— Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force, "Planet Rock"

We officially kick off our journey in the mix with what the warriors of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province in South Africa would call the "Affectionate Leader."

[Rewind]

Afrika Bambaataa is often knighted with the title "Godfather of Hip-Hop." While the more accurate origins of the most influential youth culture to ever exist would — even by his own admission — rest atop several shoulders, Bambaataa (b. Kevin Donovan, 1960, Bronx, New York) proudly carries a lot of the weight.

To begin to understand Southern hip-hop, it’s useful to get an idea of some of the roots and intentions of hip-hop music on the whole, as it was conceived. Bambaataa’s got one of the most pure and inclusive takes on it of anyone, explaining how hip-hop music sprung from all music and that its influence is the world.

But it’s even a little bit more than that. Afrika Bambaataa’s specific musical outlook provides a strong backbone for the Dirty South to unleash its own special blend of infinite herbs and spices, a joyful insistence of funk, bass and celebration as a means of ultimately uniting, healing and educating the world. Of the forefathers of hip-hop, no one is closer to the explosive pulse of the South than Bambaataa and his myriad of influences. Even on a really basic level.

Take "Planet Rock," his 1982 hit with the Soul Sonic Force. Not only is its electro funk spirit alive today in music styles ranging from house and drum & bass to techno and hip-hop, its central instrument of creation — Roland’s TR-808 drum machine, known simply as the 808 — still beats at the heart of the Southern sound. It’s traceable through the booty shake of provocative Miami bass records to the more current and brilliantly rowdy crunk music that soundtracks an energetic youth culture in Atlanta, the South’s music axis.

That’s not to say that every Southern song has an 808 and no one diverges from a formula — or that Bambaataa single-handedly invented Dirty South music. Many songs don’t use an 808 (or a software emulator with the 808 sounds), but the ones that do benefit from a large palette of beats and bass tones. Without "Planet Rock," there might have been a whole different sound schematic for the Dirty South.

"Planet Rock" is like a gift that keeps on giving. Nearly 20 years after its creation, it was honored with a new song by Atlanta’s famed Dungeon Family, 2001’s "Trans DF Express." The title is a nod to 1977’s "Trans-Europe Express" by German electronic act Kraftwerk, a song whose beat was re-interpreted to assist in giving "Planet Rock" its robotic, space age feel. Part George Clinton sired P-funk, part B-boy hip-hop and part experimental techno, "Trans DF Express" finds Dungeon Family members OutKast, Big Gipp, Backbone and Cee-Lo rocking an intricate new song (produced by Organized Noize) which builds on the funk continuum while channeling its past — the essence of hip-hop.

Bambaataa’s influence is not only technical; it is also spiritual. "Planet Rock" was conceived to launch an era of partying with funky, soulful dance music that also had a lesson to share: An ideal of racial and multicultural tolerance reflecting the influence of funk and soul pioneers preceding it. Bambaataa himself began as a gang member, and eventually formed the peaceful Zulu Nation.) And that’s what the best Dirty South artists are doing now, bridging races and cultures by representing their own unique story to the world.