Hip-Hop Pioneer Afrika Bambaataa Accused of Sexual Abuse by Political Activist Ronald Savage

Afrika Bambaataa via Wiki commons

Former music industry executive and Bronx Democratic Party activist Ronald Savage recently published a memoir in which he claims he was molested on multiple occasions by Universal Zulu Nation founder and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa. Now, he's expanded on the story he tells in Impulse, Urges and Fantasies (Life Is a Bag of Mixed Emotions): The True Untold Story of Pioneer Hip Hop Artists Liasion Bee-Stinger in an extensive interview with The New York Daily News about what happened during that time. According to Savage, Bambaataa sexually abused him in 1980 when he was 15 years old, claiming that the event left him with intimacy struggles and thoughts of suicide over the last three decades.

"I want him to know how much he damaged me growing up," he says.

Savage, originally under the name Bee-Stinger, became involved with Bambaataa's Zulu Nation as a teenager. He lived in the Bronx and helped host many of hip-hop's earliest events—he started working as a "crate boy" who helped physically carry records to different events—as he became a prominent member of the scene. Savage says his reasoning for breaking silence now after all these years is because he hopes to change New York's statue of limitations. Currently, if a felony sexual offense happened to a victim under the age of 18, the victim has five years after the age of 18 to report the violation to law enforcement. Savage believes this is unfair. "It took me all of these years to speak about this," he says. "I was embarrassed. I was ashamed."

The video interview, which we've embedded below, is a tough watch. Savage claims Bambaataa sexually abused him on five separate incidents, but he has not shared the story beyond a small circle of trusted friends and family until recently.

Bambaataa hasn't yet publicly responded to these details claims, but his lawyer Vivian Kimi Tozaki issued a statement regarding Savage's book last week.

“Defamatory statements were published seeking to harm my client’s reputation so as to lower him in the estimation of the community while deterring others from associating or dealing with him. The statements show a reckless disregard for the truth, were published with knowledge of their falsity, and are being made by a lesser-known person seeking publicity.”

This story is developing and we'll keep it updated as more details emerge. For now, read the full story in The New York Daily News here.

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