WE ARE A COLLECTIVE

Hip Hop Stands With Survivors (HHSWS) is a collective of individuals, groups, and organizations born of people that love hip-hop and refuse to accept corporate, political, and institutional silence for sexual abuse. These entities and individuals have not only made predators safe with their silence, they even promote those accused of heinous crimes. This destroys the morale of survivors and all who have loved and worked in hip-hop.

Our collective comprises male and female survivors, the survivors of Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation, musicians, artists, parents, empathizers, supporters, child advocates, victim advocates, lawyers, therapists, hip-hop organizations, professionals, and activists.

WHY WE PROTEST

Rocky Bucano, Mayor Eric Adams, and Chuck Schumer have ignored the serious allegations of child sex trafficking and child sexual abuse by the Universal Hip Hop Museum’s co-founder Afrika Bambaataa and his Universal Zulu Nation. The museum has refused to institute no-tolerance measures to protect kids and is using public tax dollars to promote and hire the Zulu Nation.

In August 2021, an anonymous man sued Bambaataa and the Universal Zulu Nation for trafficking him beginning at age 12. Because Bambaataa and the UZN have not responded to the 17-month-long court case, the names of enablers were not aired out in court. However, these people still exist and the museum even employs some. We believe, as our report shows, that Bambaataa and the UZN exert undue influence on Bucano. We love the idea of a museum but someone else has to run it. Bucano has had years to make this situation right and has not done so. This is why we are now publicly protesting the museum’s leadership.

Eric Adams also stood with Russell Simmons after Drew Dixon, and other women accused him of sexual assault. And, iHeart continues to employ Charlamagne Tha God after Jessica Reid told her story of being raped and drugged by him when she was underage.

We will not allow corporations and elected officials to ignore these allegations any longer. We believe their silence means approval and complicity. 

In an interview, the chief executive officer and academic director at CHILD USA, an interdisciplinary think tank to prevent child abuse and neglect, Marci Hamilton said that pedophiles live in a secret universe with other pedophiles that the rest of us don’t see. In their universe, they exchange victims and child pornography.

Afrika Bambaataa named his personal army the Universal Zulu Nation, became God and named his gospel Universal Hip Hop Culture, and co-founded the Universal Hip Hop Museum. We believe the Universal Hip Hop Museum is signaling pedophiles by its name, language, and the promotion and hiring of the Zulu Nation. We also believe that pedophiles will understand this signaling to mean they will find safety in corporate silence and a new hunting ground for child victims.

If one child is harmed at the museum, it will be because the UHHM board and the City of New York failed to act after receiving our report. 

It is with great urgency that we inform the public about the museum’s co-founder, Afrika Bambaataa, the heinous allegations against him, the John Doe lawsuit, the museum’s continued promotion of Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation, undue influence on the museum, and child endangerment. 

It is our duty to protect children, and this is why we protest.