Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa, born Lance Taylor in 1957 in the Bronx to parents of Jamaican and Barbadian descent, is one of hip-hop's founding DJs alongside Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash. In 1973 he formed the Universal Zulu Nation, a youth organization built around Black culture and non-violence, taking his name from a 19th-century Zulu chief. His group Soulsonic Force's "Planet Rock" (1982), built on Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe Express" and "Numbers," fused electro-funk with breakbeat DJing into a foundational record for hip-hop and electro, its 808 and synthesizer sound rippling directly into Detroit techno. He remained a pioneer of breakbeat deejaying and Afrofuturist vision for decades after.