As a slow news weekend drew to a close, bored media outlets tried
manufacturing controversy out of a necklace Jay Z wore to a Brooklyn
Nets game on Tuesday.
According to the Daily Mail, the rapper-turned-business mogul “raised eyebrows when he wore a medallion symbolizing the Five Percent Nation,” a black religious sect that stems from the Nation of Islam.
The New York Post
added, “[All] eyes…weren’t on Jay Z’s better half, Beyoncé – but on the
coaster-size golden pendant swinging from the rapper’s neck. Asked once
if the group’s symbol … held any meaning to him, the rapper shrugged,
‘A little bit.’”
Sigh. The Mail and Post were unclear regarding
who, besides them, actually gave a shit about Jay Z’s necklace, but they
were sure to point out how “gaudy” and “controversial” they thought it
was. Much of their concern came from the suggestion that Mr. Carter – a
man whose corporate partnerships include Barney’s and Budweiser – "supports racism" against white people.
This is stupid, but worth understanding. The Five Percent Nation of
Gods and Earths was founded in 1964 by Clarence Ernest Smith, aka
Clarence 13X or “Allah the Father.” Allah was a former Malcolm X
follower who believed that 85% of the world’s people are blind to
knowledge of themselves and God, while 10% – including governments and
the media – are committed to keeping the rest ignorant.
The remaining 5% are Poor Righteous Teachers whose understanding of a
“Supreme Alphabet,” “Supreme Mathematics” and “120 Lessons” equip them
to educate and liberate the masses – hence the name “Five Percenters.”
But in the same way the Bible claims that eating shellfish and
wearing “mixed fabrics” are sin, the core tenets – or "tenants,” as the Mail writes – of the Five Percent Nation include that "whiteness is weak and wicked and inferior."
"Caucasians … don’t enjoy an exalted status in the narrative of the Five Percenters," reports the Post.
"White people are devils" is a phrase commonly associated with them.
Carmelo Anthony wearing a similar necklace/Image Credit: HipHollywood
Yet as with everything, context is key. Saying "white people are devils" is just another way of denouncing white supremacist ideology, according to Michael Muhammad Knight, the white Five Percent member who the Post asked to explain the situation:
"I don’t mean this as a statement on biology," he writes. "I’m using the term more in the sense of what it means to be marked as white in an unjust society.
When people want to sound like they’re theoretically sophisticated,
they describe this phenomenon with the term, ‘white privilege.’ I call
it Satan."
This is an important distinction: The Five Percent Nation is a
religious group, but it can also be understood as politics disguised as
theology. Coming from an era when black people were legally oppressed,
routinely terrorized and deemed biologically inferior by a white
supremacist society, it makes sense that religious beliefs established
then would also promote black political empowerment — even at the
expense of racist white America.
The Five Percent Nation is no different. And many of these messages
survive today, in an era when racial inequality remains prevalent but
not as blatantly enforced. The Five Percenters had an especially huge
impact on the inner city and hip-hop culture
in the 1980s and ‘90s, with artists ranging from Rakim, Nas and Busta
Rhymes to pretty much every member of the Wu-Tang Clan identifying with
its teachings.
As such, the slang and iconography associated with the Five Percent
has been absorbed into hip-hop style and vernacular. Its political
elements – whatever you think of them – are besides the point in most
cases.
The result is an artifact like Jay Z’s necklace.
His medallion wasn’t saying "fuck white people" any more than the
pope’s crucifix is saying "fuck shellfish and mixed fabrics." And in
case the trembling white masses need more reassurance that Hov isn’t out
to get them, here’s a statement from Saladin Allah, an actual Five Percent representative from upstate New York:
“Jay Z is not an active member — no one has vouched for him. It was
always understood that you don’t wear the regalia if you don’t totally
subscribe to the life.”
The media’s reporting of this incident reveals two things: Their
ignorance of how Five Percent symbols function in hip-hop, and a
fundamental misunderstanding of the business and politics of one of the
most famous men in the world.
One would hope that the next time there’s a slow news weekend, they’ll spend more of their free time doing research.
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