Jay-Z Stirs Controversy Wearing 'Five Percent Nation' Bling Linked to Racist Anti-White Group
Jay-Z made quite controversial fashion choice last week, wearing an eye-catching medallion linked to a racist group.
The Brooklyn rapper was spotted watching a Nets game, which took place at the Barclays Center on Tuesday, with wife Beyoncé, and what was hanging on his neck grabbed everybody's attention -- a bling symbolizing the Five Percent Nation.
The name of the group is based on the belief that only five percent of humanity knows the truth about existence. It was founded in 1963 by Harlem-native Clarence Smith. He was originally a student of Malcolm X, the leader of the Nation of Islam, but split off from the movement due to his disagreement over the definition of God.
While the followers of the Nation of Islam still believe that founder Wallace Fard Muhammad is God, Smith had to disagree because he believed that God could only be "purely black," and Muhammad was bi-racial. He also believed that God was not a supernatural being but something found in all black men.
According to his beliefs, black women do not possess God, however are subordinates of black men and hold a higher position than all white people. "The rationale is that the black men is God and created the universe, and is physically stronger and intellectually stronger and more righteous naturally," said Michael Muhammad Knight, who wrote two books on the anti-white group. "Whiteness is weak and wicked and inferior -- basically just an errant child who needs to be corrected."
"The first lesson I learned from the Five Percent was simple. F*ck white people," he added. "White people are devils."
This was not the first time that Jay-Z has been connected to the Five Percent Nation. He was previously photographed wearing another similar medallion during the radio interviews, promoting his most recent album Magna Carta Holy Grail last summer. Also, in "Heaven," a track off the album, he references the group's acronym for Allah by rapping, "Arm Leg Leg Arm Head."
When a reporter asked Hov whether the medallion is meaningful to him, he shrugged and said, "A little bit."