Mofoz Visualz Art.Culture.Life.: Afrika Bambaata at Red Fez

Red Fez hosted the Red Bull Music Academy interview of Godfather of Hip Hop/DJ extraordinaire/Zulu Nation founder/bad ass dude Afrika Bambaataa last night and it was nothing short of amazing. A small crowd of probably less than 50 were in attendance.

The night started off with Open Labs showing off its new DJ friendly production piece the D-Beat which is downright awesome...check their site for the details. The Austin based company supplies some of the worlds top musicians with gear. The list goes from Madonna to Lil Jon to Timbaland and Prince. Anyways, it was agreat demo that blew the producers and DJ's in attendance eyes wide.

After the demo, the homie DJ Scuba of Prhymemates (San Antonio) and Prince Klassen held class about the Red Bull Music Academy. RBMA is made for talented musicians to travel to a location (that changes every year, this year it is in England) and really hone their production and musical skills. RBMA has some of the world top musicians work with the students in top of the line production studios to create some really top tier product.I really respect companies that really put their money where there mouth is when it comes to the arts, and this is truly a great opportunity for musicians.

You can apply at the RBMA website, I strongly encourage any musician that truly takes their craft seriously to do so. If chosen, it is truly life changing and will network you with companies and musicians you dream of working with. Remember if you dont apply, you will not be chosen, so go on and do that.

Then came the Afrika Bambaataa interview by DJ Scuba which was amazing. Big Ups to Scuba for doing his research and having some great questions prepared. Bambaataa talked about the beginnings of the hip hop culture including unifying the four elements (graffiti, dj/mc/b-boy) through jams on the streets. He went on to explain how two dj's would signal each other with flashlights to drop the needle on records to "mix" before mixers were invented and popular.

He also talked of unifying the punk movement in NY with the upcoming hip hop movement at the time which was his inspiration for the b-boy anthem "Planet Rock.

His tales of dj'ing for Billy Idol, Madonna, and producing a song (UNITY) with the legendary "Godfather of Soul" James Brown was simply amazing.

Other highlights included anecdotes from hip hops first world tour, spiritualism and how it relates to music and life, as well as production quips from his earlier recordings.

It was truly a pleasure to be able to sit in and listen to a legend.