Rapper & DJ Afrika Bambaataa Dead at 67

Afrika Bambaataa, a pioneering rapper and DJ, has died. The Bronx native was 67.

The Hip Hop Alliance, led by fellow hip hop artist Kurtis Blow, announced his death on Thursday.

“Today, we acknowledge the transition of a foundational architect of Hip Hop culture, Afrika Bambaataa,” the message stated. “As the founder of the Universal Zulu Nation, Afrika Bambaataa helped shape the early identity of Hip Hop as a global movement rooted in peace, unity, love, and having fun.”

Blow recognized that the performer, born Lance Taylor, had left a “complex legacy,” most likely referring to the musician’s repeated allegations of child abuse dating back to the 1970s.

According to TMZ, Bambaataa died about 3 a.m. in Pennsylvania due to cancer issues.

Bambaataa was born in The Bronx…. and joined the local gang, the Black Spades, soon rising through the ranks to the position of “warlord.”

Beginning in the 1970s, Bambaataa began holding hip hop-infused gatherings, which quickly developed into massive block parties in the South Bronx.

Bambaataa released his first single, “Zulu Nation Throwdown” (a reference to the Universal Zulu Nation, an art collective for socially conscious rappers, graffiti artists, B-boys, and other hip hop culture participants), in 1980, and his 1982 single, “Planet Rock,” rose to number four on the US R&B chart.

Bambaataa collaborated with various major artists, including Joey Ramone, Run-D.M.C., U2, and others, to produce the anti-apartheid album “Sun City” in 1985.

Afrika Bambaataa had a slew of legal troubles near the end of his life, after many men accused him of sexual abuse in the 1980s and 1990s. He was ordered to pay a settlement in 2025 to a man who accused him of sex trafficking in the 1990s after a judge imposed a default judgment after he failed to appear in court.