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What Does it mean
to be a Five Percenter?
Written By: Infinite on 2/10/01
How does it relate to hip-hop?
Any authentic hip-hop head has noticed artists such
as Nas, Rza, AZ, Busta Rhymes, etc. using the word "God"
in their rhymes, or when in conversation. Calling
another man "God" is more then a device to subtly biuld
confidence between one in nother.
(The word, "man"
was a phrase started amongst African American's to combat
the negetive term "boy" that was often used to degrade
black people.)
"I've been in jail
with brothers having conversations calling themselves
"God". Bespeaks the late 2pac Shakur after his
95 incarceration, "If you God, then open the gate for
me. You know how far the sun is and how far the
moon is, (but) how the hell do I pop this fuckin gate?
And get me free and up outta here. Then I'll be
a 5 percenter for life."
2pac's critique
of 5%'s makes one wonder if he is fully aware of exactly
what it means to be 5%, and a member of the 5% Nation.
The 5% Nation was created among black inmates in the
New York prisons.
As New York resident
and hip-hop exec. Russel Simmons puts it, "If the Nation
of Islam is a religion that finds it's converts in prison,
5 percenters find their converts under the prison.
That's how street it is."
The science behind
the 5% religion is this. The word religion can
be broke down to mean (re= back, ligre= back = Bind
Back. So if religion means binding back.
Then what is it we are binding back to? According
to 5%'s relgion means to bind back to your origional
self and origional name. Thus giving you knowledge
of self. They believe that the Asiatic, Asiatic
meaning black man, was the origional man. For
you can't get black out of white. Only white from
black. Therefore black men were the Earths first
people. So therefore, under this logic, black
man is god.
(It has also been
said that 90% of people have knowledge. 5 percent
keep it to themselves. And only 5% distribute
that knowledge amongst the people this is the shortened
version, it goes deeper then this, if you'd like to
here the extended version e-mail me)
If black man is
god, 'the origional man' then the question is often
asked, can white people be 5 percenters? True
5%'s will tell you that he can, only if and when he
first loses his white mind. This most likely means
he must first recognize that the black man, was the
Earths first people.
5%'s refer to their
women as Earths. Peep the Science: The God,
(Man), plants seeds in the Earth. (fertilizes the ovaries)
God also teaches the youth, rather waters his seeds,
(children) with the water which is wisdom. So
they can grow with knowledge of self. Therefore
it is every 5%'s duty to teach his people, and teach
the children knowledge of self.
Says New York native
and hip-hop super-exec Russel Simmons, "It (5% Nation)
began as an offshoot of the Nation of Islam. It
was based around the idea that black man was god, and
that only 5% of us had true knowledge of self.
It's been very influential over the years in the young
black community because it is very much a religion about
talking.
Russel continues:
Slick, smooth talking,
crafty niggas gravitated to it because the 5% religions
membership was biult on the ability of it's members
to articulate their devotion to a stict set of beliefs
with as much flair as possible. A true Five Percenter
could sit on a stoop or stand on a street corner and
explain the tenets of the sect for hours on end- and
be totally entertaining! The Five Percent religion
elevates black men, telling them they're all gods here
on earth but that only 5 percent are true believers.
A Five Percenter will say some fly shit like "I've got
seven moons, three suns and two earths." It sounds
mystical, but he's really talking about all his women,
with his two earths being his closest girls. Not
only was their rap hot, but phrases like "knowledge
me" "true mathematics" "360 degree's of knowledge" and
"droppin science" are just some of the linguistic contributions
the Five Percent religion made to hip-hop. Street
names like True God, U-God, Wise Allah, and Divine Intelligence
emerged because o
f how Five Percenters labeled themselves.
Russel continued:
Listen to rappers
from Brooklyn or the Queensbridge projects, like Nas,
and you hear Five Percent- speak all in their rhymes,
Rakim's poetry is immersed in it. A lot of the
poetic images in hip-hop are informed by them, from
"Eric B. Is President" (in his references to seven mc's,
which relates to Five Percenter beliefs) up to Erykah
Badu's "On and On." The Nation of Islam is more
visible and respectable in terms of its presentation,
and is clearly more powerful then the Five Percenters
as an organization. However, during the period
when the gangs I hung with in the 70's gave way to the
80's hip-hop culture, it was the street language, style
and consciousness of the Five Percent Nation that served
as a bridge."
(Above excerts from Russel Simmons autobiography, "Life
and Def.")
From now on when you hear the Wu-Tang's Rza, rapping
some off the wall shit like 'arm leg head/ 'Zig, zag
zig/ we don't fuck with no pig/we teach the kids/ would
you rather have a bullet, or word to wig'/........
Or hear a track such as "Nature of the Threat" from
Ras Kass, which traces the origin of words, and offers
a rare but factual description of world history.
Both these examples can be traced to 5% knowledge.
The knowledge is deep, and there are many levels to
it. I hope to have merely shed light on the subject
for those who previously were ignorant to it.
Peace, Love, Sallam, and all that good shit. - Infinite
Infinite Publishing......comments,
whether positive or negative, e-mail me at infinite9559@aol.com....
thank you.
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