Afrika Bambaataa:
by Robert Whiteman

The Godfather of Hip Hop, Afrika Bambaataa has some wild ideas about the future: complex, convoluted theories involving extra-terrestrials and vast government conspiracies and cover-ups. It all seems a little far-fetched, the delusions of a man who's blasted off one-too-many headspins atop a less-than-plush cardboard launching pad. Don't bet on it. Afrika Bambaataa already imagined (and played an enormous part in bringing to life) the future once. Who's to say he won't do it again?

Born April, 10 1960 in the South Bronx of New York, Kevin Donovan would go on to be one of the most influential DJs of the 70s and 80s, helping to create and foster a burgeoning Hip Hop culture and laying the musical foundations for not just Hip Hop, but Electro-funk, Miami Bass and Detroit Techno, and more. Donovan was a member of Bronx River street gang the Black Spades when a growing interest in Black Power prompted him to adopt the name Afrika Bambaataa Aasim after a 19th century South African Zulu chief. Taking the positive aspects of the street gang - unity, respect, discipline - and channeling them towards the creative arts instead of crime, Bambaataa formed the Universal Zulu Nation.

Starting around 1977, the Zulu Nation began throwing block parties where Hip Hop music, breakdancing, and graffiti art were all a part of the entertainment. The mythical "four elements" (DJing, rapping, breakdancing, and graffiti art) were fused, and Hip Hop culture was born. Bam was soon, along with the pioneering Kool Herc and the innovating Grandmaster Flash, one of the most influential DJs in New York. With notoriously eclectic record crates - dropping the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" into the same set as an Aerosmith song and a speech by Malcolm X - he began to formulate the post-modern pastiche of Hip Hop music.

That amalgam reached its apex in the classic 1982 record "Planet Rock." Bambaataa had been releasing mix-tapes for years, and he had produced two previous 12" singles, Soul Sonic Force's "Zulu Nation Throwdown" and (as Afrika Bambaataa and the Jazzy 5) the excellent "Jazzy Sensation." Nothing, however, had prepared the world for "Planet Rock." With the help of John Robie and Arthur Baker, "Planet Rock" transformed Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" into a futuristic Hip Hop manifesto whose break-beat fueled reverberations are still being felt today. In addition to being an Old-School Hip Hop classic, rivaled only by "Rapper's Delight" and "The Message," it is the blueprint for Electro, and - minus the emcees - it is the blueprint for Detroit Techno (itself one of the genesis points for all modern dance and electronic music). Change the party-rockin' positivity to booty-shakin' debauchery and you have the blueprint for Miami Bass. In short, this record was a major jumping off point for almost every non-guitar based music style of the last 20 years, and it's still the greatest breakdancing track of all time.

Bambaataa went on to work with everyone from John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon to avant-everyman Bill Laswell to fellow Godfather James Brown, and the Zulu Nation produced a late-80s renaissance of afro-centric Hip Hop from the likes of De la Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. It is still a positive organizing force, and Afrika Bambaataa continues to DJ and spread the Gospel of Hip Hop throughout the world to a new generation of fans (from candy ravers to backpackers to the Junglist massive) who are much appreciative of the fruits of his labor. They'd be wise to listen to what he has to say about the world of the future. After all, he created this one.