Afrika Bambaataa, hip-hop pioneer, has died

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2evppm30p7o

Afrika Bambaataa, hip-hop music pioneer, dies aged 68

The Bronx born rapper's global hit Planet Rock is credited with shaping hip-hop in the 1980s.

BBC News

I fell into a job bussing tables and porting alcohol at a local live music venue when I was 19 and I worked there off and on over seven years.

As much as I love live music after a while it just sort of became a job, but every now and again an incredible musician would come through and I wouldn’t know until I showed up for my shift and I asked my coworkers who was playing that night.

One night I come in and my jaw drops when find out it’s fucking DJ Africa Bambaataa! Now I’m not big into hip hop but I had listened to a few of his albums and I knew his music was phenomenal and I was shocked such a legend was playing in my town.

The crazy part is only like 100 people showed up out of a capacity of like 800 but every single one of those people could dance.

The venue had an old sound booth that was attached to ceiling and was accessible with a rickety old spiral staircase, as it was so slow that night I spent most of my time up there just soaking in that experience.

I’ve seen a lot of live shows in my day but that one stands out.