“There was the music before Sly and the Family Stone, and there is the music after Sly and the Family Stone.”
—Afrika BamBaataa
There is life before you interview Afrika Bambaataa, and there is life after you interview Bambaataa. I live in the suburbs. I am wearing pj pants and a hoodie sweatshirt in the middle of the afternoon. I am not supposed to just be getting off the phone with The Godfather of Electro-Funk.
Afrika Bambaataa was talking to me because he would be playing at U Street Music Hall with Fort Knox Five at Funk 4 The Dream in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the day before the holiday.
He called me and said, “Hi, is this Olivia? This is Bambaataa. How are you doin’ today?” Bam, I am shaking and wish I had a shot of vodka. “I’m great! It’s such an honor to speak with you!…”
My short interview consisted of just a couple of questions: “What five records have changed your life, or are your favorites?” and “What are a couple of your favorite record stores?” Speaking to Bambaataa about music is like receiving a lesson about physics from Einstein. Over the next week, we’ll be sharing Bambaataa’s picks with you from our interview with The Amen-Ra of Universal Hip-Hop Culture, as the funk legend reveals which albums have been the most influential to him.
First up: James Brown’s Revolution of the Mind: Live at the Apollo Vol. 3
“It’s the funk on the album. The band’s right, and the response of the audience to his singing… It changed the industry.”
James Brown recorded the double LP Revolution of the Mind: Live at the Apollo Vol. 3 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem in 1971. Brown also recorded live albums there in 1963 and 1968. It seems appropriate that The Godfather of Electro-Funk would first recommend an album by The Godfather of Soul.
Brown was renowned showman and an instrumental and iconic figure in R&B music from the 1950s until his death in 2006, and paved the way for performers such as Bambaataa, who would later build on his foundations of funk. Revolution of the Mind includes Brown’s hits “Soul Power” and “Super Bad” as well as the timeless track “Sex Machine.” Did you all just feel the inexplicable urge to sing “Get up, get on up,” or is that just me?
Stayed tuned the rest of this week as we bring you more classic picks. Skool’d by Bambaataa.
