Controversial US hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa dies aged 68

US hip-hop artist and DJ Afrika Bambaataa, best known for his 1982 hit ‘Planet Rock’, has died aged 68.

The news was announced by his former record label Tommy Boy Records: “With his passing, we reflect on his contributions to the genre and broader culture, which continue to this day.”

Celebrity news publication TMZ reported that Bambaataa died from complications of cancer at about 3 am Thursday in Pennsylvania.

Born Lance Taylor in 1957 to Jamaican and Barbadian immigrant parents, in the Bronx borough of New York City, the hip-hop icon got his start by hosting block parties. Bambaataa then co-founded the Zulu Nation in 1973, which used hip-hop to promote peaceful values.

“As the founder of the Universal Zulu Nation, Afrika Bambaataa helped shape the early identity of Hip Hop as a global movement rooted in peace, unity, love, and having fun,” said American rapper and producer Kurtis Walker (aka Kurtis Blow), who heads labor advocacy group The Hip Hop Alliance. “His vision transformed the Bronx into the birthplace of a culture that now reaches every corner of the world.”

He added: “His imprint on Hip Hop history is undeniable and will forever remain part of the culture’s origin story.”

Blow also acknowledged that Bambaataa’s “legacy is complex and has been the subject of serious conversations within our community.”

Indeed, Bambaataa’s reputation was overshadowed by allegations of child sexual abuse. He faced numerous allegations of sexual assault by accusers who said they were minors in incidents alleged in the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2016, Bronx political activist and former music industry executive Ronald Savage accused Bambaataa of abusing him in 1980, when he was Savage was a young teen.

“I was scared, but at the same time I was like, ’This is Afrika Bambaataa,’ ” Savage told AP in 2016. At the time he recalled, in detail, that encounter and four others that he said followed.

In June 2016, the Universal Zulu Nation released a public letter apologizing to “the survivors of apparent sexual molestation by Bambaataa” saying that some members of the group knew about the abuse but “chose not to disclose” it. “We extend our deepest and most sincere apologies to the many people who have been hurt,” organization wrote.

Bambaataa vehemently disputed the allegations and was never criminally convicted – even though he lost an abuse case in civil court in 2025 after failing to show up in court.