Kool Herc DJs needed to establish an identity or niche in this highly. A house full of kids, tearing up the new furniture that she just put some money down on. York breakdancer, but it was certainly popularised by members of the Zulu Nation.
The Get Down may be fictional, but it's done well to flank its narrative with plenty of real-life touchstones. As it reimagines the music boom that flooded '70s New York, many of the figures that helped pioneer hip hop have appeared as actual characters. Mamoudou Athie plays the sage Grandmaster Flash, Eric D. Hill Jr. takes on the famed DJ Kool Herc, and now, the freshly released second half of Season 1 has ventured into Zulu territory to introduce the genre's third pillar: Afrika Bambaataa (Okieriete Onaodowan). But for those less familiar with hip hop history, you may be wondering who Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation are and what their impact has been.
Much like his contemporaries, Afrika Bambaataa is considered one of the founding fathers of hip hop. According to Rolling Stone, he quit the notorious Black Spades street gang in the mid-'70s and formed Zulu Nation, a music-oriented youth organization comprised of socially and politically conscious rappers. It was designed to protect and promote hip hop culture, championing messages of peace, love, and unity — a mission that's reiterated in The Get Down. When Ra-Ra (Skylan Brooks) brings his crew to Zulu's neighborhood in Episode 11, they're told, 'The Nation of Zulu is not a gang. It is an organization of individuals in search of success, peace, understanding, and the righteous way of life.”
Though Bambaataa himself was never particularly commercially successful, his contributions to music remain some of hip hop's most defining. Rolling Stone writes in the same article that his 'encyclopedic knowledge of funk grooves' propelled him to prominence in the nascent South Bronx rap scene, where he earned the nickname 'Master of Records' and formed two rap groups: Jazzy 5 and Soulsonic Force. His early work was characterized by round-robin rapping backed by live bands, but it was his use of electronic synthesizers and beat-box rhythms that most revolutionized rap. His seminal 1982 single, 'Planet Rock,' pushed the boundaries of what hip hop could sound like, going on to spawn an entire school of dance-oriented 'electro-boogie' music.
In the decades since, Bambaataa has largely pulled back from the spotlight. He remained active throughout the '90s and early 2000s, releasing upwards of 20 albums across the course of his career.
In recent years, however, his once-esteemed reputation has come under major scrutiny. Billboard reported that in April 2016, former Zulu member Ronald Savage claimed Bambaataa had molested him multiple times in the 1980s, when Savage was a teenager. In the weeks following, three more men came forward alleging similar sexual abuse. Bambaataa has repeatedly denied the allegations, releasing a statement to Rolling Stone that asserted they were 'baseless,' 'cowardly,' and meant to 'tarnish [his] reputation and legacy in hip hop.' According to Pitchfork, Zulu Nation later restructured its leadership to dismiss 'all accused parties and those accused of covering up the current allegations of child molestation.'
Nonetheless, Bambaataa's legacy presses on, in The Get Down and in the music business.
The Universal Zulu Nation is an international hip hop awareness group formed by and formerly led by hip hop artist Afrika Bambaataa.[1]:101
They strongly promote that Hip-Hop was created to provide 'peace, love, unity and having fun' for those in the ghetto, and eventually onward to all those supportive of the culture.
History[edit]
Originally known simply as the Organization, it arose in the 1970s as the reformed New York Citygang the Black Spades, a street gang from South Bronx. While the Black Spades were the base of the organization, other reformed gangs contributed additional members, notably the Savage Nomads, Seven Immortals, and Savage Skulls, among others.[2] Members began to organize cultural events for youths, combining local dance and music movements into what would become known as the various elements of hip hop culture. Elements of the culture include Emceeing (MCing), Deejaying (DJing), breaking, and writing.
In many interviews, Afrika Bambaataa has spoken of the name 'Zulu' as being inspired by the 1964 film of the same name.[citation needed]
The imagery of the Zulu Nation has varied at times as well. During the 1970s, and 1980s, Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation members would often clothe themselves in costumes representing different cultures of the world and different factions of the Nation throughout the world may utilize different cultural symbols and themes to express basic Zulu philosophy.[citation needed]
Since the early 1980s, the Zulu Nation has since established (autonomous) branches in Japan, France, the UK, Australia, Canada, South Korea and the Cape Flats in Cape Town South Africa.[citation needed]
From the late 1980s, at the height of the Afrocentric movement in hip-hop (when artists such as KRS-One, Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, Native Tongues, and Rakim hit success), the movement seemed to be incorporating many doctrines from the Nation of Islam, the Nation of Gods and Earths, and the Nuwaubians. In the mid 1990s some members began to break off starting their own projects or organizations such as Ill Crew Universal.[3]
Afrika Bambaataa stood down as head of the Zulu Nation in May 2016 after allegations of sexually abusing several young men and children in the organization. Ronald Savage was the first of several men to speak up about Bambaataa's alleged sexual abuse publicly.[4]
Zulu Nation in France[edit]
The Zulu movement was introduced to France in the early 1980s by Afrika Bambaataa. The Zulu Nation was centred in suburban Paris since most African immigrants lived beyond the city limits. Since 1987, the Zulu Nation's ties to the French hip hop community have waned. Since Afrika Bambaataa's tour of France in 2008 and a Zulu Nation reunion in Paris, new movements of the Universal Zulu Nation have emerged in different cities in France.[5] According to Veronique Henelon, 'French rap specifically has been a multi-dimensional expression of ties with Africa.'[6] The first hip-hop television show reportedly appeared in France. It was called 'H.I.P. H.O.P.' and was aired by the TF1 channel.
Notable members and affiliates[edit]
Popular culture[edit]
In 2004, the thirteenth episode of the second season of The Chappelle Show had the comedian Dave Chappelle do a sketch on an African-American George W. Bush, called Black Bush, where the character said that his coalition of the willing included Afrika Bambataa and the Zulu Nation.[7]
The Universal Zulu Nation is featured at length in the 2016 Netflix series The Get Down. In the series, Afrika Bambaataa is played by Nigerian-American actor Okieriete Onaodowan.
References[edit]
Dj Kool Herc First Rap Song
- ^Chang, Jeff (2005). Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN0-312-30143-X.
- ^About from ZuluNation.com, retrieved 28 September 2015
- ^lll Crew Universal
- ^http://atlantablackstar.com/2016/05/09/afrika-bambaataa-steps-down-as-zulu-nation-leader-amid-reports-of-child-sexual-assault/
- ^Prevos, A.J.M., 'Post-colonial Popular Music in France: Rap Music and Hip-Hop Culture in the 1980s and 1990s.' In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA. Tony Mitchell ed., pp. 29–56. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.
- ^Henelon, V. 'Africa on Their Mind: Rap, Blackness, and Citizenship in France.' In The Vinyl Ain't Final: Hip-Hop and the Globalisation of Black Popular Culture. Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, eds., pp. 151–66. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2006
- ^Jonathan Gray et al, Satire TV: Politics and Comedy in the Post-network Era (New York: NYU Press, 2009), 243.
External links[edit]
Dj Kool Herc Biography
- 'Zulu Nation: From Gang To Glory', by Davey D