Afrika Bambaataa, a man widely considered one of the main pioneers of hip-hop, died in Pennsylvania of prostate cancer on Thursday, according to his lawyer. He was 68.
Bambaataa’s sudden death was met with an outpouring of condolences from friends, family and fans across the world, who paid tribute to his profound and unmistakable impact on one of the world’s most popular and politically influential music genres. But others have said that his impact was overshadowed in recent years after numerous men who knew Bambaataa when they were boys accused him of sexual abuse.
The rapper and producer is best known for breakthrough tracks like 1982’s “Planet Rock” and for founding the Universal Zulu Nation art collective.
“Hip Hop will never be the same without him -- but everything hip hop is today, it is because of him. His spirit lives in every beat, every cypher and every corner of this globe he touched,” his talent agency, Naf Management Entertainment, wrote in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
Bambaataa was Lance Taylor born in 1957 in the South Bronx, and he came of age at a time when the New York City neighborhood was rapidly deteriorating after intensifying segregation and years of economic neglect. By the 1970s and 1980s, landlords were burning apartment buildings to collect insurance money instead of investing in repairs, leaving low-income mostly Puerto Rican and Black families without socioeconomic opportunity.
Bambaataa had Jamaican and Barbadian heritage, and he was raised in a low-income public housing complex by his mother, according to an interview he gave Frank Broughton in 1998. He was exposed to music at an early age through his mother's vinyl record collection.
The ability to repurpose and mix old hits became one of his signatures at the parties he began to throw in community centers across the neighborhood in the early 1970s, Bambaataa said in the interview. He was deeply inspired by the work of Kool Herc, who is often deemed the father of hip-hop.
Bambaataa and the parties where he DJ’ed swelled in popularity throughout the decade and well into the 1980s, when he released a series of electro tracks that helped shaped the burgeoning hip-hop and electro-funk music movements. He also was one of the first DJs to use beat breaks, incorporating the iconic Roland TR-808 drum machine.
"We was playin’ everything, everything that was funky," he said. He later added that what set his parties apart was that “other DJs would play they great records for fifteen, twenty minutes. We was changing ours every minute or two. I couldn’t have no breakbeat go longer than a minute or two.”
At that time, Bambaataa said in previous interviews that he was able to leverage his affiliation with the local street gang the Black Spades in order to form a group he called the Zulu Nation, a nod to a South African ethnic group that he drew inspiration from. His slogan eventually became known as “peace, love, unity and having fun," and he said that he sought to use hip-hops' ballooning popularity to resolve local gang conflicts.
Later, Bambaataa changed the name to the Universal Zulu Nation to signal the inclusion of “all people from the planet earth.”
“At the core our music made people feel like they belong to a movement and not a moment, our music offered Hope something positive to believe in, it gave people identity, unity, and a way out,” Ellis Williams, a producer known as Mr. Biggs, wrote in an email to the AP. Mr. Biggs was a member of the group Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force that included Bambaataa.
In recent years, numerous people have accused Bambaataa of sexual abuse.
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 the AP in 2016. At the time he recalled, in detail, that encounter and four others that he said followed.
Bambaataa has vehemently denied those allegations.
After Savage went public with his claims, numerous other men came forward to share similar experiences about Bambaataa. 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.
Associated Press writer Maria Sherman contributed reporting from New York City.
FILE - Hip hop DJ pioneer Afrika Bambaataa speaks at a news conference in New York on Feb. 28, 2006. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams, File)
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Rory McIlroy began his title defense in the Masters with a tee shot that rolled next to a spectator's seat. Another one was in the trees. His tee shot on the seventh hole went into the 17th fairway. The prevailing thought was not concern, not the slightest bit of panic.
He's the Masters champion. That brought a measure of patience and a load of freedom.
“I just trusted that eventually I’ll start to make some good swings. So that was a little different,” McIlroy said after opening with a 5-under 67, his best start at Augusta National in 15 years, to share the lead with Sam Burns.
It seems as though McIlroy has been wearing his Masters green jacket all week — to the weekend activities, to his news conference on Tuesday (Tiger Woods never did that), to the Masters Club dinner on Wednesday. And after his opening round?
