The Dawn Of Hip–hopĪ seminal figure on the New York breakdancing scene, Afrika Bambaataa had been a founding member of Bronx street gang the Savage Seven (later the Black Spades) before a life–changing trip to Africa encouraged him to form Zulu Nation and offer kids a streetwise form of music as an alternative to gang life. Inspired by the sounds of German electro–pop outfit Kraftwerk, Bambaataa and Baker recruited the services of Robie to help them take their music in a new direction, and on 'Planet Rock' they achieved this with the assistance of a couple of Kraftwerk numbers: 'Trans–Europe Express', from which they borrowed the melody, and 'Numbers', whose rhythm track they re–recorded. Three men were mainly responsible for breaking this new ground: Afrika Bambaataa, the pioneering South Bronx DJ who helped establish hip–hop during the early '80s with his Soulsonic Force ensemble producer and dancefloor doyen Arthur Baker and keyboard player John Robie. That, within the historical context of popular music, was what the 1982 single 'Planet Rock' was all about, transforming rap by blending breakbeats, a vocoder and one of the first Fairlight synths in America, to create computerised, futuristic, robotic funk that paved the way for dance, trance, techno and house, whilst also being the first hip–hop/R&B track to utilise a Roland TR808 drum machine.
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Photo: David Corio/RedfernsMan and machine, transporting rap to electro.
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For mixing Kraftwerk's synthetic beats and simple melodies with New York rap, 'Planet Rock' can be credited with creating an entirely new genre: hip-hop.