Bam started deejaying in 1970.
He had a passion for buying records (he would later be known as the “Master of Records”) and his tastes were very diversified from rock to r&b to African sounds to Latin, calypso, and classical. Although Kool Herc was the top DJ at the time, Bam knew he owned most of the same records as Herc so he decided to start playing on his own.
His ideological influences ran the gamut of the black political leaders of the time. He saw the film Zulu which depicted the battle between British troops and the Zulu tribe in 1879. The British seem victorious before they are overwhelmed by the numbers of Zulus who spare their lives. He took his name “Afrika Bambaataa” which meant “affectionate leader” from the movie. In 1974 Bam decided to form his own Zulu Nation to help assemble what he referred to as “the elements” of the culture into organization. He original crew was called The Organization, but after two years he changed it into the Zulu Nation. It was a break dance crew at first but then grew to include rappers, deejays, and graffiti artists.
His first recorded release was on Paul Winley Records and was called “Zulu Nation Throwdown, Part 1″ in 1980.
The group released the first 12″ at Tommy Boy “Jazzy Sensation” in 1981.
He met Fab 5 Freddy who introduced him to the downtown music scene. As a result Bam attempted to fuse the uptown sounds he grew up on and the happenings he heard downtown.
In 1982, he was part of the first hip hop tour to Europe with Fab 5, Rammellzee, Grand Mixer D.ST. & The Infinity Rappers, Rock Steady Crew, the Double Dutch Girls, and graffiti artists Phase 2, Futura, and Dondi.
The Zulu DJ’s at the time were Bam, Jazzy Jay, Grand Mixer D.ST. (who would later work with Herbie Hancock on “Rockit”), and Afrika Islam. They took over a club called the Roxy. One of their performances was caught in the film Beat Street.
During May of 1982, Bam and his group the Soul Sonic Force made up of Bam, Jazzy Jay, Mr. Biggs (Ellis Williams), G.L.O.B.E. (John Miller), Whiz Kid and Pow Wow (Robert Darrell Allen) released “Planet Rock” on Tommy Boy Records and created a new sound for the genre that mixed funk and hip hop with Kraftwerk’s “Trans-Europeoan Express”. By 1983, “Planet Rock” and a second single “Looking for the Perfect Beat” were blowing up all over the world.
His first album came out in 1983 called Planet Rock which featured other well known tracks like “Looking for the Perfect Beat”, “Frantic Situation”, “Renegades of Funk”.
1986 saw his other album for Tommy Boy “Beware The Funk is Everywhere” which featured “Funk You” and “Bambaataa’s Theme”
1989 saw an interesting release called ‘The Light’ which was an album that featured UB40, Boy George, Bobby Mcfarren and other luminaries of 80′s pop music.
Bam has since worked with James Brown (the first rapper to official collaborate with James not just sample his tracks).
He appeared on a song entitled “World Destruction” by Bill Laswell who also worked with Fab 5 Freddy.
In Fall of 1999 he was featured as a guest vocalist on the UK dance group Leftfield’s No.1 (UK) Album Rhythm And Stealth on the track “Afrika Shox” which peaked at No. 11 on the UK charts.