“It’s easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on at the end of the day,” he said.
It wasn't his best golf, but he got everything out of his round in his bid to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back at Augusta National.
“By the way, Rory may never lose this thing again after last year,” Fred Couples said he told his caddie when he heard another cheer, presumably for McIlroy.
Only one other player in the last 10 years — Hideki Matsuyama when he won in 2021 — shot 67 while hitting only five fairways. McIlroy was the sixth defending champion to have at least a share of the 18-hole lead, though only Jack Nicklaus (1966) went on to win.
There's a long way to go, and a course that already has everyone's attention because of how fast and firm it already was on Thursday.
Burns was among the early starters. He played the par 5s with three birdies and an eagle and wound up with his lowest score in his fifth Masters appearance.
“Historically, people who have success here play the par 5s really well, and we were able to do that today. So it’s a good recipe around this golf course,” Burns said.
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world going for a third green jacket in the last five years, was 3 under through three holes in the tougher afternoon, when the light gusts began playing tricks and the greens got crispy. He had one bogey and 14 pars the rest of the way for a 70.
The whole day was tough, and the forecast — this could be the first Masters in 25 years without any rain — has everyone on edge thinking what the next three days could hold. Yes, the weather was gorgeous. But dry and firm conditions are scary, even in this marvelous garden.
“It’s not right on the edge, but it’s playing nice and firm where you can get yourself in a lot of trouble if you lose control somewhere,” Adam Scott said after a 72.
Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion and a two-time winner on the European tour this year, was at 69 along with Jason Day and Kurt Kitayama. Reed was atop the leaderboard for so much of the day due to two eagles on the front nine that sent him out in 31.
But he dropped a shot on the 10th, and then was flummoxed by what he thought was an ideal shot for his second into the par-5 15th. Such are the firmness of the greens that his shot hit hard off the back of the green, bounded down the slope and didn't stop rolling until it was in the pond on No. 16.
“Water?” Reed asked his caddie as he looked toward the green. “It landed on the green.”
He later described it as a “head-scratcher.”
“I knew if it went over the green, we would be fine,” Reed said. “Didn’t really think I was going to go 30 yards over the green.”
Justin Rose, twice a playoff loser in the Masters, was in range of the lead until he dropped three shots over the last five holes and had to settle for a 70, tied with Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry.
The greens are already are so firm that Rose quipped, “You might get a yellow jacket if you win.” That was a reference to the shade of the greens — a yellow sheen means firm and fast, and that color on Thursday can make players nervous.
Augusta National can still take a bite out of anyone with enough swirling gusts to bring indecision, or bad shots that wind up in the wrong spot.
Bryson DeChambeau found that out on the 11th hole when he put his approach in the right bunker and it took him three to get out on his way to a 76. Jon Rahm turned potential birdie or better into a double bogey with a shot into the azalea bushes on the par-5 13th. He didn't make a birdie in his 78.
Only five players broke 70, and only 16 players broke par, the lowest in five years at the Masters for the opening round.
Ten players failed to break 80. One of them was Robert MacIntyre of Scotland, the No. 8 player in the world. He was among three players to take quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 15th.
McIlroy wasn't sure want to expect in his 18th appearance, his first as the Masters champion. Only twice had he started with rounds in the 60s, his best a 65 in 2011. That year, he went on to shoot 80 on the final day.
There were still nerves. It's still Augusta National.
“My hope was to get off to a solid start,” he said. “I feel like the way I played, 5 under, exceeded where I thought I would be or what I wanted to do.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Justin Rose, of England, hits from the fairway on the 13th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, watches on the second hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Scottie Scheffler watches his tee shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Sam Burns walks to green on the 16th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, celebrates after a birdie on the 15th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits his tee shot on the 14th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Jon Rahm, of Spain, hits from the fairway on the 11th hole during a practice round ahead of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Scottie Scheffler watches his tee shot on the 17th hole during a practice round ahead of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Bryson DeChambeau warms up on the driving range before a practice round ahead of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, walks to green on the 16th hole during a practice round ahead of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
