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Afrika Bambaataa<\/a>, the pioneering hip-hop DJ and founder of the Zulu Nation, has died from complications relating to cancer, TMZ<\/a> reports. He was 67.<\/p>\n Born Lance Taylor in 1957, Bambaataa gained notoriety in New York\u2019s early hip-hop scene for the block parties he threw in the South Bronx. In 1973, he co-founded the Universal Zulu Nation, the hip-hop awareness organization with a credo of \u201cPeace, Love, Unity, and Having Fun.\u201d \u201cPlanet Rock,\u201d the Kraftwerk-sampling 1982 single credited to Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force, reached No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Bambaataa was among the many artists\u2014including Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Bono, and Run-D.M.C.\u2014tapped by Steven Van Zandt and Arthur Baker to appear on their 1985 anti-apartheid protest song \u201cSun City.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2016, Ronald Savage, an activist, politician, and former music industry executive, accused<\/a> Bambaataa of repeatedly molesting him when he was 15 years old in 1980. More allegations<\/a> followed, all from men who said Bambaataa sexually abused them in their youth. He was subsequently removed<\/a> from his leadership position in the Zulu Nation. Last year, Bambaataa lost a lawsuit<\/a> that had been brought against him by an anonymous John Doe, who testified to being abused and sex trafficked between the years 1991 and 1995, beginning when he was 12. A judge handed down a default judgment<\/a> in favor of the plaintiff after Bambaataa failed to enter a legal response.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n