Crime Time Kings Z stands for Zulu

For years I've explained Hip Hop heads, mostly writers, where the Z-sign from the legendary writers crew Crime Time Kings is coming from. I was kind of tired of explaining and wish it was written down somewhere by CTK members or Zulus down the line. But as with much other information of the pioneering years of Hip Hop culture it wasn't. With the release of the book All City Writers in 2009, it was finally there in little black letters on white paper, stated by Cat22 who's member of both CTK and Zulu Nation Holland :

Cat22:

"Crime Time Kings was the first international crew ever. Originally there were two presidents: Bando and one of his best friends, Steph. In 1982 Steph attended the New York Rap Tour, the concert with Afrika Bambaataa and other New York B-Boys that first arrived in London and then in Paris. Steph went backstage and as Bambaataa at the time was trying to expand the Zulu Nation to Europe, he wanted the Zulu Nation symbol to be everywhere. It was a "Z", the interrupted Crime Time Z; basically the Zulu Nation sign revisited".

I told Cat22 I would put the info online and he wanted me to ad the following:

"It was until the mid 90's that I, myself, found out were the 'Z' really stood for. Bando was always very blurry about it. He said that he at his school was non-stop bored and was drawing this sign out of boredom. Mid 90's I did train with Storm(Battle Squad) of and on in Amsterdam. I knew he used to go out to bomb with Swift and I asked him to draw something in my blackbook and he did. It was a Storm throw-up with the 'Z' sign. I freaked out and we had a big argument about it. He actually told me the whole story and that nowadays Zulus all over the world do use it in their bombing. So after all these years we, from the CTK, don't have to push up our own name. Now we all do!!! Love, peace, unity and having fun. Brothers and sisters".

Peace,
Cat 22 aka Pone
CTK, GVB, MSN, INC, WTO, RSWC

For much more information on Crime Time Kings check the book All City Writers.
Website: www.allcitywriters.com
English version ( internat ion diffusion ) ISBN 9782859800130

The book also contains first hand information about the New York City Rap (1982) tour with Afrika Bambaataa, Phase2,Futura 2000, DST, Rock Steady Crew and many others. Journalist metamorphosed into tour promoter and record producer Bernard Zekri describes how the tour came together, ending with :" Is Europe ready for Hip Hop?" Bambaataa asked me, worried. ..... Bambaataa the emblematic figure of a cool cat, already had two hits, Planet Rock and Looking For The Perfect Beat, "the ultimate Rapsong"as the Village Voice had written. Thanks to Bambaataa's name, our tour would even stop in London and Los Angeles. When Bambaataa left the funk room he had a smile of an old lion as he roared "Peace". The New York Rap Tour could begin...".

By Timski 2010