Fat Lace Magazine » Hard, My Calling Card #2

Hard, My Calling Card #2

It’s part two of our latest nerd-out, mining the authentic business cards of hip-hop legends. Well someone’s gotta do it. This time we have non other than Afrika Bambaataa’s original business card. A couple of things to note looking at his dog eared calling card. His business hours are from between 2 and 5pm. What kind of business hours are those? We know he was serious about digging for records so perhaps he spent the early part of the day trawling through the discount bins at Our Price. We heard he was actually a dinner lady at James Monroe High School in the South Bronx before plunging full-time into a secretarial role at the Zulu Nation. After his lunch time duties at school he’d spend the rest of the day waiting by the phone for DJ bookings at church halls, anywhere that would have the fledgling disc jockey. An early career high was a personal appearance turning on the Christmas lights at the 125th Street shopping precinct.

Anyway, it was this very school where Bam worked where the infamous Death Mix was recorded. The story goes that as a canteen attendant Bam saved the life of a fat kid choking on a peanut. With a couple of abdominal thrusts the peanut was dislodged and the child saved. The Head Master returned the favour to Bam by allowing him to perform his Death Mix at Assembly one morning. Most of the kids got scared and left the hall crying but the few that stayed witnessed a slice of hip-hop history. He’s never looked back since.

There are numerous reissues of the Death Mix but as a treat here’s a downloadable file of the breaks Bam used to perform the Death Mix Live back in ’83.

COP HERE