Welcome to the first edition of Podcast Tuesdays, where our D.C.-dwelling friends at MaDCap hook us up with the latest and greatest in the world of music and entertainment interviews. They recently sat down with Afrika Bambaataa, one of hip hop’s most genre-defining (and defying) DJs to discuss music and the meaning of life. Some nuggets of knowledge we gleaned?

Q: What is the message from the mouth of Afrika Bambaataa today for everybody living on this earth and everybody listening outside of it?

A: The message is: You can love hip hop, soul, r&b, classical, jazz, rock, heavy metal, techno, house and all the music. You can play sport and play, but if you don’t respect Mother Earth – the planet that we live on – then she will show you who the great supreme force is through her wrath by sending tsunamis, earthquakes and then some, because we have disrespected the planet and disrespected our universe. Each one teach one help one and feed one. – A.B.

Afrika was also asked to choose 10 songs that help trace the history of hip hop. He gave them 12:

1. James Brown – Funky Drummer
2. Ralph McDonald – Jam on the Groove
3. Herman Kelly – Dance to the Drummer’s Beat
4. The Mohawks – The Champ
5. Kurtis Blow – The Breaks
6. The Sugarhill Gang – Rapper’s Delight
7. Grandmaster Flash – The Message
8. Doug E. Fresh – The Show
9. Erik B. & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul
10. Afrika Bambaataa – Planet Rock
11. Joe Cuba – Bang Bang
12. Ray Barretto – Right On

Afrika Bambaataa: The maDCap Tapes

Interview courtesy MaDCapdc.org