How does The Root feel about The Nation of Islam?
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Big Daddy
Fight or die fighting, no surrender.
Regardless of what you may vote, one underlying truth remains; and that is that Blacks would be better off now had the NOI standard of life been the one we inherited, vs. the type of Christianity standard of life that was forced upon us.
And I'm saying all of that with my personal feelings about the NOI aside.. there's a LOT I don't agree with them(religiously)... but even then, when you look at it in perspective the obvious conclusion is that we still would've been "better" (while still not "perfect") off as a whole, under an NOI-ish type of mindset..instead of how we have fared under the current collective mindset we maintain, a mindset/spirituality that was forced on us.
And I'm saying all of that with my personal feelings about the NOI aside.. there's a LOT I don't agree with them(religiously)... but even then, when you look at it in perspective the obvious conclusion is that we still would've been "better" (while still not "perfect") off as a whole, under an NOI-ish type of mindset..instead of how we have fared under the current collective mindset we maintain, a mindset/spirituality that was forced on us.
Fact. We would be a power house
I completely agree actually , i feel that their way of thinking and living are pretty beneficial or at least for where we are at right now
Big Daddy
Fight or die fighting, no surrender.
Agreed.
And sure, we could sit around and magnify any little perceived "bad" things about them...we could point to this way of teaching or that shady way that they've distributed funds in the past, blah blah blah..
..but it would still be a far cry from the number that the European standard of spirituality/morality has done on us.
As brother @KOohbt said, we'd actually have POWER, by now, had we been operating under that type of mindset these past 100 years.
Thats one thing ive noticed, they get shyt done. As far as i know there was order and leadership that was established and defined
Big Daddy
Fight or die fighting, no surrender.
Pretty much the reputation I've always known them to have too.
Im talking hardcore, boots on the ground in the middle of the worst hoods like, "NO, you will NOT be selling drugs to Black people around here anymore... And if so there WILL be consequences and repercussions", type sh!t....
And I know that some of those stories may be a little exaggerated but it's the PRINCIPLE that matters. That's what's important. It's the fact that if that type of self policing had swept across Black America and became the norm, we'd be unstoppable by now 2015
In December 1994, we were able to purchase, with contributions from the Three Year Economic Saving Program, some farmland located in Bronwood, Georgia. This land is located in the northeast corner of Terrell county, which is in the southwest part of Georgia, not far from the Florida border. The farm consists of 1556 acres of land that stretches 1.45 miles east and west and 2 miles north and south. The farm, which is called Muhammad Farms, was once part of a 4500-acre farm owned by the Nation of Islam until the 1970s. If it is Allah’s (God) will, with your continued support and prayers we plan to repurchase the remaining acreage in the near future. In our first year of farming we purchased three tractors, a new diesel farm truck, a new three bed-room double wide trailer (which is used as an office/living quarters), a large array of farm equipment, a refrigerated trailer for on-site vegetable storage and an irrigation system. In 1995 we planted and harvested 76.3 acres of land, including watermelons, cantaloupes, sweet corn, snap beans, okra, yellow squash, zucchini, butternut squash, peas and greens.
The produce, excluding the greens and peas, was distributed to most of the Eastern, Mid-Atlantic, Central, Southern and Southwest regions of the Nation; the peas and greens were sold locally to co-ops. Our 1996 planting season was a remarkable improvement over the 1995 season. 250 acres of wheat, 80 acres of field corn, 150 acres of sorghum was planted, harvested and sold locally. We were blessed in our 1997 planting season to plant and harvest 450 acres of wheat, part of which was sold on the market and part was grounded into wheat flour. The vegetable crops consisted of 50 acres of navy beans, 40 acres of watermelons and 105 acres of assorted vegetables.
The produce, excluding the greens and peas, was distributed to most of the Eastern, Mid-Atlantic, Central, Southern and Southwest regions of the Nation; the peas and greens were sold locally to co-ops. Our 1996 planting season was a remarkable improvement over the 1995 season. 250 acres of wheat, 80 acres of field corn, 150 acres of sorghum was planted, harvested and sold locally. We were blessed in our 1997 planting season to plant and harvest 450 acres of wheat, part of which was sold on the market and part was grounded into wheat flour. The vegetable crops consisted of 50 acres of navy beans, 40 acres of watermelons and 105 acres of assorted vegetables.
Big Daddy
Fight or die fighting, no surrender.
