Back in the early 2000s skateboarding and hip hop were constantly overlapping in everyday culture, especially through video parts, skate shop DVDs, and independent projects where sound and skating were treated as one experience rather than separate worlds.
Around that time skate legend Chad Muska was not only known for his skating style but also for his growing involvement in music through his Muskabeatz work including working with DJ, rapper, and record producer Afrika Bambaataa.
Unfortunately Afrika Bambaataa, who played a major role in shaping early hip hop culture and influencing generations of music and skating edits through his sound legacy, has passed away at the age of 68.
Muska’s work in production brought him into contact with a wide list of artists including Biz Markie, MC Lyte, Guru, Melle Mel, Ice-T, Jeru the Damaja, KRS-One, Raekwon, and U-God.
For his first release under Muskabeatz he leaned into a sound that felt rooted in earlier hip hop rather than the direction he originally planned. What started as a drum and bass idea shifted into something closer to that earlier street level feeling and the Muskabeatz release arrived in 2003 through his own label.
That connection between Bambaataa and Muska sits in the way sound travels through streets, skate spots, and block corners.
Skateboarding in particular sits alongside music in a way that feels inseparable from the environment. Street skating scenes around the world have long carried hip hop records in the background where the rhythm of wheels on concrete and the timing of movement meet the beat of production built from sampled breaks and electronic layers.
Muskabeatz production fits into that world of sound where street skating lines are shaped by rhythm as much as they are by obstacles. It also appeared in 411 Video Magazine Issue 58, The Muska Issue. For those who remember the golden era of skateboarding, it is worth revisiting.
It is music that carries a direct link to how people move through urban spaces not as performance but as expression in everyday settings.
Bambaataa’s influence helped shape an early blueprint for that kind of sound to exist where electronic elements and raw street influence could live together in one place.
His impact on music and culture remains part of the foundation that many artists and creators still reference. From early Bronx block parties to global stages the sounds he helped shape continue to echo through different creative spaces.
For Muska and the Muskabeatz catalog that same lineage of sound lives on in production that connects hip hop history with the movement of street skating.
It is music built from a place where beats and motion share the same ground where the sound system and the street corner are part of the same story.
Afrika Bambaataa’s passing closes a chapter but the music he helped shape continues to move through speakers skate sessions and creative spaces where rhythm still matters most.
Rest in peace to a pioneer whose influence helped lay the foundation for how hip hop would evolve and how its sound would eventually filter into skateboarding media.
NafManagement Posted:
"From the bottom of my heart, as someone who walked alongside this legend, I want to take a moment to honor our beloved brother Afrika Bambaataa
To the world, he was the Godfather of Hip-Hop. To me, he was a visionary, a mentor, and a brother. What he built — the Universal Zulu Nation, the culture, the movement — was never just music. It was a message of peace, love, unity, and having fun.
His spirit lives in every beat, every b-boy, every piece of graf, every DJ spinning for the culture. Hip-Hop is a global language today because of him.
Rest in power, King. The world will never forget what you gave us.
Your brother Naf I definitely miss you
#PeaceLoveUnityAndHavingFun RIP Legend HipHopCulture"
