4 ms·

Bambaataa was a serial sexual abuser and everybody in the rap scene knew it back in the day (early 90s) same way everyone knew about R. Kelly (I ran a rap progr

Bambaataa was a serial sexual abuser and everybody in the rap scene knew it back in the day (early 90s) same way everyone knew about R. Kelly (I ran a rap program on the radio in 92-94).

sjtgraham 6mo ago
What did you do about it at the time?
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
- chris_wot 6mo ago
  The same thing you did. What sort of question is that?
  - sjtgraham 6mo ago
    I didn't know anything about any of the above.
- contubernio 6mo ago
  Not a reasonable question. All my information was third hand at best. We didn't play Bambaataa, R Kelly or Tupac (convicted rapist) records. That's about all a radio station could do. Can't state what legally speaking were merely rumors on the air without facing problems. All you can do is not support them commercially, which we did.
  - lostlogin 6mo ago
    I’d say it is a reasonable question, with a really good answer.
  - poisonarena 6mo ago
    [flagged]
    - kstrauser 6mo ago
      This is such an odd hill to die on.
    - dang 6mo ago
      Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and/or flamebait and/or snark? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly; actually a rather shocking amount. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
      - poisonarena 6mo ago
        [flagged]
        dang 6mo ago
        Your comments have obviously been breaking the site guidelines and those have barely changed over 10+ years.
  - _sys49152 6mo ago
    smell test. you ran a show in 92-94 - and you wouldnt play "Bambaataa, R Kelly or Tupac (convicted rapist) records" what key do i push for 'lots of doubt'?
    - contubernio 6mo ago
      We had a whole list of stuff we wouldn't play. R Kelly's first album was around 93 (I can't remember now) and the video of him and the underage girl that initially got him charged was known about at the time. The music and also information about the musicians reached people in the loop somewhat earlier than it reached everyone else. It's also 30+ years ago and details are not easy to remember, but there was no social media or internet. We had pirated cassette tapes and vinyl freebies from the distributors and word of mouth. R Kelly specifically there were djs who played him. This was not a commercial station so we could ban Tupac with no problems and we did. We also thought he was a mediocre rapper. There's lots of revisionism in how people remember things now. For context we were in a big northeastern city with a good range and at the time there was almost no other regular rap programming on the radio (one other show locally). Outside NYC it was very hard to get rap (or even R&B) on the radio except in certain places or in very commercial programming (and then biz market and Beastie boys were maybe the best stuff you could put on the radio). Something like hit 107 in ATL (a very receptive market) started in 1990 and even there rap programming was mostly on college and community stations. We had guest djs beeping swearwords live on turntables while they stole our records because everyone was too high to pay attention. It was very much a bunch of kids into music convincing someone that this music deserved a time slot and one mistake and it all got cancelled. A lot of them were socially conscious and there was a lot of pushback against the misogynistic and gangster stuff but commerce won. We had issues about playing shabba ranks and the like too because of all the homophobia in dancehall. Tupac's case was a tough one because he had fans and defenders.
    - wutangson1 6mo ago
      right! Pac wasn't convicted until December of '94, and the R. Kelly 'tapes' came out in '01. The hilarity of accusing others of revisionism
- dbcooper 6mo ago
  A friend of mine has worked in TV and film for decades. Many times he has told me about rumoured offenders (typically after they are arrested), but other than avoiding working on productions with them what are his choices? Trying to do a completely ridiculous "citizen's arrest"?
nunez 6mo ago
Wow, had no idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika_bambaataa#Child_sexual_abuse_allegations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika_bambaataa#Child_sexual_... Massively influential guy to hip hop, but what a shame.
- rafaelgoncalves 6mo ago
  this surprised me as well, the more you know the respect for his influence diminishes, really sad.
torben-friis 6mo ago
Damn. As someone half the world away I just knew him as a pioneer, news didn't travel enough to know anything about the personal lives of artists in the early 00s. No idea about the allegations until now, which means the news doubly suck.
poisonarena 6mo ago
[flagged]
- vr46 6mo ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
  - poisonarena 6mo ago
    this is not a valid criticism of the point im making
    - vr46 6mo ago
      This is exactly the point you're making
- kstrauser 6mo ago
  I can imagine scenarios where decent people in tough environments might be compelled to join a gang, rob, or even murder. That doesn’t make it ok, but it makes it at least understandable. I’m unable to imagine a reason why decent people might be compelled to rape children, let alone serially.
  - poisonarena 6mo ago
    [flagged]
  - defrost 6mo ago
    Well, if it gets normalised during childhood, then it frequently occurs during teen years and adulthood. You can see some discussion of that in the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017) * https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report There is the position, of course, that a sexually abused child that reaches teen years or adulthood is no longer a "decent person" .. which is an interesting transition to dwell on.
echelon_musk 6mo ago
Any tape rips of your show we can listen to?
Bayart 6mo ago
That's sadly a recurring pattern with Black American pioneers. For example a lot of early bluesmen are known to be highly problematic and the completely clean ones are rare (Howlin' Wolf is one). I've been recently experimenting with rape as a structuring force in sociology and anthropology (when I say "experimenting", I'm mean as a work hypothesis) and I'm now thinking it's more determinative at scale than murder. After all murder takes someone out of the pool. I wouldn't go around DJing an abuser's music but I find it insufficient to stop at signaling about it and cancelling. That's where the work begins, not where it ends. Stopping at jailing abusers will force them to hide better and prevent the more cowardly ones from acting, but it won't stop before the process behind it is fully understood, internalized and treated. I don't know the story behind it but there's a very high chance Afrika Bambaataa was abused as a child.
- scorpionfeet 6mo ago
  Sadly a reoccurring problem with lots of white rock and roll “heroes” from Aerosmith to Led Zeppelin to Iggy Pop to Lynyrd Skynyrd to The Cars to The Stones…
- close04 6mo ago
  > That's sadly a recurring pattern with Black American pioneers I think we have enough evidence these days to confidently say race has nothing to do with it. For people who get enough power and influence they'll either become role models from a position of power, get followers and maybe even act as mentors to their subsequent victims (priests, teachers, various artists, activists and other "influencers"), or they're rich enough to think/know they can get away with anything (everyone in the Epstein files).
  - Bayart 6mo ago
    You're mis-interpreting if you're thinking I'm ascribing it to race. Frankly, I'm not an American and I don't care for it. I'm saying quite literally that it's over-represented in Black American artists, alongside with drug abuse. Which is a theme explored extensively by Black American artists themselves, most recently Kendrick. That it happens to white people in a similar set of circumstances (absentee parents and abuse during childhood) confirms my point.
phendrenad2 6mo ago
I've read this a number of times, and dismissed it because there's no proof. But, I'm beginning to believe it, given the sheer amount of different sources saying it.

