Afrika Bambaataa, the visionary DJ, rapper, producer, and activist who became one of the first global hip-hop stars and later faced multiple, widespread accusations of child sexual abuse, died today at age 68. His vision transformed the Bronx into the birthplace of a culture that now reaches every corner of the world … At the same time, we recognize that his legacy is complex and has been the subject of serious conversations within our community.” The cause of death was prostate cancer, Bambaataa’s lawyer confirmed to The . As a recording artist, Bambaataa’s legacy rests on “Planet Rock,” the seminal 1982 12-inch he recorded with the Soulsonic Force and backing vocalists Planet Patrol.
Produced by Arthur Baker, the gold-certified single launched Bambaataa into public consciousness around the globe. Its electronic sound — largely influenced by the German outfit Kraftwerk — inspired a yearslong trend of electro-rap and dance-pop records in the mid-Eighties. Generations of musicians, from Missy Elliott to City Girls, drew inspiration from the song.
Rap artists shouted out Bambaataa in their verses. Others, like the Chemical Brothers (“It Began in Afrika”), dedicated entire songs to him. Once called a “philosopher king” by Rock & Roll Confidential, Bambaataa made recordings steeped in an Afrofuturist sensibility, with references to Egyptology and Black cosmology.
As a DJ, he boasted a reputation as “Master of Records,” one whose tastes and selections encompassed a wide gamut of soulful funk, boogie rock, electro breaks, and all sorts of novelty kitsch. The Universal Zulu Nation, an organization he co-founded in the late Seventies, sprouted chapters across the world and organized annual “anniversary” parties that featured top acts from the music industry. When the term hip-hop, credited to the late Keith “Cowboy” Wiggins from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, was popularized in the early Eighties — the genre’s Bronx pioneers also utilized names like “b-beat” and “hip-hip” — it was Bambaataa who helped define it as four elements: DJ’ing, graffiti, break dancing, and rapping.
Prolific to a fault, Bambaataa issued dozens of albums throughout his career. While he never equaled the success of “Planet Rock” in the U.S., he continued to enjoy chart success overseas, notably with “Reckless,” a 1988 U.K. Top 20 hit with British reggae-pop band UB40 as Afrika Bambaataa & Family; and “Afrika Shox,” a 1999 U.K.
Top 10 hit by electronic duo Leftfield that featured him as a guest. Meanwhile, journalists often referred to him, Kool Herc, and Grandmaster Flash as an unofficial holy trinity key to hip-hop’s growth into the most important American cultural movement of the end of the 20th century. In March 2016, Ronald Savage, a former “crate boy” who carried the DJ’s records to gigs, told a New York radio DJ that Bambaataa sexually abused him in 1981. (Savage would later retract his allegations.) Savage’s allegations prompted widespread press coverage.
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