Afrika Bambaataa, one of the founding figures of hip hop, has died at the age of 67.<\/p>\n
TMZ<\/a> first reported the news, with sources confirming he passed away from complications of cancer at around 3 AM in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n Born in the Bronx, Bambaataa (whos real name is Lance Taylor) came up through the streets, joining the local gang the Black Spades and rising to the position of “warlord.” Beginning in the 1970s, he started hosting parties where hip hop could take root, and those gatherings quickly grew into massive block parties and break dancing competitions across the South Bronx.<\/p>\n His recording career launched in 1980 with his debut single “Zulu Nation Throwdown,” a nod to the Universal Zulu Nation, the art collective he founded for socially conscious rappers, graffiti artists, B-boys, and others involved in hip hop culture. Two years later, his landmark track “Planet Rock” climbed to number four on the U.S. R&B chart.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Van Halen Fans Are Mourning the Loss of a Behind-the-Scenes Legend<\/a><\/p>\n He was also known for having a record collection so massive and diverse that some gave him the nickname “Master of Records.\u201d<\/p>\n Bambaataa’s influence stretched beyond the booth. In 1985, he was part of the star-studded anti-apartheid project “Sun<\/a> City,” joining the likes of Joey Ramone, Run-D.M.C., and U2.<\/p>\n But in his later years, Bambaataa faced serious legal troubles after multiple men came forward accusing him of sexually abusing them in the 1980s and 1990s<\/a>. In 2025, a judge issued a default judgment against him after he failed to appear in court in a sex trafficking case, resulting in a settlement payout.<\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Apr 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Afrika Bambaataa, one of the founding figures of hip hop, has died at the age of 67. TMZ…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[76580,128,1123,76692,9,24,63,2393,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-191681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-afrika-bambaataa","9":"tag-bronx","10":"tag-hip-hop","11":"tag-lance-taylor","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-south-bronx","16":"tag-the-bronx","17":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","18":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}