Many forms of music, such as gospel hymns and Gregorian chants, have been intimately linked to religion, and rap is becoming a religious art as well, including such large names as the Wu-Tang Clan.
The Nation of Gods and Earths, calling themselves so because “Gods” refer to black men and “Earths” refer to black women, is a religious movement that spreads its message through rap music. The movement formerly known as the Five Percent Nation is a religious and cultural movement that began in 1954, forming behind the teachings of Malcolm X.
The movement follows nine points that can be found on the official Web site, www.allahsnation.net. The points include that black people are the original people of the planet Earth, Islam is not a religion but a natural way of life and the black man is god, and his name is Allah.
Followers claim to achieve three things: national consciousness of the fact that black people were the original people and of African-American history and culture; community control over “the educational, economic, political, media and health institutions on our community” and peace in everything from their own beings to the world.
Allah B, a member stationed in what the movement calls “Mecca,” which is in Central Harlem, N.Y. said the goal of the movement is “freedom from inequality but not to be anti-white.”
The movement began in the Five Boroughs of New York City with the intention of educating every black community they could reach, Allah B said.
The movement has grown across the nation.
A representative from the school in New York said there are members in Baton Rouge, and there was a center for the Nation of Gods and Earths in New Orleans. The hurricane destroyed the center, but these members moved to Mississippi with hopes of building a new one.
“We had been told by Allah the Father to give education,” Allah B said. “Without education, we are considered dead.”
The group formed its first street academy in “Mecca” in 1967, which served as a stationary base for the movement.
“We reclaimed our own name, our own way of thinking, our own heritage,” Allah B said.
Once the street academy was built, Allah B said, the movement moved more easily toward its goals, such as not relying on the U.S. government for anything. To do that, educating the black community was a key factor, and to educate them, the founders needed to be educated themselves.
“[The] main thing is we was to go and get the education and come back to our community and build for ourselves so we could become somewhat self-sufficient and independent,” Allah B said. “The more skills and trades we had, the more self-reliant we could become.”
Thomas Durant Jr., University sociology professor, said he was unaware of the Nation of Gods and Earths, but he understood the path the movement took.
“After 1970 the civil rights movement took a new turn that focused on economic development, political development, social development and education,” Durant said.
Durant said the step to education was the natural path of civil rights movements, and it is the step that kept them alive. If they did not educate themselves, the movement would probably have died out, Durant said.
The members attended colleges across the United States and abroad, Allah B said. Then they were ready to educate others about their cause.
Through the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths’ educators, the movement sustained itself, and eventually rap became an important part of it.
“We didn’t hover on the crutches of being crippled-minded to not become a part of mainstream society,” Allah B said. “We gained great value in our community because now the so-called American Negro slave who was thought deaf and blind now had education.”
With this education came a driving force to continue to exist, not just through education but through rap, just as Christianity existed through stories that were eventually written in the Bible, Allah B said. The rap was spoken word, relating fundamental truths of what the movement was about in few words. Beats were eventually put to it, making it music.
“We maintained the social consciousness when most of the groups from the sixties became dysfunctional,” Allah B said. “We maintained the culture of rap and eventually music was added.”
Allah B said rapping became an integral part of the movement.
“We maintained the fire and social dynamics – in rap,” Allah B said. “We had a lot of socially conscious ideas, and those were caught in a few words.”
Allah B said the rap was simply street rap, but it has permeated mainstream rap with the Wu-Tang Clan being a part of the Nation of Gods and Earths.
“Wu-Tang Clan went all over the world and taught people, not just blacks but Caucasians, Asians,” Allah B said. “They picked up on the knowledge we had expounded upon them. This was influenced, and our words were infused into the rap music.”
Allah B said he does not like the turn that today’s rap music has taken.
“Today, rap music went to something else,” Allah B said. “When rap first evolved, it came up out of the streets, and it was about the streets, and I’m not talking about the gangsterism, shooting, or bling bling – that’s corporate.”
According to www.allahsnation.net, the movement is not a pro-black movement.
Durant said only social movements with continuously changing goals can survive.
“Social movements come and go and rise and fall,” Durant said. “Once the right to ride in the front of the bus was gained, well, what about the right to drive the bus?”
 
Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]