Bambaataa was a serial sexual abuser and everybody in the rap scene knew it back in the day (early 90s) same way everyone knew about R. Kelly (I ran a rap program on the radio in 92-94).

sjtgraham 6mo ago

What did you do about it at the time?

deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]
chris_wot 6mo ago
The same thing you did. What sort of question is that?
- sjtgraham 6mo ago
  I didn't know anything about any of the above.
contubernio 6mo ago
Not a reasonable question. All my information was third hand at best. We didn't play Bambaataa, R Kelly or Tupac (convicted rapist) records. That's about all a radio station could do. Can't state what legally speaking were merely rumors on the air without facing problems. All you can do is not support them commercially, which we did.
- lostlogin 6mo ago
  I’d say it is a reasonable question, with a really good answer.
- poisonarena 6mo ago
  [flagged]
  - kstrauser 6mo ago
    This is such an odd hill to die on.
  - dang 6mo ago
    Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and/or flamebait and/or snark? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly; actually a rather shocking amount. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
    - poisonarena 6mo ago
      [flagged]
      - dang 6mo ago
        Your comments have obviously been breaking the site guidelines and those have barely changed over 10+ years.
- _sys49152 6mo ago
  smell test. you ran a show in 92-94 - and you wouldnt play "Bambaataa, R Kelly or Tupac (convicted rapist) records" what key do i push for 'lots of doubt'?
  - contubernio 6mo ago
    We had a whole list of stuff we wouldn't play. R Kelly's first album was around 93 (I can't remember now) and the video of him and the underage girl that initially got him charged was known about at the time. The music and also information about the musicians reached people in the loop somewhat earlier than it reached everyone else. It's also 30+ years ago and details are not easy to remember, but there was no social media or internet. We had pirated cassette tapes and vinyl freebies from the distributors and word of mouth. R Kelly specifically there were djs who played him. This was not a commercial station so we could ban Tupac with no problems and we did. We also thought he was a mediocre rapper. There's lots of revisionism in how people remember things now. For context we were in a big northeastern city with a good range and at the time there was almost no other regular rap programming on the radio (one other show locally). Outside NYC it was very hard to get rap (or even R&B) on the radio except in certain places or in very commercial programming (and then biz market and Beastie boys were maybe the best stuff you could put on the radio). Something like hit 107 in ATL (a very receptive market) started in 1990 and even there rap programming was mostly on college and community stations. We had guest djs beeping swearwords live on turntables while they stole our records because everyone was too high to pay attention. It was very much a bunch of kids into music convincing someone that this music deserved a time slot and one mistake and it all got cancelled. A lot of them were socially conscious and there was a lot of pushback against the misogynistic and gangster stuff but commerce won. We had issues about playing shabba ranks and the like too because of all the homophobia in dancehall. Tupac's case was a tough one because he had fans and defenders.
  - wutangson1 6mo ago
    right! Pac wasn't convicted until December of '94, and the R. Kelly 'tapes' came out in '01. The hilarity of accusing others of revisionism
dbcooper 6mo ago
A friend of mine has worked in TV and film for decades. Many times he has told me about rumoured offenders (typically after they are arrested), but other than avoiding working on productions with them what are his choices? Trying to do a completely ridiculous "citizen's arrest"?