In December 1994, we were able to purchase, with contributions from the Three Year Economic Saving Program, some farmland located in Bronwood, Georgia. This land is located in the northeast corner of Terrell county, which is in the southwest part of Georgia, not far from the Florida border. The farm consists of 1556 acres of land that stretches 1.45 miles east and west and 2 miles north and south. The farm, which is called Muhammad Farms, was once part of a 4500-acre farm owned by the Nation of Islam until the 1970s. If it is Allah’s (God) will, with your continued support and prayers we plan to repurchase the remaining acreage in the near future. In our first year of farming we purchased three tractors, a new diesel farm truck, a new three bed-room double wide trailer (which is used as an office/living quarters), a large array of farm equipment, a refrigerated trailer for on-site vegetable storage and an irrigation system. In 1995 we planted and harvested 76.3 acres of land, including watermelons, cantaloupes, sweet corn, snap beans, okra, yellow squash, zucchini, butternut squash, peas and greens.
The produce, excluding the greens and peas, was distributed to most of the Eastern, Mid-Atlantic, Central, Southern and Southwest regions of the Nation; the peas and greens were sold locally to co-ops. Our 1996 planting season was a remarkable improvement over the 1995 season. 250 acres of wheat, 80 acres of field corn, 150 acres of sorghum was planted, harvested and sold locally. We were blessed in our 1997 planting season to plant and harvest 450 acres of wheat, part of which was sold on the market and part was grounded into wheat flour. The vegetable crops consisted of 50 acres of navy beans, 40 acres of watermelons and 105 acres of assorted vegetables.
@ what could've been.Imagine if the same number of Blacks that are under the "Sunday Black christian Church" spell, were instead in line with the NOI... this type of initiative would've exploded across this country and there is without a doubt in my mind a good chance that we'd own damn near a quarter of some states by now.
I agree . All facts.
When we didn't chose the NOI , we decided that our freedom wasn't important and that we should compromise to be accepted.
and still weren't accepted.
+
Let's be real.... even with all the garbage music and ideas that recent corporate music has brought us....
HIP HOP is the reason for black consciousness still poppin for the last 20 years.
dropping knowledge and looking pass the mainstream info was made popular by hip hop
mostly the 5% Gods and Earths...
Which is a spin off of the Nation of Islam
Which is one of the main groups that helped blacks in amerikka to go from thinking like animals to knowing we are the original man on this planet and >
Let's be real.... even with all the garbage music and ideas that recent corporate music has brought us....
HIP HOP is the reason for black consciousness still poppin for the last 20 years.
dropping knowledge and looking pass the mainstream info was made popular by hip hop
mostly the 5% Gods and Earths...
Which is a spin off of the Nation of Islam
Which is one of the main groups that helped blacks in amerikka to go from thinking like animals to knowing we are the original man on this planet and >
Big Daddy
Fight or die fighting, no surrender.
I agree . All facts.
When we didn't chose the NOI , we decided that our freedom wasn't important and that we should compromise to be accepted.
and still weren't accepted.
We didn't have a choice.
And by the time we did, we(collectively) were too saturated by what we are now, to even consider it
There are Black people today who will kick you out of their very homes for even mentioning the NOI. All their trained minds hear is "muslim" and all they instantly think is "they don't accept the lord and savior jesus christ", when they hear "Nation Of Islam".
It's hard to get them to see past that to the bigger picture, the Blacker picture.
Data shows that references to Islam in hip-hop lyrics, once pervasive, are at an all-time low—while rappers are talking about Christianity more than ever. Why has rap forsaken one god for another?
What’s behind the change in hip-hop’s religious preference? A change in the people making the music, for starters. The late ’80s and early ’90s were rife with Muslim rappers and others who identified with the Nation of Islam and the Five Percent Nation, two groups that are rooted in Islamic teachings though their members may not consider themselves Muslim. Even rappers outside those groups were using Islamic language that infiltrated mainstream hip-hop. In apaper outlining the relationship between hip-hop and Islam, University of Arkansas anthropologist Ted Swedenburg writes that many Five Percent Nation terms “such as ‘droppin’ science,’ ‘sup G?’ and ‘let me break it down for ya’ have achieved such common currency within the hip-hop community that they have lost their original resonance, at least for fans who know nothing of Islam in rap.”
