI.

Inspired by techno groups such as Kraftwerk, Bambaataa began to realize the potential for technological advancement in music making, deciding to stop performing with a live band and instead only relying on technology on stage.

That same year, Bambaataa released his breakthrough electro-funk track in the form of “Planet Rock”, which featured Bambaataa, producer Arthur Baker and the Soulsonic Force.

This groundbreaking single, featuring the iconic line “party people, can you feel it?,” seamlessly blended electronic sounds, drum machines, and futuristic synthesizers with traditional funk and hip-hop elements.

Featuring a synth hook from Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europe Express”, as well as electronic drum patterns from their track “Numbers,” Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” not only became a massive commercial hit in clubs and dance floors everywhere, but also set the stage for the emergence of electro-funk as a distinct genre.

Robert Keith Wiggins, a.k.a. "Cowboy" of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, is credited with naming hip-hop.

The term became a common phrase used by MCs as part of a scat-inspired style of rhyming.

In 1982, Bambaataa and his followers – a group of dancers, artists, and DJs – went outside the United States on the first hip-hop tour.

He saw that the hip hop tours would be the key to help expand hip hop and his Universal Zulu Nation.

In addition it would help promote the values of hip hop that he believed are based on peace, unity, love, and having fun.

He brought peace to the gangs; many artists and gang members say that "hip hop saved a lot of lives".

His influence inspired many overseas artists like the French rapper MC Solaar.

In May 2016, Bambaataa left his position as head of the Universal Zulu Nation due to multiple allegations of child sexual abuse dating as far back as the 1970s.

Born Lance Taylor to Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, Bambaataa grew up in the Bronx River Projects, with an activist mother and uncle.

As a child, he was exposed to the black liberation movement and witnessed debates between his mother and uncle regarding the conflicting ideologies in the movement.

He was exposed to his mother's extensive and eclectic record collection.

Gangs in the area became the law, clearing their turf of drug dealers, assisting with community health programs and both fighting and partying to keep members and turf.

Bambaataa was a member of the Black Spades.

He quickly rose to the position of "warlord" in one of the divisions.

As warlord, it was his job to build ranks and expand the turf of the young Spades.

He was not afraid to cross turfs to forge relationships with other gangs, and their members.

As a result, the Spades became the biggest gang in the city in terms of both membership and turf.

After Bambaataa won an essay contest that earned him a trip to Africa, his worldview shifted.

He had seen the movie Zulu and was impressed with the solidarity exhibited by the Zulu in that film.

During his trip to Africa, the communities he visited inspired him to create one in his own neighborhood.

He changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim, adopting the name of the Zulu chief Bhambatha, who led an armed rebellion against unfair economic practices in early 20th-century South Africa.

He told people that his name was Zulu for "affectionate leader".

Bambaataa formed The "Bronx River Organization" as an alternative to the Black Spades.

Due to the oft nebulous timeline of hip-hop origins, there are conflicting accounts of when Bambaataa began hosting parties.