The Five Percent Nation medallion worn by hip hop moguls such as Jay Z and Jay Electronica tends to raise a bit of controversy. We unravel the history behind this piece and what it exactly means to be a part of this Five Percent Nation.
Last week, at the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival, Jay Electronica gave fans a set to remember as he brought out labelmate Jay Z, Mac Miller, J. Cole, and Talib Kweli. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jay is an elusive rapper and producer who joined Jay Z’s Roc Nation roster label in 2010. While it was impressive that Hov made a guest appearance during Jay Elect's set, something else stood out a even more. It was the thing hanging around Jay Electronica’s neck: the Five Percent Nation medallion.
Today we're giving all the HNHH users a history lesson, on what exactly the Five Percent Nation is.
The Five Percent nation (sometimes called the Nation of Gods and Earths) is an organization created by Clarence Smith in Harlem, New York in 1964. Clarence, a former member of the Nation of Islam, was originally a student of Malcom X, who was an African American minister and human rights activist. The Nation of Islam is a religious movement whose goals were to improve the economic, mental, and social condition of African Americans in the US. Clarence left the movement after an unresolved dispute with the Nation’s leaders over the definition of God.
<>Those who followed the Nation of Islam believed that their founder, Wallace Fard Muhammad, was God. Smith disagreed. He believed that God was “purely black,” while Muhammad was bi-racial. On top of that, Smith believed God was not a supernatural being, but rather something found in all black males. He believed women were subordinate to men, and therefore did not possess God.
Members of the Five Percent Nation subscribed to the idea that all white people are “weak, wicked, and inferior,” as stated by Michael Muhammad Knight, who has written two books on the Five Percenters. As he put it, whites were described as an “errant child who needs to be corrected.” While Smith claimed that black women did not contain God in them and were seen as subordinate, he still believed they held a higher standing than white people.
The name Five-Percenters comes from the notion that only a mere five percent of all of humanity know the real truth about existence. They describe themselves as “poor righteous teachers” whose goal is to tell everyone in the world the truth. They believed another ten percent of the people in this world also know this truth of existence, in which those elites propagate a theory of a “mystery God” to the remaining eighty-five percent, of whom they consider ignorant and under their control. Being the remaining five percent and the nation’s only hope, they were determined to enlighten the rest of the world.
In the beginning, the Nation of Gods and Earths were seen as a little more than a branch of the Nation of Islam. Representatives taught that Islam is a natural way of living. Moreover, they taught that Asiatic black people (the non-whites) were the original human beings on earth, deeming them the fathers and mothers of civilization. They believed the Asiatic black man is God, and goes by the name Allah, which is “God” in Arabic.
Members of this group must learn the Supreme Mathematics and Supreme Alphabet. These are powerful tools that are used to interpret the meaning the universe. Each letter and number will yield a concept. For example, 1 is knowledge, 2 is wisdom, A is Allah. The number 7 that appears on Jay’s medallion represents God.
Clarence Smith passed away in 1969 after being murdered in his housing project in Harlem. He certainly left his mark, as the Five-Percenters are active to this day. They also picked up many followers in the rap world- Busta Rhymes, the Wu-Tang Clan, and Lord Jabar of Brand Nubian to name a few.
On February 5, 2010, amongst a blizzard storm, hundreds of people converged for “The Legends of Hip Hop: Return of the God MC’s” show in Trenton, New Jersey. The headliners were Rakim, Bran Nubian, Cappadonna and Masta Killa of the Wu-Tang Clan, and Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers.
As the rappers took the stage and showcased their talent through the mic, the show eventually began to turn another direction. The emcees started to touch on a more spiritual level. It became much more than the music, and even more than a message. It became a manifestation for what we now know as hip hop culture.
With Five Percenter vibes riding with them along the way, these lyricists incorporated the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earth into their songwriting. Some of the best to have ever been on the microphone have either been students of, or have been influenced by, the teachings of the Five Percenters.
This includes a wide range of artists- Jay Z, Nas, Rakim, Busta Rhymes, Wu-Tang Clan, Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers, Gangstarr, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Big Pun, and even Erykah Baduh.
“Radios on card tables, Benetton. The Gods building. Ask for today’s Mathematics, we Allah’s children. And this was going on in every New York ghetto. Kids listen, Five Percenters said it’s pork in Jello-O,” Nas raps in “No Idea’s Original.”
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