It was at one of these parties, in 1979, that Savage met Afrika Bambaataa, the mysterious and eccentric visionary who, alongside DJ Kool Herc and DJ Jazzy Jay, is considered one of hip-hop's founding figures. The parties drew droves of people, especially teenagers. DJs played breakbeats from soul, funk, rock, and Latin records while b-boys danced and MCs rhymed. One of the few respites he had was the neighborhood hip-hop party, thrown regularly at the Center, a community space in the Bronx River Houses.
At home, he lived in fear of his dad, a drunk who terrorized him and his sister and abused their mother. On the streets, gang violence was a fixture of day-to-day life. Ron Savage grew up in the poverty-stricken Castle Hill section of the Bronx in the 1970s. This story appeared in the October Music issue of VICE magazine, a collaboration with THUMP and NOISEY.
