Afrika Bambaataa Accused of Child Molestation

Afrika Bambaataa, hip-hop pioneer and creator of breakthrough 1982 track ‘Planet Rock,’ has been accused of child molestation by a New York judicial delegate, who says Bambaataa, then in his early twenties, abused him on multiple occasions when he was a teen.

Ronald Savage, now 50, told NY Daily News that he first met the DJ and producer in 1980. At that point Savage, then 14, was one of many ‘crate boys,’ kids who would carry around crates of records for DJs in Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation hip-hop collective. ‘It was just about fun, hanging out, listening to music,’ says Savage of those heady Bronx days. But according to his story, all that was about to change. Savage accuses Bambaataa, now 58, of molesting him on a number of occasions.

At one time, he says, Bambaataa came to his house and made Savage lie on the bed with his legs crossed while the DJ performed a sex act on him. ‘I bugged out,’ he said, ‘It confused me ’cause I had never had sex before in my life and… my first time being touched was by a ma’.The judicial delegate said that the experiences left him uncomfortable with close physical contact, hurting his relationships with girlfriends, as well an instinctive suspicion that other male friends might try something similar, something he said he has trouble shaking off today.