Five-Percent Nation

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The Five-Percent emblem, also known as the Universal Flag of Islam

The Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to as NGE or NOGE, the Nation of God and Earth, or the Five Percenters, is a cultural movement founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, by a former member of the Nation of Islam named Clarence 13X (born Clarence Edward Smith and later known as ALLAH the Father). Clarence 13X, a former student of Malcolm X, left the Nation of Islam after a dispute with Elijah Muhammed over the fact that Elijah taught that the White man was the devil, yet did not teach that the black man was God.[1]


Initially, the Nation of God and Earth, as it is known today, was viewed as little more than an offshoot of the Nation of Islam (NOI). While the Nation of God and Earth has been characterized as an organization, an institution, a religion, or even a gang (by the F.B.I. under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover who launched several investigations of such so called "hate groups"), representatives of the Nation teach that Islam is a natural or mathematical way of living, not a religion. The New York City areas of Harlem ("Mecca") and Brooklyn ("Medina") were named after notable Islamic cities by members of the organization.[3][4] Other areas include Detroit ("D-Mecca"), New Jersey ("New Jerusalem"), Chicago ("C-Medina"), Queens ("the Desert"), Connecticut ("New Heaven"), St. Louis ("Saudi"), Seattle ("Morocco"), and Dallas ("the Sudan").[5]



One of the few extant photographs of "Allah", the founder of the Nation of Gods and Earths, date unknown.





This dialogue is referred to by the NGE as Building, which is part of the eighth degree of the Supreme Mathematics. The other half is Destroy. Gods and Earths can build their minds, which means to elevate or add on to the knowledge one has. To destroy is to take away from or to destruct. This can mean destroying the wrong ideas of the 85 percent or other Gods. Building also refers to the building of their physical bodies, their financial status, or institutions, among much more that the principle of Building can represent.[citation needed]





Origin of Five-Percent title[edit]


The Universal Language[edit]

Supreme Mathematics[edit]

The Supreme Mathematics is a system of understanding numerals alongside concepts and qualitative representations that are used along with the Supreme Alphabet.[11][16] The Supreme Mathematics is thought to be the highest system of numerology in the NGE, used to give qualitative value to numbers in addition to quantity. How the values associated with each number were derived is unclear. The numerals are as follows:

  • 1. Knowledge
  • 2. Wisdom
  • 3. Understanding
  • 4. Culture Freedom
  • 5. Power Refinement
  • 6. Equality
  • 7. God
  • 8. Build Destroy
  • 9. Born
  • 0. Cipher

Supreme Alphabet[edit]

Main article: Supreme Alphabet





The Nation generally does not recognize traditional holidays, most notably those associated with religion such as Christmas or Easter. Instead, they change the meaning and celebrate how they want to. However, some regions where the Nation is active may hold events close to dates in honor of Clarence 13X's birthday (February 22) or the official founding of the Nation (October 10).


Influence and interactions[edit]

City Hall and the Urban League[edit]



The schism between Smith and the NOI led to numerous confrontations. The assassination of Smith in a Harlem housing complex in 1969 remains a mystery. The murder was a blow to the movement, but according to the direct orders of Clarence before his death, some of his earliest disciples, a group of nine men who were called the First Nine Born carried on the teachings, and his friend Justice assumed an acting leadership role. In the years to follow, the Gods and Earths gained a varied reputation, from presenting themselves as outstanding members of and contributors to their communities who at one time quelled a potential rebellion when Martin Luther King was assassinated, to being identified as an unruly and unintelligent group of easily confused African-American teenage thugs and even categorized as a gang.[8][10]






Race ideology[edit]

As Michael Muhammad Knight explained in an essay for Vice, "The first lesson I learned from the Five Percent was simple: Fuck White people. Seriously, 'White people are devils.'"[25] He was quoted in the post as saying, "Whiteness is weak and wicked and inferior—basically just an errant child who needs to be corrected."[26] Michael Muhammad Knight has stated, "The Post never balanced my 'Fuck White people' line with my acknowledgment that there were/are actually white whigger Five Percenters, a phenomenon that I had discussed with the writer."[27] Knight also said in the Vice article, "A Five Percenter elder told me that if I rejected White supremacy and strove for righteousness, I could not be called a devil; though he believed in the Five Percenter doctrine of White devils, he would not hold that against me as an individual."[25]

