Afrika Bambaataa's Vinyl Compound Explored On 'Crate Diggers'
Afrika Bambaataa's vinyltrove fortress gets a rare visitor,as FuseTV'sCrate Diggerstakes us inside the literal museum that is Bam's collection. And what better guide than the Cornel Hip-Hop Archive's assistant curator Ben Ortiz?While New Yorkers had their chance at an exclusive peek into the virtual abyss that is the collection with the archive's founder Johan Kugelbergall last month, Ortiz takes us straight to the source, cracking open crate after crate of hip-hop's most tangible roots, complete with commentary from the commander-in-chief of The Universal Zulu Nation himself.
What we find is that Bam's obligation to preserving the history of our cultureis not limited to crate digging, but connecting the dots between the preservation of vinyl as a timeless medium (on par with hieroglyphics and historic documents like the Emancipation Proclamation, which he owns an original, framed copy of) and the spiritual, political and cultural climates of civilization far gone. You can watch Afrika Bambaataa wax on his favorite pressings and his life-long pursuit of hip-hop's preservation in the video below. And if you still need your fix, cop a ticket for DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist'sRenegades Of Rhythm Tourwhen it hits a stage near you.
