Nation of Islam Hip-Hop Again?

Zaheer Ali wonders whether a hip-hop/Nation of Islam connection might be on the horizon again, in The Root. He is inspired to speculate in this regard by Jay Electronica's performance at the recent Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, where he appeared with a phalanx of NOI Fruit of Islam guards as he arrived. And performed in his own Fruit of Islam garb. (Jay is in the center in the photo below.)

Frankly, I wonder whether NOI rap will really become a trend, but it's an interesting thought, and I urge you to read about it here.

I blogged about Jay Electronica back in 2012, when I spotted him in kufiya. I concluded at the time, based on his lyrics, that he was a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths (Five Percenters). I may have been right, that at the time, he was. He now seems to have more clearly aligned to the NOI.

and the greatest rapper of all time is...

 Rakim, of course. So sez Charles Mudede (who I used to see reading at poetry slams, back in the day, in early nineties Seattle).

(And don't forget that Rakim is a God.)

Kufiyaspotting: Jay Electronica

This photo of rapper Jay Electronica accompanied his recent release, via RCRD.LBL, of the free single, "Suckas."

Jay Electronica is probably not wearing the kufiya because it is fashionable. His rap style is in the general universe of the likes of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, J Dilla, and the like. The song "Suckas" blasts shallow and materialistic mainstream rap MC's:

These wack emcees got the game twisted
We don't give a fuck about your rings and your chains
Your four-dot six Range
Or Frankie B jeans

His lyrics are in the "conscious" vein:

The last dragon, carrying weight like Oprah
Redeemer of Abner Louima and Sankofa

And, it is clear from this line, that he is a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths (Five Percenters):

Eighty-five think they free but they really in chains
Talking that big willy looking silly and strange

The "eighty five" in Five Percenter beliefs are the deaf, dumb and blind who are misled and victimized by the elites, the bloodsuckers of the poor, the Ten Percent. (The Five Percenters have "knowledge of self," and struggle to bring consciousness to the 85%.)

These lines allude to Jay's status as a "God":

Jay Elect reign supreme over everything
Meet the heavenly man mics in my hand I rip 'em

I'm somewhat surprised to come across a Five Percenter who is originally from New Orleans, but since leaving NOLA, Electronica has led a somewhat nomadic lifestyle, living variously in Philly, Detroit, NYC and Baltimore. Probably he came across some Gods in those places. Somewhere along the way he hooked up, for a time, with Erykah Badu (who has her own connections to the Gods and Earths; her first son is named 7), and they have a child together, born in 2009.

Electronica is worth following. Here are the complete lyrics to "Suckas" (which get the Abner Louima reference wrong, however.)

Were Kufiyas Used to Incite Fear of Attica Uprising, September 1971?

I meant to post something on the Attica massacre on the 40th anniversary of the event. I was living in New York City, and participated in a demonstration on the day that it happened, Monday, September 13. The demo got rather wild, we were marching in the street without a permit, people were very mad, and there was a bit of "trashing." There was also a big demonstration on the weekend, probably Saturday, September 18, that I attended as well. During that week, with 3 other friends, I also participated in a "tagging" of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Our tag: "Pig Rockefeller, Attica Murderer." The New York Times published a photo of our tag a few days later. I have a note to myself to find a copy on microfilm and reproduce it. All this by way of saying that the Attica events were something that I and thousands of other US progressives felt very intensely about.

I was pleased to see that the New York Times published an excellent article on Attica, by Sam Roberts, on its 40th anniversary. I was also, again, incensed by what had happened, and felt that our description of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller as a pig murderer, was absolutely spot on. The complaints of the prisoners, who demanded better living conditions, were very justified. 29 inmates and 10 prison-guard hostages were shot in the course of the assault ordered by Rockefeller, all killed by New York State troopers. Prisoners were tortured and harassed without mercy after the prison was retaken. Roberts reports, based on recently published logs of phone conversations, that Rockefeller told President Richard Nixon that it was a "beautiful operation." Nixon, with his typical bluster, told Rockefeller “The courage you showed and the judgment in not granting amnesty, it was right, and I don’t care what the hell the papers or anybody else says."

Perhaps these photos, widely printed in newspapers at the time, played a part in the attempt to orchestrate mainstream sentiment against the inmates at Attica, mostly African-American, who had taken hostages.

This iconic photo featured pictures of those seen as representing the main actors, published in a round-up on the events in Attica on Sunday, September 19, 1971, in The New York Times.

It's cropped from this photo, also a widespread image at the time.

As was this one.

It's telling, don't you think, that, out of the 1,000 or so prisoners at Attica who participated in the uprising (the institution housed about 2,200 at the time), African-Americans in what looked like Arab headdresses were made so iconic?

