| Contents |
Introduction: God hop -- History and theology of the five percent nation. Building a nation -- The Five Percenter "way of life" -- God hop's tools. Lyrics -- Flow, layering, rupture, and groove -- Sampling, borrowing, and meaning -- Album packaging and organization -- Conclusion: reaching the blind, deaf, and dumb -- Appendix: Five Percenter rap musicians -- Glossary. |
| Abstract |
The Five Percent Nation is a controversial organization and a substantial cultural force. An offshoot of the Nation of Islam, the group grounds its beliefs in Black Muslim traditions, black nationalism, Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) symbolism, Masonic mysticism, and Gnostic spirituality. Members are often recruited in prison, and non-African Americans are allowed to join as secondary members only after an initiation period of thirty-five years. The Five Percenters employ commercial rap, or "God Hop," to proselytize their beliefs, comment on relevant issues, and recruit new members. Five Percenter Rap pieces together musical, historical, and cultural perspectives on the movement, fitting them tightly into their social and political context to produce the first clear and revealing vision of the group. The author outlines the theology of the group, the use of lyrics to support and publicize these beliefs, marketing approaches, and the use of specific musical techniques such as sampling, groove, and layering, to communicate the group's teachings. She insightfully demonstrates that these techniques are in service to the greater goal of Five Percenter rappers, who see themselves primarily as teachers and as bringers of a specific type of redemption and self-knowledge to benighted souls. |
