Afrika Bambaataa, one of the foundational figures of hip‑hop culture, has died at the age of 68 from prostate cancer in Pennsylvania last Thursday, according to his lawyer. Widely regarded as a visionary DJ and producer, Bambaataa helped shape the sound and spirit of early hip‑hop, most famously through his groundbreaking 1982 track Planet Rock and his creation of the Universal Zulu Nation collective.
Born Lance Taylor in 1957 in the South Bronx, Bambaataa grew up amid the borough’s economic decline but found inspiration in his mother’s record collection and the emerging DJ scene led by other Hip-hop pioneers like Kool Herc. His high‑energy community centre parties in the 1970s and ’80s became incubators for hip‑hop’s evolution, blending funk, electro, and breakbeats in ways that would influence generations of artists.
In later years, Bambaataa’s legacy became entangled with controversy after multiple men accused him of sexual abuse dating back to their youth. While he denied the allegations, and one accuser, Bronx political activist and former music industry executive Ronald Savage later retracted his claim, others continued to come forward. In 2016, the Universal Zulu Nation issued a public apology acknowledging that some members had been aware of the alleged abuse. In 2025, Bambaataa lost a civil judgment related to one of the claims.
Despite the shadow cast by these accusations, tributes from across the music world emphasized his influence on hip‑hop’s global rise. His agency wrote that “his spirit lives in every beat, every cypher and every corner of this globe he touched.
Source: CBC News
Image: CBC News
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