Afrika Bambaataa

In light of claims that he sexually abused multiple children, disgraced hip-hop producer Afrika Bambaataa has continued to deny allegations made against him in a recent interview with Fox News.

Before we delve into the interview itself, here is a quick recap of what we are aware of surrounding the case.

Last month, New York politician Ronald Savage brought to light a series of shocking events surrounding his alleged molestation by hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa throughout the 1970’s. Despite Bambaataa denying this , and receiving blind support from KRS-One, numerous other people opened up about similar sexual abuse they experienced at the hands of the rapper, with Troy, 51, recalling that “[Afrika Bambaataa] showed me a book with a picture of a penis and said, ‘You don’t have to be gay for me to suck your dick.”

Following these claims, Universal Zulu Nation, of which Bambaataa was the founder, announced a change in leadership, diplomatically removing all associated parties with the scandal from their setup without making any allegations of their own.

For his most recent interview with Fox, Bambaataa remained adamant that he was innocent of all charges, going at length to note his intentions were harmless with those in the surrounding community.

“I never abused nobody. You know all my people back then. You know the hundreds of people who have been around me…what is the motivation and what is the agenda?“

When asked if he felt he was falsely accused, Bambaataa noted that, “There’s always been things where you falsely accuse people, where people sit in the prisons…..from 10, 15, 20 or even 30-40 years.”

In reply to Bambaataa, Mr Savage stated that, “No one can tell anyone when they are ready to let stuff out…especially if you haven’t been through what I went through and what other people went through.”

Watch the full interview below. Footage begins at 0.42.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsUbLwg9iEQ

Regardless of how this plays out, this interview is just the start of another chapter of a sad story for the hip-hop world.

IMAGE: blameebro.com

In the wake of the recent child sexual abuse allegations against founder Afrika Bambaataa, Universal Zulu Nation announced on Friday that they have undergone a “significant restructure” in leadership. The hip-hop community was shaken last month when the allegations first arose from New York Politician and former member of Universal Zulu Nation, Ronald Savage. Since then, three more men have come forward echoing Savage’s claims.

Now it seems as if the claims, despite being denied immediately by Afrika, have caused enough of a stir to warrant a change in leadership. In the statement released Friday, Universal Zulu Nation said of the changes: “As part of this restructure ALL accused parties and those accused of covering up the current allegations of child molestation have been removed and have stepped down from their current positions.”

“There shall also be a new move to work towards providing support for victims of abuse, rape and molestation,” the organisation go on to say.

The statement continues to make a valid point about what it calls “trial by social media,” and seemed eager to make the distinction between the founder and the organisation as a whole.

“As an organization we are in a very difficult position because we are being asked to condemn one of our founders based on testimony through social media alone. We cannot do this. We also cannot dismiss the comments of parties asserting they have been harmed. We have a duty to search for truth.”

This is a good way to deal with a sexual abuse allegation; console and support the victim, while simultaneously working to discover what happened. Simply taking either side’s version of the truth without evidence is unhelpful, no matter who you support. Something KRS-One needs to learn.

As always, if you or anyone you know is suffering from depression or abuse, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Talking is hard, but important.

Image: Henny Ray Abrams/Associated Press

Earlier this month, Ronald Savage (F.K.A Bee Stinger) spoke out against hip-hop pioneer and legend Afrika Bambaataa, claiming that he was sexually abused as a child. The claims came out of his self-published memoir Impulse, Urges & Fantasies: Life Is A Bag of Mixed Emotions Vol. 1. They were vehemently denied by Bambaataa’s lawyer.

Now, less than a week after Savage’s initial interview with The New York Daily News, three more men including Hassan Campbell have spoken out, claiming that Bambaataa also molested them. “He had the most fun house in the world,” states Campbell, who is now 39. “There were celebrities there, musicians, neighborhood heroes. It was the best place to be – and the worst place to be.”

“He is a pervert. He likes little boys.”

Another man, Troy, 51, speaks of similar abuse. “[Afrika Bambaataa] showed me a book with a picture of a penis and said, ‘You don’t have to be gay for me to suck your dick.”

“I know what Ronald Savage is saying is true because he did it to me,” said a third man, choosing to remain anonymous.  “I have never spoken to anybody about this and when I did, I said ‘Holy s—, they finally caught up to him.'”

The response from Savage has been happy, expressing his relief that others are willing to speak out.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from depression or abuse, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14. Talking is hard, but important. 

Image: Afrika Bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa, the ‘founder of hip-hop’ has addressed the accusations that he sexually abused Ronald “Bee Stinger” Savage, a former member of Bambaataa’s Universal Zulu Nation, when he was 15 and Bambaataa was 23.

Bambaataa has denied the accusations in a statement to Rolling Stone:

“I, Afrika Bambaataa, want to take this opportunity at the advice of my legal counsel to personally deny any and all allegations of any type of sexual molestation of anyone. These allegations are baseless and are a cowardly attempt to tarnish my reputation and legacy in hip-hop at this time. This negligent attack on my character will not stop me from continuing my battle and standing up against the violence in our communities, the violence in the nation and the violence worldwide.”

