Six Degrees of Planet Rock
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five other albums we've deemed related in some way. In some cases these connections are obvious, in others they are tenuous. But, most important to you, all of the records are highly, highly recommended.
The Album
-
Plenty of songs achieve a kind of global infamy, storming charts across borders and belief systems and inspiring oceans of moribund sound-alikes. But few songs seem radical, new, order-toppling ideas along the way; few artists empower their imagined community of listeners to re-envision the future; rarely is a fan asked to join in alliance and imagine a better world together. This is what happened to those who happened upon Afrika Bambaataa's 1982 hits "Planet Rock" and "Looking for the Perfect Beat," paradigm-shifting moments in the early evolution of hip-hop, and permanent ruptures to the pop landscape. Having already established himself as a visionary hip-hop thinker and DJ, Bambaataa's string of singles from 1981 to 1984 the aforementioned pair as well as "Jazzy Sensation" and "Renegades of Funk" cemented his global influence. From the Bronx to Paris to Tokyo to everywhere between, Bambaataa's singles redefined the sound and possibilities of dance music. Listening to them today, the singles remind us of the utopian instinct at the heart of all great musical cultures, with their tribal, all-together-now chants and sample-everything breakbeats. This wasn't lost on Bambaataa at the time. "Planet Rock" was prophecy, and with his half-fan club/half-religion, the Universal Zulu Nation, he initiated his listeners into a serious, humanistic kind of global hip-hop fellowship. Even if it's never been entirely clear what Afrika Bambaataa did on the "Planet Rock" 12-inch producers Arthur Baker and John Robie deserve most of the credit for actualizing Bam's vision his name has become synonymous with the revolutionary change in the sound and face of youth culture over the past three decades. He did it so you could too.
The Android Funk
-
To get a sense of how radical "Planet Rock" truly was, consider this fascinating and essential document of Bambaataa and crew in their early prime. Released without Bambaataa's consent by Harlem mini-mogul Paul Winley in 1983, Death Mix was a 20-minute party snippet recorded at a Bronx high school. Bambaataa's DJs juggle doubles of everything from the Jackson 5's feel-good "It's Great to Be Here" to the Yellow Magic Orchestra's freaky "Computer Games," all the while bugging out with the echoplex. The atmosphere is amazing, the diversity of songs stunning. But while it's now a holy text of early hip-hop DJing, there's little here to suggest how futuristic a sound Bambaataa would soon pursue. The original "Death Mix" is collected here along with other Winley odds-and-ends, including Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force's anthemic (and soon to be primitive-sounding) "Zulu Nation Throwdown."
The Birth of the Zulu Nation
-
Bambaataa wasn't the only one sniffing around the synthesizer: Newcleus (check out Destination: Earth) and Tommy Boy labelmates Jonzun Crew and Planet Patrol all recorded leftfield anthems that rival "Planet Rock" in ingenuity and weirdness. Across the country, the electro impulse found radically different expressions. In Miami, "Planet Rock" helped spawn Dynamix II, 2 Live Crew and a throbbing bass scene for example, Tony M.F. Rock's raucously fun "She Put Me in a Trance" is just him rapping over "Looking for the Perfect Beat." Meanwhile in Los Angeles, labels like Techno Hop and Macola and the Uncle Jamm's Army collective gave electro a local, funky twist. Egyptian Lover's classic mid-1980s singles ("Egypt Egypt" and "Girls" borrow heavily from the "Planet Rock" blueprint) are a bracing mix of thick, punishing bass slaps, heavenly synths and mystical, come-hither lyrics. Egypt's live act is still phenomenally entertaining, and "Planet Rock" which he plays frontward, backward and then juggles remains a crowd-pleasing highlight. (As does his King Tut dance.)
The Electro Mystics
-
Contemporary producers like the Neptunes and Timbaland have embraced Bambaataa's tech-happy approach to dance music, as well as his open-minded approach to new sounds. Sometimes, that just means returning to the source. In 2004, Jazze Pha sampled "Planet Rock" for "1, 2 Step" a massive hit for Ciara and Missy Elliott. As Ciara admires her producer's handiwork and calmly calls for the world to join her on the dance-floor, sundry spaced-out pulse-zaps, acid raindrops and celestial synths cohere around her as the melody of "Planet Rock." Missy and if ever there was a child of Bambaataa's style and vision, it would be Missy shows up near the end to give "Jell-O" a new meaning and highlight her hefty accomplishments. But the real star here is that still-entrancing, still-otherworldly beat, still captivating the planet.