Afrika 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.[1]Gangs in the area became the law in the absence of law, clearing their turf of drug dealers, assisting with community health programs and both fighting and partying to keep members and turf.[1] Bambaataa was a founding member of the Bronx River Projects-area street gang The Savage Seven. Due to the explosive growth of the gang, it later became known as the Black Spades, and Bambaataa quickly rose to the position of warlord. As warlord, it was his job to build ranks and expand the turf of the Black Spades. Bambaataa was not afraid to cross turfs to forge relationships with other gang members, and with other gangs. As a result, the Spades became the biggest gang in the city in terms of both membership and turf.[1]
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 stop the violence and create a community in his own neighborhood.[1] 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 that can be seen as a precursor to the anti-apartheid movement. He told people that his name was Zulu for "affectionate leader".[1] A young Afrika Bambaataa began to think about how he could turn his turf-building skills to peacemaking. He formed the "Bronx River Organization" as an alternative to the Black Spades.[1]
Inspired by DJ Kool Herc and Kool DJ Dee, he too began hosting hip hop parties. He vowed to use hip hop to draw angry kids out of gangs and formed the Universal Zulu Nation.[5] Bambaataa is credited with naming hip-hop. "Hip hop" was a common phrase used by MCs as part of a scat-inspired style of rhyming, and Bambaataa appropriated it for use in describing the emerging culture, which included the four elements: the music of DJs, the lyricism and poetry of emcees, the dancing of b-boysand b-girls, and graffiti art.[6]
In 1982, Bambaataa and his followers, a group of dancers, artists and DJs, went outside the United States on the first hip hop tour.[1] Bambaataa 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. Bambaataa brought peace to the gangs as many artists and gang members say that "hip hop saved a lot of lives". He was a popular DJ in South Bronx rap scene and became known not only as Afrika Bambaataa but also as the "Master of Records".[8] He established two rap crews: the Jazzy 5 including MCs Master Ice, Mr. Freeze, Master Bee, Master D.E.E, and AJ Les, and the second crew referred to as Soulsonic Force including Mr. Biggs, Pow Wow and Emcee G.L.O.B.E.[9]
In that same year Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force dropped the live band to go high-tech. Bambaataa credited the pioneering Japanese electropop group Yellow Magic Orchestra, whose work he sampled, as an inspiration.[10][11] He also borrowed an eerie keyboard hook from German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk and was provided an electronic "beat-box" by producer Arthur Baker and synthesizer player John Robie. That resulted in a pop hit "Planet Rock", which went to gold status and generated an entire school of "electro-boogie" rap and dance music. Bambaataa formed his own label to release the Time Zone Compilation. He created "turntablism" as its own sub-genre and the ratification of "electronica" as an industry-certified trend in the late 1990s
Birth of the Zulu Nation
Bambaataa decided to use his leadership skills to turn those involved in the gang life into something more positive to the community. This decision began the development of what later became known as theUniversal Zulu Nation, a group of socially and politically aware rappers, B-boys, graffiti artists and other people involved in hip hop culture.[8] By 1977, inspired by DJ Kool Herc and DJ Dee, and after Disco King Mario loaned him his first equipment, Bambaataa began organizing block parties all around the South Bronx. He even faced his long time friend, Disco King Mario in a DJ battle. He then began performing at Stevenson High School and formed the Bronx River Organization, then later simply "The Organization". Bambaataa had deejayed with his own sound system at the Bronx River Community Center, with Mr. Biggs, Queen Kenya, and Cowboy, who accompanied him in performances in the community. Because of his prior status in the Black Spades, he already had an established Army party crowd drawn from former members of the gang. Hip hop culture was spreading through the streets via house parties, block parties, gym dances and mix tapes.[12]
About a year later Bambaataa reformed the group, calling it the Zulu Nation (inspired by his wide studies on African history at the time). Five b-boys (break dancers) joined him, whom he called the Zulu Kings, and later formed the Zulu Queens, and the Shaka Zulu Kings and Queens. As he continued deejaying, more DJs, rappers, b-boys, b-girls, graffiti writers, and artists followed him, and he took them under his wing and made them all members of his Zulu Nation. He was also the founder of the Soulsonic Force, which originally consisted of approximately twenty Zulu Nation members: Mr. Biggs, Queen Kenya, DJ Cowboy Soulsonic Force (#2), Pow Wow, G.L.0.B.E. (creator of the "MC popping" rap style), DJ Jazzy Jay, Cosmic Force, Queen Lisa Lee, Prince Ikey C, Ice Ice (#1), Chubby Chub; Jazzy Five-DJ Jazzy Jay, Mr. Freeze, Master D.E.E., Kool DJ Red Alert, Sundance, Ice Ice (#2), Charlie Choo, Master Bee, Busy Bee Starski, Akbar (Lil Starski), and Raheim. The personnel for the Soulsonic Force were groups within groups with whom he would perform and make records.
In 1980, Bambaataa's groups made their first recording with Paul Winley Records titled, "Death Mix". According to Bambaata, this was an unauthorized release.[1] Winley recorded two versions of Soulsonic Force's landmark single, "Zulu Nation Throwdown", with authorization from the musicians. Disappointed with the results of the single, Bambaataa left the company.
The Zulu Nation was the first hip-hop organization, with an official birth date of November 12, 1973.[13] Bambaataa's plan with the Universal Zulu Nation was to build a youth movement out of the creativity of a new generation of outcast youths with an authentic, liberating worldwide
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