Solo, from the group Assassin, revealed on the show Clique from Wednesday November 27 on Canal+ having been a victim in his adolescence of the American DJ.
Solo, an emblematic figure of French rap with the group Assassin and a pioneer of breakdancing in France, revealed that during his adolescence he had been a ” victim “ of the American DJ and precursor of hip-hop Afrika Bambaataa, already accused of sexual assault on minors in the United States. “Being confronted with a predator, especially someone you admire, is the most difficult thing.”he confided on Wednesday in the show Clique on Canal+.
The artist is one of the rare French people to have experienced the first steps of hip-hop in the United States from the inside, alongside pioneers, including Afrika Bambaataa, who hosted him at the time. The American DJ benefits from an aura that is all the stronger since he co-founded the Zulu Nation in 1973, an organization advocating peace and fighting against the violence of New York gangs by relying on the values conveyed by hip music. -hop and its different disciplines.
“Sexual predator”
In his autobiography Write my name on your listpublished in mid-November by Massot, Solo mentions having witnessed a scene of sexual assault on a minor during his stay at Afrika Bambaataa, without further details. He also says: “One evening, Bambaataa calls me into the living room while he is watching a porn film. I feel discomfort, but I don’t move. At this precise moment, I understand that it is my turn to become his toy.” Solo, who says he was 17 at the time, describes this episode as “a very unpleasant, but inevitable passage”without providing further details.
Asked about this episode in Cliquethe artist speaks of “behaviors that are totally inappropriate” from the part of Bambaataa, who put “over forty years” to be able to evoke. “I needed personal development and support, if only to recognize that I was a victim”he adds in the show. The Assassin pillar specifies that he was “a thousand miles from imagining the scale of the phenomenon” brought to light years later, calling Bambaataa “sexual predator”.
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The Zulu Nation, an organization representing hip-hop and its values around the world, distanced itself from its leader Afrika Bambaataa in 2016, following accusations of sexual assault on minors, which he has always denied. That same year, Ronald Savage, hip-hop artist and producer, accused him of abusing him in the late 1970s, when he was 15 years old. Other testimonies emerged, including that of an anonymous victim, until then convinced of being the only one in this situation.
On August 9, 2021, another anonymous plaintiff filed a lawsuit in Bronx Supreme Court, accusing Afrika Bambaataa of sexually abusing him over a four-year period in the early 1990s, when he had only 12 years old. He also claims to have been a victim of sex trafficking orchestrated by the rapper. AFP tried to get a reaction from Afrika Bambaataa via her Instagram account, but did not immediately obtain any response.
