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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)
Summary
The first conscious artist of rap's aural collage was Afrika Bambaata,
aka Kahyan Aasim, the Leonardo of the "beatbox", the producer of
Soul Sonic Force's Zulu Nation Throwdown (1980),
the rap auteur of
Planet Rock (1982),
Looking For The Perfect Beat (1982),
Renegades Of Funk (1983),
World Destruction (1984),
whose album Beware (1986) summarized five years of
experiments (facilitated by producer Arthur Baker)
in mixing samples, epileptic beats, disco grooves and
Kraftwerk's electronic pop,
and defined the genre called "electro".
(Translated from my old Italian text by Nicholas Green)
Afrika Bambaataa (Kevin Donovan) became the "king of the Zulus" in the Bronx with a party in December 1976, but for years he would remain a local figure. When he decided to cut records of his own, arranging Zulu Nation Throwdown (1980) by the Soulsonic Force, he revealed himself to be an excellent musician as well. He raised the standards of commercial rap with his hyperactive EPs, archetypal "dance-floor" music:
Planet Rock (1982), a dizzying collage of scratches, electronic effects, convulsive rhythms, and manipulated vocals, which bestowed prestige on the "beatbox" (thanks largely to producer Arthur Baker and mixer Jellybean Benitez); Looking For The Perfect Beat (1982), a rap symphony of sorts with mixed sounds (and another Baker masterpiece); Renegades Of Funk (1983), an agit-prop rap set to a monolithic and unrelenting rhythm; the masterpiece World Destruction (1984), a rhythmic hurricane with John Lydon on vocals and Bill Laswell on bass (credited to Time Zone); and the very long single Funk You (1985).
On his first album, Beware (The Funk is Everywhere) (1986), featuring Funk Jam Party and Rock America, he would adulterate his harmonies with electric guitars, choirs and organs.
Bambaataa was the first to understand the expressive potential of rap and the first to bend it towards the chic taste of intellectuals. His records are also the first to conceptualize the praxis of rap for what it is - a form of aural collage - and to push this concept to the technological limits of digital production.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
After rapping on Shango's Funk Theology (1984), Bambaata released an
eclectic mix of styles, The Light (1988), studded with guests.
Looking For The Perfect Beat is a compilation of the singles
from 1980-85.
Bambaataa's own albums were largely disappointing:
The Light (1988), 1990-2000: Decade of Darkness (1991),
Zulu Groove (1997),
Hydraulic Funk (2000), Electro Funk Breakdown (2001).
He died in 2026 at the age of 68 due to complications from cancer.
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