The 15-minute project - which acts as one singular track but is split into five movements - can best be described as cinematic, a whimsical and esoteric Electronica offering more questions than answers throughout the debut mixtape. In 2007, the New Orleans-based rapper released Eternal Sunshineon Myspace. If there’s any rapper who has been consistent with their references to Islam, it’s Jay Electronica. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer wrote, “In US Black American communities, Islam has consistently been seen as a viable alternative to the White and Christian US mainstream, and as a result, the pairing of Black consciousness and Islam is a consistent feature of the US Black American experience.” The people listening for these references hear them each time, but the real-time literature and analysis of these cultural moments live and die on social media. In 1991, Harry Allen - Public Enemy’s former publicist, as well as an activist and journalist - once called Islam the “unofficial religion of hip-hop.” In the cover story he penned for the March/April issue of The Source magazine, titled an “An Islamic Summit: Righteous Rappers Talk About Hip-Hop and Islam,” Allen called “an Islamic summit for the community in which members of the Five Percent faction of Islam laid out the parameters of Islamic influence in the rap world.” Twenty-five years later, in her 2016 book Muslim Cool, Dr. The early 2010s saw a minor resurgence of the Five-Percent in mainstream hip-hop courtesy of JAY-Z, who wore the Universal Flag pendant during his press run for Magna Carta… Holy Grailthroughout 20. & Rakim’s 1988 album Follow the Leader Brand Nubian, Busta Rhymes, Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan, and others favorably acknowledged the Five Percenters as well. This influence continued well into the late ’80s and early ’90s: Rakim wore the organization’s “seven and a crescent” Universal Flag symbol on his jacket for the cover of Eric B. In 1984, the World’s Famous Supreme Team released their hit song “ Hey DJ,” which made references to the Five-Percent Nation. Founded by Clarence Edward Smith, a former student of Malcolm X who disbanded from the Nation of Islam because he didn’t agree with their views on God, the group believes that 10 percent of the world knows the truth about life and they keep 85 percent of people in ignorance, making for the remaining five percent to teach and enlighten others. Islamic references have been peppered throughout rap music since the early ’80s, most notably through the teachings of the Five-Percent Nation. “ It’s the day qiyamah,” Electronica raps on “The Neverending Story.” In other words - rap’s messiah has returned. For 40 days and 40 nights, he worked on an album that weaved motifs from Sunni Islam, Nation of Islam, and the Nation of the Gods and Earths’ teachings (more commonly known as the Five-Percent Nation) and incorporated samples from Louis Farrakhan’s speeches and recitations of the shahadah and Islamic sayings that sound familiar to most Muslims. We take a close examination of all the Islamic references featured on his debut.Īfter a decade-long wait, Jay Electronica was resurrected with his debut album, A Written Testimony. On his debut album, A Written Testimony, his spirituality is at the center. Photo Credit: Steven Ferdman/Getty Images If there’s any rapper who has been consistent with their references to Islam it’s Jay Electronica.
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