Rap and the Five Percent Nation of Islam

‘I was homeless, Fightin’, shootin’ dice, smokin’ weed on the corners, tryna find the meaning of life in a corona. Till the 5 percenters rolled up on a ni**a and informed him: “You either build or destroy. Where you come from?” - Jay Electronica

What’s up guys? The time has come where we start to explore movements within the art of Rap music. There was a time in Hip-Hop where the music was influenced with what was happening on the streets. And on the streets there was a collective movement based upon the spiritual, pro-black teachings of The Five-Percent Nation also known as the Nation of Gods and Earths or the Five Percenters. As the Rap mogul and entrepreneur Russell Simmons described in his autobiography, ‘during the period when the gangs I hung with in the ‘70s gave way to ‘80s Hip Hop culture, it was the street language, style, and consciousness of the Five Percent Nation that served as a bridge.’

So what is this consciousness of the Five Percent Nation that Simmons is talking about? In short the 5% Nation of Islam’s base beliefs are that each black man is God, Allah – whilst the white man is the inferior. The name 5% comes from the idea that only 5% of the world knows the truth and it is their purpose to enlighten the rest of humanity.  Perhaps the most famous follower of this belief was the late Malcolm X.

You could say that this was just a mere sociological subculture that the young oppressed black youth of America turned to, to finally have a voice in a medium that they were restricted of. As you used to peep in 90% of rap songs in the late 80s and first half of the 90s most rappers used to call each God like you heard in that Memory Lane song by Nas, ‘with side-bets, I roll a deuce, nothing below (Peace God!) – Peace God’.

And there is where I take you back to the start of this blog where the rapper Jay Electronica reflects on what his fellow hood dweller said to him, ‘you either build or destroy.’ This question, not only troubled Jay Electronica, but also troubled the youth during the 80s and 90s as the moralistic values of the Black Five Percenter conflicted with the stresses of life that the young black man was facing on the streets. This is what the rapper AZ reflected on in Nas’ Life’s a Bitch song, ‘we were beginners in the hood as 5 Percenters but something must’ve got in us cause all of us turned to sinners.’ It seemed that this newfound spirituality didn’t really last for those who fell back into the old habits of life.

Funnily enough around the years of 94, 95 and 96 this faith in the 5 Percenters fell off. But that doesn’t mean it’s totally dead, you still have the likes of Eminem and Kanye West who consider themselves a Rap God and a God respectively – but whether that has anything to do with the 5 Percenters is up to you (feel free to comment if you disagree). However, more recently the rapper Jay-Z landed himself in a little bit of controversy in wearing a 5 Perfect chain to a basketball game. So…not only did it have an effect on the lyrical side of rap but also on the fashion side. Quite profound hey!

Coming to an end of this post, what we have checked out is the influence that the 5 percent Nation had on Rap music, from around 1988 to 1996 the influence is seen, whether that was in the raps of Rakim, who Rap folks call the God Allah, or the raps of Wu-Tang Clan straight up to today in the raps of Jay Electronica. Who knows, maybe this whole movement of the 5% Nation of Islam for the young black youth was just a response to their socio-political status as they founded themselves ostracized in all walks of life. The only place that they weren’t ostracized was in the music that is Rap.

Well, hope you guys enjoyed this little exploration, anything you think about it feel free to drop it in the comments.