The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip-Hop and the Gods of New York

The author takes us into the lives and times of those who lived amongst the 5%ers founder in the ghetto of New York City amidst a hotbed of political turmoil and the changing of both the tide and the guard. From the likes of Sweet Daddy Grace Divine to Marcus Garvey to Harlem street youth who would not conform to the dietary regime and dress code of the NOI but were attracted to its self empowering, esoteric lessons in catechismal format...the author introduces you them all and shows you the world through their eyes. He brings it up to current times at Parliamentary sessions, and he details happenings and conversations he encounters as Moors, thugs, intellectuals and others engage him...a White, Orthodox Muslim...walking the streets of Harlem and absorbing the story and history of the NGE.

Being familiar with the intricate origins of the 5% Nation as well as many of its more obscure moments in history, I am quite taken back by this work. It is to date the only...Read more

A remarkable achievement combining voluminous detailed research and a skilled writing style. a very honest recounting of the extremely complex history of the five percenters--from its founding by clarence smith in new york city in the l960s who believed he was Allah and the survival and growth of his group of followers nationally following his violent death nearly 40 years ago. as an author myself ("the mayor's man" is one of my eight books)and one who knew Allah personally and was in new york city government when the five percenters were founded, i highly recommend this book.

New York City has been the birthplace of many important indigenous American cultural movements--from various artistic trends, to social movements, to a wide variety of religious sects from many different traditions. One such group that combines all of these elements is The Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE) and is also the topic of study in the book, The Five Percenters--Islam, Hip-hop, and the Gods of New York by Michael Muhammad Knight.

The Nation of Gods and Earths (also often known as the 5% Nation, a title stemming from a Nation of Islam (NOI) teaching that there are three groups of humans--85% who are ignorant, 10% who are in control but are liars and hypocrites, and a last 5% who are the "poor righteous teachers", and know the truth) is a movement whose primary focus is on self-determination--debatably for only those of non-Caucasian descent--stemming from the knowledge that each black man is their own God. Through the study of "Supreme Wisdom Lessons"...Read more