Hip-hop Legend Bambaataa to be Cornell's Visiting Scholar
ByIf this news does not make students attend college, then what will?
Cornell University has named Hip-hop godfather Afrika Bambaataa as a visiting scholar for a three-year term, the University Library's Hip-Hop Collection announced Tuesday, reports Rolling Stone.
The school says this is a collaborative effort of Cornell University Library's Hip Hop Collection and the school's music department.
The South-Bronx DJ and MC who was one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, will visit the Ithaca, New York campus of the Ivy-league school several times per year to converse with the students, community groups, speak in classes and give performances. His first visit is scheduled to be in November.
The 'Grandfather' and the Amen Ra of Universal Hip Hop Culture as well as the Father of The Electro Funk Sound was born Kevin Donovan who was instrumental in the development of Hip-hop genre in 1980s. Bambaataa who grew up in The Bronx River Projects with an activist mother and uncle, was exposed to the black liberation movement, and witnessed debates between his mother and uncle regarding the conflicting ideologies in the movement.
Bambaataa's role marks the first time a hip-hop legend has been appointed a faculty position at a major university, according to the school.
Cornell officials say their library houses the country's largest archive of hip-hop culture, one that documents its birth and continued growth by preserving recordings, flyers, photographs and other artefacts.