I’m fanatical about movies: African, European, Viking, Roman. I got into witchcraft and magic from watching ‘Bewitched’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ which shows in some of my outfits. I dress to reflect the whole spectrum of the universe. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
They’re keeping friction going between people from the East and the West. One thing we all got in common is your color, which is Black and Latino, which is our family. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
Well, a lot of people within government and big business are nervous of Hip Hop and Hip Hop artists, because they speak their minds. They talk about what they see and what they feel and what they know. They reflect what’s around them. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
When you talk about rap you have to understand that rap is part of the Hip-Hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
Every James Brown cut makes a party get crazy. He’s the god of all music. I always play different wild remixes of his songs because people start bugging out when they realise what I’m playing. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
Somewhere down the line, the evil ones stole the legacy of hip hop and flipped it to a corporate type of hip hop. They decided to tell everybody ‘Well, this is what hip hop is,’ instead of coming back to the pioneers and getting the true definition of what hip hop is and what it was and what we been pushing for all these years. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
My definition of hip hop is taking elements from many other spheres of music to make hip hop. Whether it be breakbeat, whether it be the groove and grunt of James Brown or the pickle-pop sounds of Kraftwerk or Yellow Magic Orchestra, hip hop is also part of what they call hip-house now, or trip hop, or even parts of drum n’ bass. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
I’d like to see people pay attention to the science of hip hop. The knowledge part, the political side of what hip hop could do, or where hip hop is gonna go. I always say it’s gonna become universal as we become a galactic union. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
People get caught up in worshipping certain rappers, or they try to demonise hip hop by looking at what certain rappers are doin’ in their lives. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
Everybody needs to show respect to each others’ ways and the cultural life that you get on this planet. Don’t get caught up on ‘I’m brown, black, white, red, blue, whatever.’ You gotta ask, what were you called before 1492? All these names we’re using now are just an illusion made to keep us fighting each other. Afrika Bambaataa Read Quote
