Afrika Bambaataa
Sign in to saveLance Taylor, known professionally as Afrika Bambaataa, was an American disc jockey, rapper and record producer. He was notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip-hop culture. Bambaataa was one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
OverviewAI-generated
Afrika Bambaataa, born Lance Taylor in 1957, was an American disc jockey, rapper, record producer, and songwriter. A member of the African American ethnic group, he worked primarily in the fields of hip-hop, electro house, electronic music, and breakbeat. His professional career began in 1977 and concluded in 2013. He performed using his voice, turntablism, keyboard instruments, and synthesizers, and spoke English.
Bambaataa released music through Tommy Boy Records, Capitol Records, and EMI. His archives are held at Cornell University. He died in Pennsylvania in 2026.
Synthesized by Vinony from 29 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, MusicBrainz, TMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film & TV
The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Afrika Bambaataa, born Lance Taylor, was an American disc jockey, rapper, songwriter and producer. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture.
Known for
- Beastie Boys Story — Self (archive footage)2020
- Hip Hop Evolution — Self2016
- Soundbreaking — Self2016
- 808 — Self2015
- Sample This — Self2013
- The Bass That Ate Miami: The Foundation — Self2013
- Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown2013
- Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap — Self2012
- Hip Hop Story from Croatia — Himself2008
- NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell — Self2007
via TMDB
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Male
- Country
- United States
- Active from
- 1957
- Active to
- 2026
Discography
Member of
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Wikipedia views (30d)
41,910 totalvia Wikimedia Pageviews API
Key facts
- Born
- Lance Taylor , ( 1957-04-17 ) April 17, 1957, New York City, U.S.
- Died
- April 9, 2026 (2026-04-09) (aged 68), Pennsylvania , U.S.
- Genres
- Hip-hop electro house electronic breakbeat electro-funk
- Occupations
- Disc jockey rapper record producer
- Instruments
- Vocals turntables drum machine
- Years active
- 1977–2013
- Labels
- Tommy Boy EMI Winley Capitol DMC Planet Rock
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Lance
- Family name
- Taylor
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- New York City
- Place of death
- Pennsylvania
- Occupation
- musician
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Field of work
- hip-hop
- Genre
- funk
- Instrument
- synthesizer
- Record label
- EMI
- Image
- Afrika Bambaataa 2009 IMG 8349 (cropped).jpg
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- Afrika Bambaataa
- date of birth
- 1957-04-17
- ethnic group
- African Americans
- start of work period
- 1977-00-00
- name in native language
- Afrika Bambaataa
- pseudonym
- Afrika Bambaataa
- birth name
- Lance Taylor
- archives at
- Cornell University
- end of work period
- 2013-00-00
- date of death
- 2026-04-09
- manner of death
- natural causes
- cause of death
- prostate cancer
- copyright representative
- Broadcast Music, Inc.
via Wikidata · CC0
~22 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Lance Taylor (April 17, 1957 – April 9, 2026), known professionally as Afrika Bambaataa (/ˌæfrɪkə bæmˈbɑːtə/), was an American disc jockey, rapper and record producer. He was notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip-hop culture. Bambaataa was one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
Through his co-opting of his street gang Black Spades into the music and culture-oriented organization Universal Zulu Nation, he helped spread hip-hop culture throughout the world. In May 2016, Bambaataa left his position as head of the Universal Zulu Nation due to multiple allegations of child sexual abuse dating as far back as the 1970s. In May 2025, he also lost a sex abuse civil case after failing to issue legal responses. While some have praised his significant impact on the hip-hop industry, others have argued that it will eventually be overshadowed by the sex abuse allegations.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Afrika Bambaataa” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.