4
sociopolitical voices over the beat of the music
they were playing. Writing was used to express
some political or ideological message or as an ex-
pression of cultural creativity. Dance forms were
to be valued as cultural expressions as well, similar
to the way the Brazilian martial arts form capoeira
was used to celebrate the influences and retention
of African culture in South America.
Knowledge of self and the world that blacks
lived in was inspired by the society and culture in
which hip-hop was born. Bam’s transformation
from gang leader into the “Godfather of Hip-Hop”
was inspired by several sources of knowledge; he
credits in particular the Honorable Elijah Mu-
hammad and the Nation of Islam for introducing
him to knowledge of self and the significance of
the time he was living in. Consequently, it was not
surprising that demands for the emergence of new
civil rights and nationalist organizations, as well as
cries for black power prevalent during the 1960s
and 1970s, echoed in the world of hip-hop culture
within the black community.
The growth of disk jockeying in the late 1970s
laid the foundation for the new phenomenon of
“battles” between groups based solely on the loud-
ness of the music. Bam transformed the nature of
the D.J. battle when he began to have D.J.’s take
turns to determine who was the best. Each D.J.
would play for an hour, and then the listeners
would choose their favorite. This metaphoric bat-
tle and competition ran over into the other areas
of hip-hop as well, such as rap battles and break
dancing battles.
Bam began his recording career in 1980 with
Paul Winley Records. However, the experience
proved to be an unhappy one, and he decided to
leave the company. By 1981 Bam had moved from
doing house and block parties, where he would
connect his equipment to the streetlight, to shows
at the Audubon Ballroom. In 1982 Bam released
the hip-hop album Planet Rock, which changed
not only hip-hop but also music in general. Bam
called the new sound electro funk. He gave credit
to James Brown, Parliament, and Sly and the Fam-
ily Stone, musical groups that were popular during
the 1960s and 1970s, the zenith of the BLACK ARTS
MOVEMENT, as the sources of his musical inspira-
tion. By 1986 Bam and the Zulu Nation became
global ambassadors, spreading hip-hop through-
out the world by taking their first trip to Europe,
where they performed in Paris and were eagerly
received by European youth. Two years later,
in 1988, Bam released the album The Light, on
which he performed with Nona Hendryx, UB40,
Boy George, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, and
Yellowman.
In 1990, Life magazine named Afrika Bambaataa
one of the most important Americans of the 20th
century. During this time he and other artists were
hard at work fighting against apartheid in South
Africa. He played an instrumental role in this ef-
fort by putting on a concert in London, which
raised £30,000, for the African National Congress
in support of the release of Nelson Mandela. Seven
years later, in 1997, Bam founded his own record
label, Planet Rock, and began disk jockeying at Hot
97, a New York–based radio station.
For the past 20 plus years, Bam has released at
least one record every other year. He has been in-
fluential in the music careers of both hip-hop and
rhythm-and-blues groups, including New Edition,
QUEEN LATIFAH, MOS DEF, and many others.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Banjoko, Adisa. “The Godfather Speaks: Up Close
with Afrika Bambaataa.” Lyrical Swords. Available
online. URL: http://www.lyricalswords.com/articles/af-
ricabambaataa.html. Accessed February 14, 2007.
Alim BakenRaAdams, Jenoyne (n.d.)
Dancer, poet, journalist, and novelist Jenoyne
Adams is a native Californian. Born the daughter
of Virgil Adams and Bertha Degan Adams, she was
raised in San Bernardino, California. She attended
California State University at Fullerton, where she
majored in political science, and she continued her
studies at St. Mary’s University, where she earned
her first degree. Adams established a career as a
journalist while working as a reporter for the San
Bernardino Reporter, one of the largest African-
American newspapers in Southern California.4 Adams, Jenoyne