Hip Hop DJ Afrika Bambaataa is a living legend. As one of the founding fathers of New York's 'Zulu Nation', who promote rappers to be more socially and politically aware, Bambaataa has been involved with 'Artists against Apartheid' and 'Free South Africa' movements, while contributing to changing the sound of Hip Hop as we know it. Kieran Yates caught up with the break-beat pioneer to learn how we can learn from our elders, how 'Zulu Nation' will always be relevant, and above all, to remember to respect Mother Earth...

How do you think the message of 'Zulu Nation' is still relevant in contemporary society?
Peace is always relevant, everyone wants to live in peace, wherever they are on the planet, and that's why Zulu Nation is still relevant, it will always be relevant. The thing is that there will always be people who want to cause chaos, those who like the mind of evil, who want to bring everything under one control, and that's the danger of dictatorships.

Do you mean dictators like Robert Mugabe in Africa?
Africa is the Mother and Creator of all civilisations on the planet, so no one should be starving in Africa, the land which was blessed by the Creator with diamonds, and gold and animals. The poverty is evidence that there is definitely something evil being plotted to keep negativity and evil there.

What do you think needs to be done for change to happen?
People  all over the world need to start trading and stop being greedy. There should be no one on the planet living in poverty. People need to get to know eco-systems, they should be looking at the Earth and how to preserve it. People need to look at 'Dome Homes' as they are a chance for thousands upon thousands of homes to be built across the world and they can be made very cheaply. If you don't know what they are, look them up in the search engines and share. That's what people should be talking about; health, and homes for everyone on Earth.

How important do you think music is in promoting global change?
You can't do anything without music; the whole Earth's heartbeat is in tune with music, music for protest, music for love, music for everything.
 
There has been much written in the UK about growing knife and gun crime, particularly in youth culture. What do you think should be done to try and combat this?
I think that elders, and parents and anybody who has any respect in the community should be involved, the churches and the mosques and the temples need to open up their doors, and people need to start working as a collective. Also, I think that radio stations and producers need to give young people more of an option for positive music to be heard, right now there's so much negativity and cursing and we need to bring that positive message back.

How do you keep the positive message of ‘Zulu Nation’ alive?
Wherever I go, whether I'm in the streets, or in magazines or anything, I speak, and I talk about these things, about world problems and humans. These things we are all involved with. I mean I've been involved with a lot of projects, be it benefits towards AIDS or 'Free South Africa' or with 'Zulu Nation', and I want people to deal with the fifth element of hip-hop: Knowledge. Without knowledge you're a zombie, you need to check up from the neck up! The most important thing is to respect ourselves and to respect Mother Earth.

Words: Kieran Yates

For more information on Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation visit http://www.zulunation.com/afrika.html