Tiger Woods made golf history at the US Masters by becoming the youngest champion and first black player to win a major tournament. He finished at 18 under par, the lowest ever total in the Masters and the biggest winning margin.
Kofi Annan became the UN’s 7th Secretary-General. The Ghanaian was a former head of UN peacekeeping. He would go on to be elected for a second term and win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.
East Zaire's rebel army led by Laurent Kabila advanced, over-running government military bases and forcing some 40,000 Rwandan Hutu refugees into the nearby jungle. They would capture several key cities in Zaire.
Lennox Lewis regained the WBC heavyweight boxing title. In a bout at the Las Vegas Hilton, he won after his opponent, Oliver McCall, suffered some form of emotional breakdown in the third round. McCall was a self-confessed drug addict.
President Clinton formally apologised for Tuskegee: a 1930s government experiment in which a number of black Americans who had syphilis were prevented from receiving treatment. The experiment lasted for 40 years, long after antibiotics were discovered. Some of the men died, went blind or mad and many of their relatives were infected.
Laurent Kabila sworn in as first President of Congo. The day after he had given himself virtually unlimited powers to set laws and shape Congo's government. Kabila was assassinated by members of his personal bodyguard in 2001.
While fighting Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson was disqualified in the third round after biting off a large chunk of the reigning champion's right ear. The crowd reacted in an ugly manner and a riot was narrowly averted by the Las Vegas police.
Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti died. Nicknamed the Black President, he was the biggest star of African music in the 1970-80s. He was also one of the most outspoken critics of Nigeria's military regimes, all of which subjected him to persecution.
Jimi Hendrix became the first rock star to be commemorated by an English Heritage blue plaque on a property, placed in honour of the time the guitarist spent in London.
A special hit squad of education experts was sent into Hackney to help run its schools. It was the first time the Government had ordered such a takeover of an entire education authority.
Hundreds of thousands of black women gathered in Philadelphia for a solidarity rally aimed at building political, economic and social unity within black communities in the USA. It was the largest gathering of black women in American history and inspired by Louis Farrakhan’s Million Men march in 1995.
Robert Mugabe begins seizure of farms stolen by successive British and Rhodesian administrations. During December the country's currency lost nearly 50% of its value. Under international pressure Mugabe is forced to suspend the campaign, a humiliating defeat.
Notorious B.I.G. was shot dead leaving a Vibe magazine party in Los Angeles. According to reports up to ten shots were fired. He was dead on arrival at hospital. Hip hop mourned the loss of one of its greatest talents. Just like Tupac’s death, no one has ever been convicted for Biggie’s murder.
Following Notorious B.I.G’s death his second album, spookily entitled Life After Death, was released on Puffy’s Bad Boy label. It was a big hit but Puffy’s tribute to his late friend I’ll Be Missing You proved an even bigger global smash. Sampling The Police, it made a star out of Puffy who’d been instrumental in so many of 1990s hip hop successes. Arguably it was Puffy who pushed hip hop from the streets to the biggest selling music form though critics say he watered the sound down. He seemed to live the hip hop dream, making millions from his business moves.
Roni Size’s Reprazent project won the prestigious Mercury Music Prize for their debut album New Forms. Fusing jazz, hip hop, and soul vocals into a live band format, the award took drum & bass into the mainstream.
Missy Misdemeanour Elliott released her debut album Supa Dupa Fly. After her work with Aaliyah, she’d already broken barriers as a female producer, now she did it as a solo artist; writing her own songs and creating her own style that rebuked female stereotyping. Her innovative work and collaborations with Timbaland were to redefine RnB and hip hop.
With the release of Tina Moore’s Never Gonna Let You Go, 2-step garage got national exposure. Using RnB influences instead of a 4/4 beat, the release was the point where UK garage moved beyond its US house roots. The 2-step pattern was the first in a series of musical evolutions that will spawn the grime, dubstep and breakbeat garage styles over the coming years.
