News

ITHACA, NY (WENY)---A hip-hop pioneer is trading in his microphone for some chalk and textbooks at Cornell University.

D.J. Afrika Bambaataa has been appointed to a three year term as a visiting scholar at the Ivy League school. The appointment was made by Cornell University Library's Hip Hop Collection in conjunction with the Ivy League school's music department.

Cornell officials say the university's library contains the largest national archive on hip-hop culture.

Bambaataa will visit the campus several days each year to talk to classes and perform. Bambaataa pioneered break-beat deejaying and is known as the "grandfather" of hip-hop.