Afrika Bambaataa says he would like to see Hip Hop get more involved in politics.
“Hopefully as we become more aware and we get into being intergalactic human beings, I hope to definitely see Hip Hop go into galactic as they start moving people into great places in space,” Afrika Bambaataa says during an interview with DJ Vlad. “I like to see Hip Hop on this planet get more into politics, so it won’t be no politricks, and to have health insurance and to think about keeping the culture alive and forming the federation of Hip Hop artists that would stand for each other when injustice happens to anyone on this planet.”
The South Bronx, New York deejay says that he is critical of many deejays today that only spin tracks from the radio.
“I feel once the record is hitting on the radio,” Bambaataa says, “it’s time to bring some other music to make it popular again. I’m definitely one who tries to take you through a musical journey when I deejay. I try to keep my ear to the street and everything I play must have the funk to it.”
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The “Planet Rock” artist says that many musicians are starting to get paid to deejay, even though they barely mix the music.
“That’s become crazy now,” Bambaataa says in the interview. “Some of these deejays even in the techno and electro [world] are making phenomenal money when all they are doing is tweaking and we know some of these Hip Hop deejays can take this trance and techno and flip it and make the crowd go more crazier. There’s certain cliques in the music industry that dictate what’s gonna happen and putting money behind people who are gonna make it happen. “
He also says that he disagrees with anyone who says rappers have to be young in order to make music.
“I always thought that was silliness when you say something like that because you don’t tell Rod Stewart that he can’t make a funk record when he made ‘Do You Think I’m Sexy’ and you don’t tell Mick Jagger when he decided to go from rock to make ‘Miss You’ or ‘Hot Stuff,’” Afrika Bambaataa says. “You don’t tell none of these artists that they can’t do what they want to do, so why do you tell a Hip Hop artist that they must stop at 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 when you should have the same respect as a Frank Sinatra or Diana Ross in Hip Hop. If they still got it and they can funk it up, let it be.”
For additional Afrika Bambaataa coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
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