nunez 6mo ago

Wow, had no idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika_bambaataa#Child_sexual_abuse_allegations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrika_bambaataa#Child_sexual_... Massively influential guy to hip hop, but what a shame.

rafaelgoncalves 6mo ago
this surprised me as well, the more you know the respect for his influence diminishes, really sad.

torben-friis 6mo ago

Damn. As someone half the world away I just knew him as a pioneer, news didn't travel enough to know anything about the personal lives of artists in the early 00s. No idea about the allegations until now, which means the news doubly suck.

poisonarena 6mo ago

[flagged]

vr46 6mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
- poisonarena 6mo ago
  this is not a valid criticism of the point im making
  - vr46 6mo ago
    This is exactly the point you're making
kstrauser 6mo ago
I can imagine scenarios where decent people in tough environments might be compelled to join a gang, rob, or even murder. That doesn’t make it ok, but it makes it at least understandable. I’m unable to imagine a reason why decent people might be compelled to rape children, let alone serially.
- poisonarena 6mo ago
  [flagged]
- defrost 6mo ago
  Well, if it gets normalised during childhood, then it frequently occurs during teen years and adulthood. You can see some discussion of that in the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2017) * https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report There is the position, of course, that a sexually abused child that reaches teen years or adulthood is no longer a "decent person" .. which is an interesting transition to dwell on.

echelon_musk 6mo ago

Any tape rips of your show we can listen to?

Bayart 6mo ago

That's sadly a recurring pattern with Black American pioneers. For example a lot of early bluesmen are known to be highly problematic and the completely clean ones are rare (Howlin' Wolf is one). I've been recently experimenting with rape as a structuring force in sociology and anthropology (when I say "experimenting", I'm mean as a work hypothesis) and I'm now thinking it's more determinative at scale than murder. After all murder takes someone out of the pool. I wouldn't go around DJing an abuser's music but I find it insufficient to stop at signaling about it and cancelling. That's where the work begins, not where it ends. Stopping at jailing abusers will force them to hide better and prevent the more cowardly ones from acting, but it won't stop before the process behind it is fully understood, internalized and treated. I don't know the story behind it but there's a very high chance Afrika Bambaataa was abused as a child.

scorpionfeet 6mo ago
Sadly a reoccurring problem with lots of white rock and roll “heroes” from Aerosmith to Led Zeppelin to Iggy Pop to Lynyrd Skynyrd to The Cars to The Stones…
close04 6mo ago
> That's sadly a recurring pattern with Black American pioneers I think we have enough evidence these days to confidently say race has nothing to do with it. For people who get enough power and influence they'll either become role models from a position of power, get followers and maybe even act as mentors to their subsequent victims (priests, teachers, various artists, activists and other "influencers"), or they're rich enough to think/know they can get away with anything (everyone in the Epstein files).
- Bayart 6mo ago
  You're mis-interpreting if you're thinking I'm ascribing it to race. Frankly, I'm not an American and I don't care for it. I'm saying quite literally that it's over-represented in Black American artists, alongside with drug abuse. Which is a theme explored extensively by Black American artists themselves, most recently Kendrick. That it happens to white people in a similar set of circumstances (absentee parents and abuse during childhood) confirms my point.

phendrenad2 6mo ago

I've read this a number of times, and dismissed it because there's no proof. But, I'm beginning to believe it, given the sheer amount of different sources saying it.