Female members were referred to as Earths or Queens, placing some emphasis on a woman’s ability to give birth and raise the “seeds,” or children. By empowering Black male youth in referring to them as God, Father Allah sought to inject a sense of pride into members of the Five Percent Nation. The Father felt that the rigid nature of the NOI would turn away urban youth, and he was more comfortable amongst the people than in the temple. Then known as Clarence 13X, the Virginia native saw a need for the Supreme Wisdom to be taught to the youth in the street. The Five Percent’s rise to prominence happened by way of the defiant nature of The Father, a one-time lieutenant in the NOI. The Father, or Allah as he was also known, was the founder of the Five Percent Nation and his approach to Islam was not much different than the NOI’s but far more inclusive. Five percent of that population are the “poor, righteous teachers” who will liberate the minds of the 85%. Like Beuys, Cattelan uses his own image to bear meaning in his work, and his perpetual claim I am not really an artist, is simply an inversion of Beuyss. The Five Percent angle is built on the premise within the lessons that 85% of the population lack “knowledge of self” while 10 percent of the population have this knowledge and hide it from the larger group. The degrees also present a complex set of machinations that led to Black people suffering under the rule of White slave owners by way of oppression and fear. The lessons teach that Black people are the original people of the planet Earth and responsible for every facet of civilization. Using “degrees” or lessons fashioned after the NOI’s Supreme Wisdom, the “120” degrees are a slightly varied version of scientific facts, conversations between NOI leaders Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Wallace Fard Muhammad, and a vast history lesson as well. Ĭonsidered an offshoot group of the Nation Of Islam (NOI), the Nation of Gods and Earths fashions itself as a separate group forging its own identity. Worth noting: the late MF DOOM, often confused with being a member of the Five Percent, was previously part of the Ansaar Allah community but too embraced some of the terminologies. Other acts such as Digable Planets, Big Daddy Kane, Gang Starr, and X-Clan also followed suit by consciously putting some of the culture’s ideas forth via their recordings. Nas, AZ, and rap duo CNN also dropped occasional hints of NGE culture in their songs. “The Five Percent is built on the premise that 85% of the population lack ‘knowledge of self’ while 10% percent have this said knowledge & hide it from the larger group.”
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