Lord Shariyf, a man who identifies himself as Afrika Bambaataa's former bodyguard, claims that the hip hop pioneer had a sexual relationship with "hundreds" of underage boys.
“Since the 70s, it’s been hundreds,” Shariyf said in an interview with radio host Star. “I can say I’ve walked in on stuff where I say, 'what the fuck is going on?'”
At the end of March, Ronald Savage came forward and accused Bambaataa of sexual abusing him in the late '70s and early '80s. Three weeks later, three more men came forward with similar allegations.
Shariyf, also known as Shamsideen Shariyf Ali Bey, says he was a member of the Black Spades, a Bronx gang, along with Bambaataa before joining the Zulu Nation in the mid-'70s. The head of Shaka Zulu Security, he said the Bambaataa always had underage visitors in his Parkchester apartment.
“There’s always a boy in his house. When he leaves and gets home, there’s always a boy there. I’ve seen them camped, asking him for money,” Shariyf said. “He travels with late teens, those are the ones he takes overseas with him. When I went with him on tour in the States, I’d stay in one room, and he would have boys in the room with him."
He claimed that when he encouraged the Zulu Nation to turn Bambaataa in to the authorities in 2007, the organization accused of him trying to extort Bambaataa for money.
“Bambaataa goes around fronting, like he’s this holier than thou. He’s a fucking pedophile,” Shariyf said. “This is a well-known fact in the Zulu Nation.”
