Download Afrika Bambaataa MP3s
Though Afrika Bambaataa has been called "the High Priest of Hip Hop," and "The Godfather of Hip Hop," the passage of time has positioned him as the "Self-Realized Master of Hip Hop" and one of music�s brightest luminaries of our time.
Originally a member of the Black Spades (one of NY�s most feared gangs) in the 70�s, Bambaataa defected as a teenager after seeing many of his friends killed. He founded a youth group in his neighborhood called The Zulu Nation, organized with the concept of using music as a path to peace and presenting music-drenched gatherings where neighborhood kids could come together and learn to interact without violence. Using two turntables and funk music as his core, Bambaataa mixed things up by tossing in the spice of dance music, rock music, and even German electronic music.
Soon a following of thousands were drawn to his parties at the Bronx River Center rec room, and when the occasional fight would break out, Bam would stop the music, grab the mic and call for "Peace." He would then play 4 bars of a hot funky record and stop the music again and say "You like that?" He would play 8 more bars, stop the music again and say "No more fighting." Then he would kick the song back in and the party was back in swing, sans fighting.
I came to meet Bam by following a tip from an employee of a NY record store that had a special room where they sold "break beats." These were albums or 45s containing 2 to 8 bars of funky beats, and 15-year-old kids would line up with pooled money to purchase two copies of many of these "rare" records. I asked them where they had discovered these sounds, and they said "Afrika Bambaataa, up in the Bronx".
I called him and he invited me to come to an event he was playing at the Tee Connection on White Plains Road. It was a second floor club filled with teens mulling around the dance floor, while an incredibly diverse range of music was booming through the system. I walked up another flight of stairs to the balcony where Bambaataa was positioned working his records. He was flanked by two younger guys -- a shorter one with the impish smile named Jazzy Jay, and a tall and lanky guy with reddish hair named Red Alert. In between was the master of records himself, sartorial behind his altar of sound, adjusting the turntables. The tone arms were capped with quarters to increase the weight to prevent skipping when back-spinning, and black magic marker covered the titles of the records on the wheels of steel. Bambaataa had a priestly yet mystical quality as he played his mysterious records, their makers identity carefully erased to prevent others from discovering his secrets. Rock, pop, funk, r&b, reggae, calypso� nothing was off limits if it had the beat!
After watching him for an hour, he let Jazzy Jay spin for a while -- although Bam still chose the records, handing them to Jazzy who cut them up like a surgeon, taking two bars and extending a break on a record for over 2 minutes (a feat I had never before witnessed back in 1980). I asked Bam if he would like to make a record that sounded like the music he was playing. He said yes, and that was the beginning of "Planet Rock" and Tommy Boy�s relationship with Afrika Bambaataa.
Bambaataa turned me on to our first release "Havin� Fun" by Cotton Candy, and then we recorded him with his group The Jazzy Five doing "Jazzy Sensation." This was Tommy Boy�s first hit. He then hipped me to "Pack Jam" by Jonzun Crew, Tommy Boy�s first album, which went on to sell over 250,000 records. Then in 1982, Arthur Baker, John Robie and I went into Intergalactic Recording Studios to cut "Planet Rock" with Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force. The entire record was made for $750, and we used the same 24-track 2 inch tape to record "Play at Your Own Risk" for Planet Patrol a month later.
Blending the electro sound pioneered by Kraftwerk and mixing it with hip hop beats and rapping, "Planet Rock" was the first pop record to use the Roland TR808 drum machine, and also the first to use the Fairlight digital synthesizer (both of which happened to be at Intergalactic). The song caught on like wild fire, and soon the "Planet Rock" sound was heard everywhere, from freestyle to Miami bass and early West Coast hip hop. "Planet Rock" ushered in an era of electronic music that has not subsided since, which is why "Planet Rock" is now in the rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 100 most important records of all time.
Like Ghandi, Afrika Bambaataa has given his life to pursuing peace. His Zulu Nation has spread around the world with chapters in over 30 countries. He answers the phone "peace," and lives the practice of non-violence in his daily life. Simultaneously his music has helped build cross-cultural awareness and understanding by exposing different groups of people to music they might not otherwise be exposed to. His business card read "Afrika Bambaataa, Master of Records," and between funk classics by Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Bootsy Collins and George Clinton, Bam would play breaks from The Monkeys, The Eagles, Billy Squier, Kraftwerk, Bob James and so many others (not to mention the rare groove records he would find and steam the labels off so no one would know what the record was � a precursor to the "white label" concept). Bambaataa sometimes pushed the envelope by playing 33 RPM records at 45 RPM. He even played some records upsidedown and backwards so the music played in reverse.
20 years later, I still believe in Bambaataa. He is more than the spiritual heart of hip hop -- he embraces rhythmic music and celebrates its diversity as the core of his message. Three years ago, with the return of electro, it felt like time to ask Afrika Bambaataa to return and make an album with a few of the legions who have been inspired by his sound. Paul Daley, Gary Numan, Sharaz, Uberzone, the Baltimore Break Beats, Fort Knox and Simply Jeff are just some the contributors to his new album. On this album, Afrika Bambaataa, The Godfather Of Hip Hop Last Millennium, the Amen Ra Of Universal Hip Hop Culture This Millennium, pledges allegiance to the funk and brings back that sound that has been missing for too long.
