Intuitive Music

Born Kevin Donovan in New York 1960, Afrika Bambaataa has been named the Godfather of hip hop, but also besides that, his influence on electronic music and electro-funk.

Afrika Bambaataa began DJing in the Bronx in the 1970 when he was a teenager and member of the Black Spades street gang, but his passion for music lead him to spend most of his time in record stores building a wonderful record collection of all kind of genres and styles that gave him the nickname of “Master of Records�.

After watching the film “Zuluâ€? (which shows the battle in 1879 between British troops and the Zulu tribe), he got his name “Afrika Bambaataa” (meaning “affectionate leader”) for his new artist identity. In 1974 he decided to form the band Zulu Nation, a crew that later included break dancers, rappers, deejays, and graffiti artists. He has been credited with naming this kind of urban culture “hip hop“.

In 1980, Afrika Bambaataa recorded his debut release on Paul Winley Records “Zulu Nation Throwdown, Part 1. He later met Fab 5 Freddy who introduced him to the downtown music scene and he started being credited as one of the best DJs in that time period. As a consequence two years later he was taking part of the 1st hip hop tour to Europe with a group of DJs that included Rock Steady Crew, Fab 5, Rammellzee, the Double Dutch Girls, Grand Mixer D.ST. & The Infinity Rappers.

Right after this the Zulu DJs (Afrika Banmaataa, Jazzy Jay, Grand Mixer D.ST., and Afrika Islam started a residency on the famous Roxy club in New York.

In May 2002, Afrika Bambaataa and Soul Sonic Force (Jazzy Jay, Mr. Biggs, G.L.O.B.E., Whiz Kid and Pow Wow) released the legendary single on Tommy Boy Records. Mixing funk and hip hop with Kraftwerk’s album “Trans-European Express”, it became not only a classic in hip-hop, but it has also had a big influence on em>Chicago house and Detroit techno and it is considered as the first electro recording.

After the worldwide success of “Planet Rock� Afrika Bambaataa worked with James Brown (being the first rapper to work and sample the soul legend), Yellowman, and UB40, and in 1992 formed his own label called Planet Rock. He has also worked with Arthur Baker, Leftfield, Bill Laswell, Kosheen, Leftfield, and many others.