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Afrika Bambaataa was born as Kevin Donovan in Bronx, New York. During his early years, he was a founding member of the Bronxdale Projects-area street gang, The Savage Seven. Due to the explosive growth of the gang, it later became known as the Black Spades, and Donovan rose to the position of Division Leader. After a life-changing visit to Africa, he changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim. Bambaataa was influenced by the bravery of the Zulu warriors resisting British troops in the Michael Caine film, Zulu. He took his name, which roughly translated to "affectionate leader", from the film.

After the visit, Bambaataa decided to use his leadership to turn those involved in the gang life into something more positive to the community. This began the development of The Organization , which soon later became known as the Zulu Nation, a group of racially and politically aware rappers, B-boys, graffiti artists and other people involved in hip hop culture that gained fame in the early eighties to mid nineties. By 1977, inspired by DJ Kool Herc, Bambaataa had begun organizing block parties all around the South Bronx, and he was soon renowned as one of the best DJs in the business. In 1980, he produced Soul Sonic Force 's landmark single, " Zulu Nation Throwdown ".

In 1982, Bambaataa organised the very first European hip hop tour. Along with himself were rapper and graf artist Rammellzee , Zulu Nation DJ Grand Mixer DST , B-boy and B-girl crews the Rock Steady Crew, and the Double Dutch Girls, as well as legendary graffiti artists Fab 5 Freddy , Phase 2 , Futura 2000, and Dondi.

Also in 1982, Bambaataa became a solo artist (having produced several other singles) and released " Jazzy Sensation " on Tommy Boy Records in that year. " Planet Rock", a popular single, came out that June. The song melded electronic hip hop beats with KraftwerkKraftwerk ( German for "power plant") is a German avant-garde electro-pop group from Dusseldorf who largely contributed to much of the subsequent uptake of, and interest in, electronic music. The techniques that they introduced and the equipment that they's bizarre, early electronic music as well as portions from records by Ennio MorriconeEnnio Morricone (born November 10, 1928) is an Italian composer, especially noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores of more than 400 films, only 30 of them Westerns. It is, however, for his Westerns that he is best known, and his sparse styl and Captain Sky - thus creating a new style of music altogether, electro funk. It influenced many styles of electronic and dance music, e.g. house music and techno music. In 1984This page is about the year 1984. For other uses of 1984, see 1984 (disambiguation). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday (link shows calendar). Events January January 1 Brunei becomes a fully independent state January 1 AT&T is broken up into 22 indepe, Bambaataa recorded " UnityUnity has several meanings: In mathematics, unity refers to the number one . This also extends to electrical engineering, particularly to audio (see unity gain). Expressed in decibels, unity is 0dB. Unity is the name of the belief system held by the membe" with James BrownJames Brown (born May 3, 1933, Barnwell, South Carolina some sources list his year of birth as 1928 and his birthplace as Pulaski, Tennessee) is one of the most important figures in twentieth-century music and the prime mover in the evolution of gospel an and released " World Destruction " under the name Time Zone (with John Lydon). Shango Funk Theology , a full length album, came out under the name Shango. This was followed by " Funk You " in 1985 and then his formal full album debut, Beware (The Funk Is Everywhere) .

Bambaataa then left Tommy Boy and signed with Capitol Records, released The Light (as Afrika Bambaataa & the Family), which included aid from George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Boy George and UB40. 1990-2000: Decade of Darkness was released in 1991. He then went on to enjoy a solid solo career.