Biography
Afrika Bambaataa established the Time Zone project in the early 1980s, adopting an approach to hip-hop comparable to the one funk maverick George Clinton employed for his various endeavors. Even under the fresh moniker, the resulting singles functioned primarily as Bambaataa productions, incorporating assorted collaborators such as Bill Laswell and James Brown on select cuts. The initial outing arrived as “Wild Style,” a breakdancing single built around the futuristic synth lines and tight funk instrumentation he had already introduced on the massive “Planet Rock” 12". The follow-up took shape as the six-part “Unity” single, where James Brown supplied the verses while Bambaataa joined bassist Doug Wimbish, guitarist Skip McDonald, and drummer Keith LeBlanc to assemble one of the funkiest beats of his career. The final Time Zone effort of the decade, World Destruction, emerged as a rap/punk crossover that drew on Public Image Ltd.’s Album lineup—producer Bill Laswell, organist Bernie Worrell, guitarist Nicky Skopelitis, and drummer Aiyb Dieng—to support Bambaataa’s angry duet with singer John Lydon. Although the track represented a groundbreaking effort, Bambaataa set the Time Zone name aside for nearly a decade. During the fall of 1995, a collection of his late-’80s and early-’90s singles plus several new recordings appeared on Warlocks and Witches, Computer Chips, Microchips and You, issued under a new all-star iteration of Time Zone. Drawing on numerous members of Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation alongside additional outside collaborators, the album retained the apocalyptic message and P-Funk-inspired music that had powered the original Time Zone singles, yet it struggled to reach rap audiences and marked the last release to carry the Time Zone name.
Albums
