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Thursday,
November 2, 2000
If you're looking for the true definition of hip hop, you might as well go to one of the sources -- Afrika Bambaataa. The politically charged Bronx DJ's name is placed among such exalted company as DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash; his single Planet Rock is up there in the pantheon with The Message and Rapper's Delight; he formed the Zulu Nation collective, which gave rise to such artists as De La Soul and Queen Latifah; and since his start in the late '70s, he's worked with everyone from James Brown and Sly & Robbie to John Lydon and Bill Laswell. The man is, if you haven't figured it out, a true hip hop legend. "That's what I hear," Bambaataa laughs graciously from his Calgary hotel room. He's in town for a show this evening at the Night Gallery to school the public on the true meaning of hip hop, something he says the media and others have distorted over the years in order to sell a culture they don't understand. "They're dictating what hip hop is. And they really don't know what it is," he says. "Every time you mention hip hop, first thing people think of is rap. Hip hop is not rap, rap is a part of the hip hop culture ... "Prodigy is hip hop, Chemical Brothers is hip hop, drum 'n' bass and jungle.... It's all avenues that hip hop has stretched into, which is still part of the culture." He also lays some of the blame at the Puma-ed feet of the current crop of boutique DJs who don't paint a complete picture of what the music is, where it's come from and, more importantly, where it's going. "I'm still trying to keep playing a lot of different music under one roof -- not just hip hop," Bambaataa explains. "A lot of DJs got into this apartheid thing, which is terrible -- it's not like the late '70s and early '80s when DJs were progressive minded. "With a lot of these DJs now, here they come to a rave and play for one hour, maybe 90 minutes with their one bag of stuff -- they think they're God's gift to Earth. "No disrespect, but you should play for the people. (Tonight) we're going to be playing all types of music. We just want people to dance." site |
Afrika Bambaataa Planet Rock
Just
start to chase your dreams We
know a place where the nights are hot The
D.J. plays your favorite blasts Rock
rock to the Planet Rock , don't stop The
Soul Sonic Force - Mr. Biggs, Pow Wow, and M.C. Globe Rock
rock to the Planet Rock , don't stop You're
in a place where the nights are hot Twist
and turn, the you let your body slide Everybody
keep rockin' and clockin' and shockin' and rockin', go house You
gotta rock it, pop it, 'cause it's the century Zih Zih Zih Zih Zih (ad lib) Everybody
say, rock it, don't stop it (Crowd repeats) So
twist and turn, then you let your body glide
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Peace
on earth as it is the heavens.jpg)