Last week the New York Daily News published an excusive interview with Ronald Savage, a Bronx man who claims that hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa sexually abused him as a teenager.
Since sharing his story, three more men have come forward with similar allegations. “I know what Ronald Savage is saying is true because he did it to me,” said one of the alleged victims, 50, who chose to remain anonymous. “I have never spoken to anybody about this and when I did, I said ‘Holy s—-, they finally caught up to him.’”
“I still have a lot of anger about this,” accounted another victim named Troy, 51. “I’ve been dealing with this for years. It’s a shame this didn’t come out earlier.” Troy did not provide a last name.
The third alleged victim, Hassan Campbell, 39, explicitly recounts the abuse. “He had the most fun house in the world,” recalled Campbell. “There were celebrities there, musicians, neighborhood heroes. It was the best place to be – and the worst place to be.”
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He tells Daily News that Bambaataa sexually abused him numerous times when he was 12 and 13 years old.
“He is a pervert,” Campbell added. “He likes little boys.”
Campbell told The Daily News that he had posted an angry video accusing Bambaataa of sexual abuse several months ago. He took the video down after Bambaataa and Zulu Nation officials agreed to meet with him. In their meeting, Bambaataa had acknowledged the abuse and apologized to him. He promised Campbell he would get counseling, open up a center for troubled youth and step down form Zulu Nation.
“He never did any of those things,” Campbell said. “He’s a manipulator and a liar. He’s just waiting for this chaos to blow over so he can go back to his dark, dingy hole and go back to his old ways. He needs to put dwn the candy and let the little boys go.”
Zulu Nation, meanwhile, called Campbell “both a liar and a government paid police informant.”
DJ Star, the former Hot 97 and Power 105 DJ who has posted interviews with Campbell and Troy on his YouTube channel, said his audience was originally split on Savage’s allegations. But the tide has turned, he said. “People are taking this very seriously,” he said. “Zulu Nation needs to demand that Afrika Bambaataa step down. If you believe black lives really matter, you have to stand up to this.”
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