Afrika Bambaataa On James Brown, Sampling And Hip Hop Today [Video]

Afrika Bambaataa sat down with VladTV and shared his thoughts on those who didn’t believe in Hip-Hop’s longevity, saying he never doubted the strength of the culture because he and his peers made it a mission early on to spread Hip Hop all over the world so it wouldn’t die in the same streets it was birthed. He also calls out today’s radio conglomerates, saying they don’t play enough varieties of Hip-Hop and have in turn stifled the public’s knowledge of how wide-ranging of a genre it is, as Hip-Hop is more than just rappers on a nice track. Bambaataa proceeds to give praise to James Brown as the “King of Soul,” and says he’s as much a part of Hip-Hop as rappers are, largely due to Hip-Hop sampling the soul legend so much. Bambaataa also spoke on his own music being sampled, saying he always has to make sure he’s properly paid royalties for his music, while encouraging other artists to always protect themselves when it comes to others sampling their work.