Hip-Hop’s High Priest

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More About

• Afrika Bambaataa
• Zion I
• Kraftwerk
• Eve (Rapper)

Planet Rock New Year’s Eve 2010: A Bass Odyssey may be named in honor of its headliner, but it will also be a hot gathering of local hip-hop, electro, and reggae talent — three sonic flavors beloved by San Francisco groovers. New York’s Afrika Bambaataa, one of hip-hop and electronic music’s founding DJs and leader of the empowerment group Mighty Zulu Nation, dropped his seminal single “Planet Rock” in 1982. It remains a prescient fusion of Kraftwerk’s electronic rhythms and Parliament-Funkadelic’s space-funk experimentation, which seems to have eternal life on the dancefloor. Bambaataa’s DJ sets explore the continuum from those early tunes to of-the-minute electro and techno and cultivate an old-school feel-good vibe with no frills. Countdown for the seven-hour celebration, which is hosted by DeeCee’s Soul Shakedown, comes courtesy of Oakland duo Zion I (MC Zumbi and producer Amp Live), which performs live at midnight in the Dark Room, likely with a mix of local classics and recent singles from The Take Over. The conversely named White Room quivers to the boombastic bass booms of dancehall and reggae tunes spun by Jah-Yzer, Dans One, and DJ Stepwise.
Thu., Dec. 31, 8 p.m., 2009