Afrika Bambaataa, hip-hop pioneer, has died
121 points - today at 4:17 AM
Sourcecontubernio
today at 5:46 AM
Bambaataa was a serial sexual abuser and everybody in the rap scene knew it back in the day (early 90s) same way everyone knew about R. Kelly (I ran a rap program on the radio in 92-94).
torben-friis
today at 9:04 AM
Damn. As someone half the world away I just knew him as a pioneer, news didn't travel enough to know anything about the personal lives of artists in the early 00s.
No idea about the allegations until now, which means the news doubly suck.
poisonarena
today at 9:27 AM
Imagine if a rap artist was a gang member, armed robber or murderer. That would be even worse, and I would never listen to their music.
kstrauser
today at 9:42 AM
I can imagine scenarios where decent people in tough environments might be compelled to join a gang, rob, or even murder. That doesn’t make it ok, but it makes it at least understandable.
I’m unable to imagine a reason why decent people might be compelled to rape children, let alone serially.
Well, if it gets normalised during childhood, then it frequently occurs during teen years and adulthood.
You can see some discussion of that in the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017)
* https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report
There is the position, of course, that a sexually abused child that reaches teen years or adulthood is no longer a "decent person" .. which is an interesting transition to dwell on.
There is also the theory that it serves as a reenactment of one’s own abuse. Trying to find peace and return to safety by replaying the scene, this time not as helpless victim but perpetrator: in control.
Victims of sexual abuse thus often are haunted by “fantasies” of abuse but avoiding the victim position; the trap is to identify with the fantasies. All too often, they’ve been told it is their fault, they wanted it etc, so the imagined replay “proves the original perpetrator right”.
The only way to break the circle seems to be to fully go into the fantasy and process the victim position, with support of a well-meaning presence (typically a therapist but in another reality it could be friends or family).
kstrauser
today at 9:55 AM
That makes it more understandable, but he lost a trial that said he was raping a child when he was 38 years old.
Someone abused as a child who does sketchy things in their early 20s is tragic. Someone doing the same when they’re nearly 40 is a whole lot harder to dismiss. Like, you don’t make it to that age without hearing a lot of people along the way saying not to rape children.
poisonarena
today at 9:45 AM
couldn't you apply your exact same argument for them?
redsocksfan45
today at 9:53 AM
[dead]
Known murderer and robber rap artists are in prison.
redsocksfan45
today at 9:57 AM
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redsocksfan45
today at 9:49 AM
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sjtgraham
today at 6:41 AM
What did you do about it at the time?
contubernio
today at 8:02 AM
Not a reasonable question. All my information was third hand at best.
We didn't play Bambaataa, R Kelly or Tupac (convicted rapist) records. That's about all a radio station could do. Can't state what legally speaking were merely rumors on the air without facing problems. All you can do is not support them commercially, which we did.
lostlogin
today at 9:11 AM
I’d say it is a reasonable question, with a really good answer.
poisonarena
today at 9:25 AM
[flagged]
kstrauser
today at 9:43 AM
This is such an odd hill to die on.
chris_wot
today at 7:28 AM
The same thing you did. What sort of question is that?
Klaster_1
today at 4:52 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHQ11l4uiM4
Afrika Bambaataa is a major reason I fell in love with hip hop back around '82. Further, I've always felt "perfect beat" is a much better song than the more popular "planet rock". Back then, "planet rock" was for regular folk, "perfect beat" was for the breakers. Regular folk would be dancing on the floor, just like normal, and then, later in the evening, the DJ would drop "perfect beat" and it was on - specifically, this part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=229&v=rHQ11l4uiM4 . The dance floor would clear, otherwise you'd catch a foot from some dude spinning around. Good times.
I'm still trying to digest all the s3xual abuse allegations against Bam later in life.
RIP Bam
wahnfrieden
today at 5:24 AM
The allegations became public later in his life but the incidents go back to the 80s and 90s, his whole career. Rest In Piss indeed
I fell into a job bussing tables and porting alcohol at a local live music venue when I was 19 and I worked there off and on over seven years.
As much as I love live music after a while it just sort of became a job, but every now and again an incredible musician would come through and I wouldn’t know until I showed up for my shift and I asked my coworkers who was playing that night.
One night I come in and my jaw drops when find out it’s fucking DJ Africa Bambaataa! Now I’m not big into hip hop but I had listened to a few of his albums and I knew his music was phenomenal and I was shocked such a legend was playing in my town.
The crazy part is only like 100 people showed up out of a capacity of like 800 but every single one of those people could dance.
The venue had an old sound booth that was attached to ceiling and was accessible with a rickety old spiral staircase, as it was so slow that night I spent most of my time up there just soaking in that experience.
I’ve seen a lot of live shows in my day but that one stands out.
kristopolous
today at 8:21 AM
yeah, he was skilled. Got to see him a few years ago.
crakenzak
today at 5:02 AM
[flagged]
mind-blight
today at 5:05 AM
Because it's Afrika Bambaataa. He invented entirely new techniques for making music - which is already enough for him to be relevant here - that influences what many of us listen to daily.
Back in the early-80s, after learning about sampled music, most people's next question was, "Who the fuck is Kraftwerk?" LOL
Could be discussing his great, ground-breaking music, and instead all I see here is homophobia.
Where's this homophobia exactly?