Five-percenters are purported to believe that black men are physically and intellectually superior as the natural descendants of God, and black men as 'Gods' are the lords of the earth, and the rightful rulers of the world and its people. Women are known as 'Earths', fulfill their needs and assist them in its rule.[28] Five-Percenters are discouraged from marrying anyone of the White Race as doing so would dilute the purity of their blood but the anti-White view is primarily targeted at White men.[29][not in citation given] Like the Nation of Islam, the Five-Percenter ideology promulgates the theory that the White Race was created by a black scientist named Yakub, who lived 6,600 years ago and was responsible for creating the White Race to be a race of devils. He did this through a form of selective breeding referred to as grafting, while living on the island of Patmos.[30]

Hip hop[edit]

In its article on Five Percenter Jay Electronica, Vice Magazine stated in regard to the Five Percent Nation: "It's a movement that's been affiliated with hip-hop from the very beginning, coining terms like 'ciphers' and 'dropping science' and influencing everyone, World's Famous Supreme Team, Big Daddy Kane, Jay-Z, Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, Brand Nubian, Common, Poor Righteous Teachers and Nas. With these artists, and any others associated with the Five Percenters, music was more than just a message."[31]

The Nation of God and Earth has propagated its teachings throughout the United States and abroad. In the early 1980s, this spread was in part due to early adherents teaching when away at college or in the military and, more famously, because of the rise of hip hop music. The main theme of the NGE doctrine spoken on hip hop records were the teachings that black people were the original or first human life to walk the planet, that the Blackman is God, the Black Woman is Earth, and through the inner esoteric powers of the God and Earth, the youth can transform and possess its true potential, which seems to overthrow the overbearing oligarchy by becoming just rulers of themselves. This especially meshed well with conscious themes found in other golden-age hip hop recordings.[citation needed]




Other examples of hip hop and R&B acts who are (or have been) associated with Five Percent teachings include Killah Priest, Digable Planets, J-Live, Nas,[37] Jay Electronica, Erykah Badu, Queen Latifah and Planet Asia.

In popular culture[edit]

Maurice Broaddus's alternate history story "(120 Degrees of) Know the Ledge" centers on an analogue of the Five Percent Nation called "The Lost Nation", and quotes actual Five Percent doctrines.



In Victor Lavalle’s 2016 novella The Ballad of Black Tom, the main character makes use of the Supreme Alphabet.

Notable current and former members and associates[edit]


  2. ^ a b Chandler, D.L. (June 28, 2012). "The Meaning Of The 5%: A Look At The Nation Of God And Earth". Hip-Hop Wired. Retrieved October 11, 2013. 
  14. ^ Ronald L. Jackson; Elaine B. Richardson (2003). Understanding African American Rhetoric: Classical Origins to Contemporary Innovations. Routledge Publishing. pp. 174, 179. 
  15. ^ Five Percenter Newspaper volume 16.5 p.2
  25. ^ a b Knight, Michael Muhammad (January 8, 2013). "What I Learned from the Five Percenters". VICE. 
  26. ^ Buiso, Gary (April 6, 2014). "Jay Z's bling from 'Whites are devils' group". New York Post. 
  31. ^ Bassil, Ryan (2013-10-23). "The Prestige, The Five Percenters, and Why Jay Electronica Hasn't Released His Debut Album | NOISEY". Retrieved 2014-04-19. 
  38. ^
  39. ^
  41. ^ "Nas: The mature voice of hip-hop". today.Com. Associated Press. 2005-01-04. Retrieved 2015-11-14. 
  53. ^ Vibe - Google Books. Retrieved 2012-07-25. 
  63. ^ about

External links[edit]