As we hum the tune of great hip-hop and R&B songs like Erykah Badu’s “On & On,” we might miss the masterful hidden messages of the lyrics. She says, “If we were made in his image then call us by our names/ most intellects do not believe in God but they fear us just the same… I was born underwater with three dollars and six dimes. Yeah, you might laugh ’cause you did not do your math.”
This may look like a whole bunch of words put together all for the sake of celebrity fame, financial gain, or hypnotizing drone-like eardrum vibrations.
Well there is a method to all the madness. Badu’s lyrics reflect a movement birthed out of the East Coast in the midst of a rise in Black consciousness and the supreme religious revolution of the Nation of Islam.
The Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE), also known as the 5 percent nation, has become the face of religious affairs and Black consciousness for many Black rappers and singers. It is a system of philosophy, education, spiritual revitalization, and self-realization for the Black man and woman.
The movement spawned from an awakening a former member of the Nation of Islam experienced.
According to “The Greatest Story Never Told,” a comprehensive essay of the history of NGE
“He knew from his lessons while in the temple that the original man (Black man) was the Supreme Being, God. Supreme means the most high, being means to exist. God, therefore is the name given to the highest form of existence: the Black man.”
And the Black woman is mother earth.
From this ideal blossomed a new way of life, in which the essence of Black humanity is exalted. Five percenters, as they are commonly called, believe the Black man exists in all things. They believe in a breakdown of consciousness among all people – 85 percent of the world’s population is mentally blind of self and truth, 10 percent is consciously working to keep the 85 subjected to ignorance, and five percent are considered righteous people who will lead the mentally enslaved from destruction.
Allah (Clarence 13X) developed new systems of Supreme Mathematics and Supreme Alphabet. His mathematics represent 10 principles, i.e. – three represents understanding, six represents equality. The alphabet also represents 26 principles, i.e. – J represents justice, L represents love, hell, or right, O represents cipher. Other systems include: the Student Enrollment, the Lost Found Muslim lesson No. 1 and 2, English Lesson No. C-1, the Actual Facts, and the Solar Facts.
NGE does not teach from a holy book, per say, but their lessons stem from the Supreme Wisdom Lessons, originated by the Honorable Master Fard Muhammad and taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
NGE does not teach the religion of Islam, but the philosophical or scientific principles of Islam.
Allah (Clarence 13X) spread the message of Islam and NGE to the poor Black youth of New York. According to records, he began teaching Islam to the community, but it was not well received. So he then turned to the young people, teaching them his philosophies as a way to “unlock the minds of Black youth.”
According to NGE’s website, they teach that Black people are the original people of earth and originators of civilization. They also teach a Black empowerment philosophy through spiritual revelation, universe connection, and understanding of self as a Black person and originator of humanity.
Five percenters do not call the philosophy/Islam a religion, but a way of life. Their goal is to achieve national consciousness, community control, and peace.
Their flag (Universal Flag of Islam) contains several icons: the number 7 which symbolized God and perfection, a sun, a crescent moon, and star, identical to that of the Islamic flag symbols. The sun, moon, and star represent the Black father, mother, and child, the original family. The sun is comprised of eight short and long points, each representing a principle in Supreme Mathematics and the eight teachings of NGE.
If you begin to pay close attention to the lyrics of certain music artists like Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, members of the Wu Tang Clan, Method Man, and countless others, you may be bobbing your head to some elevated Black man doctrine.
More information is available at allahsnation.net and at blackapologetics.com