Savage first broke his silence and accused Bambaataa of molesting him in his self-published memoir, Impulse Urges and Fantasies.

Savage, now a New York politician, said he wanted to go public with the story in an effort to extend New York’s statute of limitations for child sex abuse, which blocks criminal and civil charges after the victim turns 23. At the time the story broke, Bambaataa’s lawyer shared a statement saying, “Defamatory statements were published seeking to harm my client’s reputation so as to lower him in the estimation of the community while deterring others from associating or dealing with him.”

Bambaataa’s statement in Rolling Stone continues:

“In the name of the Supreme Force, who is called by many names, whom All Praise is due. Good Spiritual Human, I pray for all of you and ask in returns your prayers, and let us all do what we must to help change our ways on how we treat each other in evilness, to respect and love for each other as Humans Beings. May Peace and Blessings be upon each and everyone of you. Who would stand up to save us and our planet with so much chaos going on? Peace, Love, Honor and Respect to all.”

We’re not sure how this one will play out, but we hope that if anything it can bring attention to the plight victims suffer under the statute of limitations. Hopefully with the media attention about this case, as well as that of Kesha recently, victims can see more justice come their way despite circumstances that may have made it difficult to deal with sooner.

Image: BBC.com

A New York politician has accused hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa of child molestation. Ronald Savage, former member of the New York State Democratic Committee, and currently a judicial delegate in the Bronx, revealed the terrifying news in his 2014 memoir, Impulse, Urges & Fantasies: Life Is A Bag of Mixed Emotions Vol. 1.  

Afrika Bambaataa is largely considered one of the founding fathers of hip-hop as we know it, an influencer on musical and cultural levels, widely hailed as one of the most important figures in the history and development of the genre. Savages book – his second – paints him in a very different light to what the world has previously known, however.

Savage took to Star’s Shot97 radio show to discuss his memoir, and this week, an emotional interview was released which delves into Afrika Bambaataa and Universal Zulu Nation, the hip-hop organisation founded by Afrika, real name Kevin Donovan, now 58 years old.

“It took me this long to actually get this out and really talk about it freely,” said Savage.“I wanted to be down with the in-crowd, not really understanding that what [Afrika] Bambaataa was doing to me was actually molesting me. I knew it was wrong. I just had these feelings that was like, ‘yuck.’ Over the years, as I was getting older, I wanted to report this. I wanted to come forward. Out of fear of the [Universal] Zulu Nation, out of fear for my family, fear for me, fear of anything that can possibly happen, [I did not]. I was ashamed [and] embarrassed because things like this usually happen to women—to girls. Guys don’t really talk about it.” 

Savage called Afrika “DJ Battle” throughout his memoir. He wrote that his relationship with Afrika Bambaataa began in around 1977, and that the molestation began when he was around 13 years old.

Savage had been introduced to the Universal Zulu Nation by his sister’s boyfriend. There, he was given the moniker “Bee-Stingér,” and there he met Afrika. ”The very first time that this ever happened to me, I was in school and I was cutting. I needed a place to go, so I called Bambaataa [to see] if I could go and hang out at his house. I had no knowledge of none of the stuff [sic] that Bam’ does. When I went over to Bam’s house, he had me go over to his room. I was watching television. That’s when Bam’ came over and he had took his penis out he had started jerking it off—masturbating. [Then] he asked me to do it. I’m looking at him like, ‘What?’ He told me that it was okay. At that time, I have this [famous] guy: Afrika Bambaataa [of] the Zulu Nation…I was confused. I really didn’t know what to do, but I wanted to be down. So I did take it out and Bam’ told me to jerk it. I didn’t know what ‘jerk it’ meant at that time. So he actually jerked it for me.

“I remember me being scared. I remember him, after that, leaving out of the bedroom. Then another guy came in the bedroom and he took his penis out. I remember getting up off of the bed and getting out of the house. I remember running. I remember a lady on the highway stopping her car. I got into her car. I remember crying and I told the lady what happened; she dropped me off at my school. That was the first time that that had happened.”

Savage went on to say that, while “a lot of this is blacked out because I was trying to forget about it,” the molestation occurred more than five times, and that it always took place as the result of Afrika actively pursuing Savage. “Bam’ would contact me. He would call me at my house to tell me that he was coming over. It’s not like I was calling him to come over. Come on. He pursued me.”

The emotional interview is revealing and graphic, with Savage stopping throughout, as he can be heard sobbing. He goes on to speak about how he has almost never been able to talk about the incident, and that the alleged molestation led to depression and attempted suicidal later in life.

Nearly three decades later, Savage, who never reported the incident is taking action. “Today I had spoken with a member of the New York City Council. I had told her before what happened to me, but was not ready to [go public]. I told her that it’s unfair that I can’t bring charges to Bambaataa because of the statute of limitations. I want to be able to fight to make sure that there are no statutes of [limitations]. Because people who have not been a victim cannot say how many years it should be before you come forth. I’m just coming forth now, and I’m able to talk about.”

Listen to the interview below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=k-izUpRIzRs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dTgZqjXLl4

Source: Ambrosia For Heads
Image: FACT