Afrika Bambaataa
DJ and cultural organizer who founded the Universal Zulu Nation, transforming gang energy into hip-hop's global movement. Born Lance Taylor to Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, he grew up in the Bronx River Projects and rose to warlord in the Black Spades, the city's biggest gang. After winning an essay contest that sent him to Africa and seeing the film Zulu, he returned changed, renaming himself Afrika Bambaataa Aasim and converting the Black Spades into the Bronx River Organization, then the Zulu Nation. His vision was anti-drug, anti-violence, pan-African. His eclectic sets mixed James Brown, Kraftwerk, and film soundtracks. His 1982 single 'Planet Rock' pioneered electro-funk by fusing Kraftwerk's 'Trans-Europe Express' with 808 beats and hip-hop breaks. He led hip-hop's first European tour in 1982, building a global network united by the four elements: DJing, MCing, breaking, and graffiti.