We can speculate about what this was about. Progressive African-Americans had long felt a sense of solidarity with the Palestinians, particularly during the late sixties and early seventies, at the high point of guerilla activity by the Palestinian resistance movement. On the other hand, given that it was very hot in Attica, and that prisoners were in the yard in full sun during the days, it would have made sense to fashion head coverings to protect against the sun. (I remember that reports at the time said that, towards the end, the prisoners were short of water and very thirsty, and hence very tense.)

Another piece of the story may have to do with the fact that prison officials believed, or at least claimed to believe, that Muslim prisoners were responsible for organizing the uprising and for threats to the prisoners. There were, of course, considerable numbers of Nation of Islam adherents at Attica Prison, as well as members of the Moorish Science Temple, and the Nation of Gods and Earths (Five Percenters), as in all prisons with substantial African-American populations at the time. Members of each of these groups were active in the uprising. Non-recognition of their religious rights was an important motivation for their participation in the prison movement. Muslim prisoners were not permitted to hold religious services at Attica, and "any assembly in the prison yard of more than three Muslims was punishable by solitary confinement." One of the negotiators brought in, at the request of the prisoners, was Nation of Islam representative Louis Farrakhan. Of the five man committee negotiating on behalf of the prisoners, one (Carl X. Blyden) was a member of the Nation of Islam and two (Carl Jones-El and Donald Noble) were members of the Moorish Science Temple. When the prison was retaken, the Muslim prisoners (but accounts that I've seen don't distinguish between the NOI, Moorish Scientists and Five Percenters) were singled out for special retaliation on the part of the guards. It turned out that, in fact, the Muslim inmates (again, which "Muslims" is not clear) played a major role in protecting the hostages from other inmates.

Are the iconic Attica prisoners in the photos wearing what look like makeshift kufiyas in fact Muslims (of the Five Percent, Moorish Science or Nation of Islam persuasion)? Who knows? Did these photos play a role in inciting mainstream fears of the dangers that "radical" Black Muslims posed in the Attica uprising? Likely.

Kufiya and some Islamic refs in Digable Planets' "Where I'm From"

"Where I'm From" is off of Digable Planet's first album, Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), released in 1993. The best known single from the album is "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," a Grammy winner for best rap performance by a duo or group, and a crossover hit. Due to the album's jazzy feel and its apparently pop and light feel, the group was hailed by white hipsters and, as a consequence, got a reputation for being the opposite of hard and "street." A look at the video for "Where I'm From," which is all "street" scenes, and an investigation of the lyrics reveal that this impression was quite mistaken, and that there was a great deal of continuity between Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) and their second, much more overtly political album, Blowout Comb.

What I want to point out here are a few "Islamic" references. The kufiya worn by one of the Digable's posse in the video is one. As is the shot of some members of the Nation of Islam (NOI), including a woman in distinctive NOI dress (on left) and the man in bowtie, who looks like a member of NOI's paramilitary organization, Fruit of Islam. (Ladybug, a.k.a. Ladybug Mecca, is at the right.)


One line from Butterfly, whose influences seem not to drawn from any Islamic sources, goes "We be reading Marx where I'm from."

Meanwhile, one of Doodlebug's lines goes, "That's most asked by 85, where I'm from." This is a reference to the beliefs of the Nation of Gods and Earths (Five Percenters), that the world is divided into the 5%, those with knowledge of self, the poor righteous teachers, the "gods," the 10%, the bloodsuckers of the poor, who teach lies for the sake of personal gain, and the 85%, the masses, the people who are ignorant of the truth -- but to whom the 5% attempt to bring true knowledge.

Doodlebug (Craig Irving) hung out with Five Percenters while a student at Howard University. I don't know whether he considers himself to be a full-fledged "God," but he now goes by the name Cee Knowledge -- a very Five Percenter sounding name -- and tours with a group called Cee Knowledge & the Cosmic Funk Orchestra. The Digables' second album, Blowout Comb, is full of Five Percenter wisdom and references.

As for Butterfly (Ishmael Butler), his terrific, experimental-rap musical project Shabazz Palaces references the name of the ancient tribe that, according to NOI doctrine, settled in Mecca and then was led by a scientist, named Shabazz, into Africa. It was also the surname adopted by Malcolm X.

Shabazz Palaces' first performance in Seattle (where Butler is from) earlier this month certainly played up the Afro-Islamic imagery. Check out how Butler/Butterfly, who goes by the moniker Palaceer Lazaro, was decked out.

This was the poster for the show.

And check out the cover of Shabazz Palaces' 2009 album, Of Light.

My last example of Shabazz Palaces' crypto-Islamic references is from the group's 2009 video, "Bellhaven Meridian," directed by Kahlil Joseph, shot in Watts, which is a kind of tribute to Charles Burnett's film Killer of Sheep.

