Afrika Bambaataa, the hip-hop pioneer with a checkered previous of sexual abuse allegations, has died on the age of 68.
The visionary rapper, DJ and producer (actual title Lance Taylor) died on Thursday (April 9) in Pennsylvania, in response to TMZ. Bambaataa’s lawyer confirmed to the Related Press that his reason for demise was prostate most cancers.
“At the moment, we acknowledge the transition of a foundational architect of Hip Hop tradition, Afrika Bambaataa,” Kurtis Blow mentioned in an announcement as govt director of the Hip Hop Alliance. “[He] helped form the early identification of Hip Hop as a world motion rooted in peace, unity, love, and having enjoyable.
“His imaginative and prescient reworked the Bronx into the birthplace of a tradition that now reaches each nook of the world … On the similar time, we acknowledge that his legacy is advanced and has been the topic of great conversations inside our neighborhood.”
Born within the South Bronx, New York, Afrika Bambaataa rose to prominence as a member of the Black Spades avenue gang earlier than establishing himself as a well-liked native DJ. Within the Seventies, Bambaataa launched the artwork collective the Common Zulu Nation, serving to to outline the 4 components of hip-hop tradition: DJing, graffiti, breakdancing and MCing.
As a recording artist, he’s finest identified for the 1982 hit “Planet Rock” with the Soulsonic Pressure, which cracked the highest 50 of the Billboard Scorching 100 and impressed a wave of electro-rap and dance-pop information, owing to its futuristic, Kraftwerk-sampling sound.
Alongside DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa is extensively thought-about a founding father of hip-hop, serving to to put the inspiration for the style to develop into arguably probably the most culturally influential motion of the final 50 years.
Nevertheless, Bambaataa leaves behind a sophisticated legacy tarnished by disturbing allegations.
In 2016, he was accused by a person named Ronald Savage of sexually abusing him within the Nineteen Eighties when he was a younger teen. Bambaataa denied the allegations, whereas Savage later retracted his claims.
“Bambaataa isn’t a pedophile and, in my eyes, he was doing one thing that was consensual with somebody that he thought was of age,” he informed AllHipHop in 2024.
After Savage initially got here ahead together with his accusations, a number of different males subsequently accused Bambaataa of sexually abusing them as youngsters.
In 2021, Bambaataa was sued by an nameless man who claimed that he had sexually abused and trafficked him for 4 years, starting in 1991, when he was 12 and Bambaataa in his 30s.
The “Planet Rock” hitmaker by no means responded to the lawsuit and misplaced the civil case in 2025 after failing to indicate up in courtroom. The alleged sufferer was awarded a default judgement.
