When he learned that a rap and hip-hop station was finally coming to Atlanta radio, Chaka Zulu was thrilled. It was 1995, and rap and hip-hop were all the rage at skating rinks and teen clubs. But V-103, “the people’s station,” was all but ignoring a growing audience. Hot 97.5 would play all rap and hip-hop, day and night.
Zulu, who was working at the community station WRFG 89.3, convinced Hot to give him a graveyard hosting slot on the weekends. “I was doing whatever could give me an opportunity,” Zulu says, laughing. “I guess it was an internship, because I didn’t get paid.”
Hot 97.5—now called Hot 107.9—celebrated its legendary First Birthday Bash 30 years ago, with The Notorious B.I.G. and Outkast in attendance. It changed the music scene in Atlanta and helped put the city on the map as a hip-hop proving ground—and in its early days, it was powered largely by young people…