In this video the Arabic word

ينقذنا

appears at 0:36. It means "he saves us." I have no idea how it fits into the theme of the video.

Shabazz Palaces has recently been signed by Sub Pop, the first rap group the Seattle label has ever signed, and has an album called Black Up, due out in June.

One last thing. Cee Knowledge recorded a version of "Space Is the Place" with the Sun Ra Arkestra. Check it out. (Five Percent knowledge is afro-futuristic too.)

Misc. #84.07: Edible Undies in Syria; 5% Fez; 'Democracy Now' Kufiya; Leila K

Continuing to purge the desktop:

1. I just came across this article, "Edible Undies in the Muslim World," at Salon.com, originally published in Der Spiegel. The title is misleading, it's all about Syria's lingerie industry, which exports elsewhere in the Arab world.

It's the "latest thing," Abdullah Hayek says, holding the garment up. It's an almost nonexistent bra and thong, which consists of strings and a tiny triangle. It's made, not of fabric, but of sugar fondant, which has been rolled out until it is wafer-thin, held together with elastic cords.

"This allows the husband to nibble the underwear off of his wife's body," explains Hayek. The garment, which costs the equivalent of about $3.90, is available in a selection of flavors, including pineapple, apple, honey, chocolate and mango. "I probably sell 15 of them a day," said Hayek.

It refers to the book, The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie: Intimacy and Design. I met Malu Halasa, one of the co-authors, at a conference in Holland in 2007, and posted about the book here.

And here is another report, from Martin Asser of the BBC. It's somewhat sharper and less leering than the Spiegel report, and it has the added attraction of a bit of video, where Asser goes into a lingerie workshop to talk to a man who makes lingerie, and we see a singing g-string. The workshop owner, Ali Nasser, tells Asser:

"Our work is all about igniting the desires of a husband for his wife, so he doesn't go looking elsewhere. It's a good thing and there's nothing wrong it."

"There's no shame in religion," he adds...

2. I keep wanting to get back to the topic of the fez (tarbush) and its coolness. (Earlier posts here and here.) Here's a photo from the back cover of rapper King Sun's 1990 release, Righteous But Ruthless, which I have posted on previously, but without a photo. King Sun is wearing the black kufiya, and it's probably his producer King Shameek who is wearing the fez. King Sun belonged to the Nation of Gods and Earths (Five Percenters), as did so many leading rappers of the period. Although King Sun, like other 5% rappers, did not rap about the Middle East, the kufiya and the fez are examples of the 'romantic alignment' with Islam and the Arab world that was, and is, so common in Afrocentric circles. The album is well worth a listen, recalling the great work of Poor Righteous Teachers, who collaborate with King Sun on one track.

3. For the archive. You've seen it many times--every day, really: the kufiya that shows up in the opening to Amy Goodman's show, Democracy Now. It's a great image, no?


4. A posting on wayneandwax reminded me of Leila K , the Swedish-Moroccan rapper, of Moroccan origin, who came out with a quite wonderful 12", "Got to Get," back in 1989. It's very old school, it has some cheesy lines, ("I ain't down with no crack") but it is catchy and energetic. Check the video out here. Wayne's discusses another Leila K, "Open Sesame," which was a big dance hit all over Europe in 1992. Through one of the comments on Wayne's post, I learned about another Leila K hit, "Electric Power," from 1995 (watch the video here). It's decent, and like "Open Sesame," in the Eurodance vein rather than rap. Leila K is important, arguably, as one of the first, maybe the first, well-known rapper from Europe who was of Arab origin. And again, for the sake of the archive, here are the front and back covers of the "Got to Get" 12".

The dudes are Swedish producers Rob'n'Raz, who got equal billing with Leila K on this, her first release.

"Yes, White People Are Devils. Yes, That Includes Me"--Michael Muhammad Knight

A very astute essay from Michael Muhammad Knight, courtesy Goatmilk, which is running a monthlong series, “Facing Race: Muslims and Islam." Based on this essay, we'd all do well to keep track of this series.

Knight tells us that he doesn't believe in the Yacub theory, but that this, and other such beliefs of the Nation of Islam and the Nation of Gods and Earths, contain a deeper truth. A truth that both US white people, and Arab Muslims, could usefully take on.

(I have my own "white devil" essay: "The White Devil as Expert Witness," published in Anne Meneley and Donna Young, eds., Auto-Ethnographies of Academic Practices, Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2005. It's about my experiences as an expert witness in the case [Marria v. Broaddus] of a young Five-Percenter inmate, Intelligent Allah, who filed suit against the NY State Prison system, demanding that his religious rights as a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths be recognized. He won!)

Be sure to read all of Michael Muhammad Knight's terrific books.