Five-Percent Nation
Multiple stories exist as to why Clarence and the NOI parted ways: Some state he refused to give up gambling.
Its position is that it makes no sense to be religious or to worship or deify anyone or anything outside of oneself because adherents, themselves, are the highest power in the known universe, both collectively and individually.
[21] The FBI opened a file on the Five Percenters in 1965, the height of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements in the United States.
"[23] Gottehrer and Allah began organizing picnics and airplane rides for the Five Percenters that were funded by New York City through the Urban Task Force.
Besides their academic and social activities, the Five Percenters told me that they pursue a spiritual ideal of "helping others discover a true knowledge of themselves."
[37] In March 2019, the intersection of 126th Street & Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd in New York was officially co-named "Allah, Justice & The Five Percenters Square.
"[37][38] After the founding of the Allah School, the Gods and Earths became more influential – upon the April 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., it quelled a potential rebellion inside Harlem.
According to the direct orders of Allah before his death, some of his earliest disciples, a group of nine men who were called the First Nine Born carried on the teachings, and his friend Justice assumed an acting leadership role.
The "gang" label has caused individuals with even remote NGE affiliation to be designated as security threats in jails and prisons in Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and South Carolina.
[46] NGE literature has been banned from penal institutions in these and other states, and inmates have been denied privileges enjoyed by those of other persuasions.
Such rules were relaxed in 2004 in New York to allow registered "sincere adherent(s)" to study teachings personally, but not share with unregistered inmates during their incarceration.
[47] The group's newspaper The Five Percenter, condemns the states who impose restrictions on their practice as those who "attempt to define us in ways that seek to criminalize us.
Judge Steven Whalen found no evidence that the group advocated violence and recommended that it be recognized as a legitimate belief system.
[12][53][54] The anthology Knowledge of Self: A Collection of Wisdom on the Science of Everything in Life by Supreme Understanding details the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths.
[12][54] The Supreme Mathematics is thought to be the highest system of numerology in the NGE, used to give qualitative value to numbers in addition to quantity.
The Five-Percent Nation holds events known as Universal Parliaments in various cities—usually once a month—to build on their interpretation of the Supreme Mathematics, lessons, and to discuss business concerning the NGE.
Because the NGE defines itself as a way of life and not a religion,[66] the Nation generally does not observe religious holidays, including those associated with Christianity or Islam.
[67] Many Five Percenters honor Allah the Father's birthday on February 22, and/or the official founding of the Nation on October 10, with special events and parliaments.
[69] Similar to adherents of denominations of traditional Islam, Five Percenters abstain from eating pork or any pork-based by-products.
As in the Nation of Islam, Five Percenters believe that the original inhabitants of the world were Black, which they refer to as the "Asiatic Blackman" and believe had inhabited the earth for "66 trillion years", who ultimately descended from the Tribe of Shabazz, while the white race are evil "devils" who were created 6,000 years ago on what is today the Greek island of Patmos, by a “rogue bigheaded scientist” named Yakub, the Biblical and Qur'anic Jacob, who was of the Meccan branch of the tribe.
[74][75][76] According to Prince Allah Cuba, since the death of Allah the Father, some Gods have grown preoccupied with male supremacy, and this preoccupation has resulted in the minimization of all things female: from the crescent moon on the nation's flag being made smaller and eventually placed under the number seven, to the lack of parity in the God-Earth dyad.
"[80] Ladybug Mecca, a Five Percenter and the female member of the hip hop group Digable Planets, offers her view of gender and divinity: We need to know that there is a feminine and masculine principal or consciousness that is considered the God or the Creator.
[84] In its article on Five Percenter Jay Electronica, Vice Magazine stated in regard to the Five Percent Nation: "It's a movement that's been affiliated with hip-hop from the very beginning, coining terms like 'ciphers' and 'dropping science' and influencing everyone, World's Famous Supreme Team, Big Daddy Kane, Busta Rhymes, J. Cole, Jay-Z, Method Man, Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, Brand Nubian, Nas, Common, Poor Righteous Teachers, Erykah Badu, and AZ.
The main theme of the NGE doctrine spoken on hip hop records were the teachings that black people were the original or first human life to walk the planet, that the Blackman is God, the Blackwoman is Earth, and through the inner esoteric powers of the Gods and Earths, the youth can transform and possess its true potential, which aspires to overthrow the overbearing oligarchy by becoming just rulers of themselves.
Early hip-hop acts affiliated with the Five Percenters, and who spread its teachings through hip hop, include two MCs of the late 1980s–early '90s conscious-rap era—Rakim of Eric B.
[87][88][89][90] After Rakim and Kane's heyday, rose acts that were even more explicit with allegiance to the NGE, most notably Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers, Wu-Tang Clan, Killarmy, Sunz of Man, Gravediggaz and Busta Rhymes.
[94] Five Percenters were the innovators behind early hip-hop slang, including "word is bond," "break it down," "peace," "droppin' science," and "represent.
For example, in the song "Wildflower," Ghostface Killah rhymes, "I'm God Cipher Divine," spelling G-O-D in the Supreme Alphabet.
[98] He regularly wears an eight-pointed star pendant, with a number seven and a crescent, which can be seen on the cover of his album The World According to RZA.
Scene pioneer DJ Kool Herc recalled that while there was a heavy gang presence in attendance, the Five Percenters were there as a de facto peace-keeping element.