The best known rappers affiliated with the Nation of Islam, the Five Percent Nation and more traditional Islam include Brand Nubian, Nas, Rakim, Gang Starr, Mobb Deep, Poor Righteous Teachers and several members of the Wu-Tang Clan. Many are still recording and performing in their 40s, but they don’t hold much relevance to hip-hop’s young fan base. Islamic and Islamic-sympathizing rappers are older, less prolific and, in the case of Ice Cube, too busy making bad family movies to preach the gospel of Muhammad or Farrakhan. In their place is a generation of rappers who grew up during a time when the influence of the Nation of Islam and Five Percent Nation was on the wane. They also grew up in a time when hip-hop wasn’t confined to the inner cities where those groups were strongest, meaning religious views in hip-hop have begun to better reflect those of America at large.
What’s behind the change in hip-hop’s religious preference? A change in the people making the music, for starters. The late ’80s and early ’90s were rife with Muslim rappers and others who identified with the Nation of Islam and the Five Percent Nation, two groups that are rooted in Islamic teachings though their members may not consider themselves Muslim. Even rappers outside those groups were using Islamic language that infiltrated mainstream hip-hop. In apaper outlining the relationship between hip-hop and Islam, University of Arkansas anthropologist Ted Swedenburg writes that many Five Percent Nation terms “such as ‘droppin’ science,’ ‘sup G?’ and ‘let me break it down for ya’ have achieved such common currency within the hip-hop community that they have lost their original resonance, at least for fans who know nothing of Islam in rap.”
The best known rappers affiliated with the Nation of Islam, the Five Percent Nation and more traditional Islam include Brand Nubian, Nas, Rakim, Gang Starr, Mobb Deep, Poor Righteous Teachers and several members of the Wu-Tang Clan. Many are still recording and performing in their 40s, but they don’t hold much relevance to hip-hop’s young fan base. Islamic and Islamic-sympathizing rappers are older, less prolific and, in the case of Ice Cube, too busy making bad family movies to preach the gospel of Muhammad or Farrakhan. In their place is a generation of rappers who grew up during a time when the influence of the Nation of Islam and Five Percent Nation was on the wane. They also grew up in a time when hip-hop wasn’t confined to the inner cities where those groups were strongest, meaning religious views in hip-hop have begun to better reflect those of America at large.
I was homeless at 15 for this.We didn't have a choice.
And by the time we did, we(collectively) were too saturated by what we are now, to even consider it
There are Black people today who will kick you out of their very homes for even mentioning the NOI. All their trained minds hear is "muslim" and all they instantly think is "they don't accept the lord and savior jesus christ", when they hear "Nation Of Islam".
It's hard to get them to see past that to the bigger picture, the Blacker picture.
Then i became a criminal because i had no choice,
But once I became an adult.. I started fukking with them heavy. Not joining.... but fukking with them on their pro black ideas moreso than the religious stuff.
Most black homes will push you outside for mentioning islam , farrakhan, noi, or anything related.
It isn’t a surprise that explicit Islamic imagery would have a more difficult time breaking into the mainstream than the insidery Five Percent Nation languageused by rappers like Method Man. A recent Zogby poll found American favorability of Muslim-Americans to be at a paltry 27 percent. Meanwhile, Christianity is viewed much more positively than Islam. Simply put, Jesus is a much easier sell than Muhammad.
For proof, look no further than the chest of your favorite rapper. Odds are the messiah is hanging in the form of a gaudy, diamond-encrusted pendant called a Jesus piece, first worn by Ghostface Killah in 1994—or at least that’s what he says. Biggie was the Jesus piece’s biggest fan until Kanye made the pendants really popular by releasing his own line in 2004. The Game gave the movement another push in 2012 when he named his album Jesus Piece and declared there was nothing wrong with smoking weed, going to strip clubs, eating fried chicken and still believing in God.
The Jesus piece has appeared on everyone over the past two years, fromhipster-deity Tyler the Creator to radio staple J Cole; from old fat boring guy Rick Ross to the young skinny weirdos in Migos. Earlier this summer, Trill rapper Lil Boosie showed just how far hip-hop’s Jesus obsession has come when he was photographed wearing a piece that reportedly weighed 10 pounds and cost $200,000 dollars. Conspicuous consumption has never been so ironic.
So why has hip-hop been so pious lately? D.C.-based rapper Wale provided the simple answer in his Jesus piece-bashing song “Golden Salvation”: “Religion is a style, if not then why this shyt a quarter mil?”
For proof, look no further than the chest of your favorite rapper. Odds are the messiah is hanging in the form of a gaudy, diamond-encrusted pendant called a Jesus piece, first worn by Ghostface Killah in 1994—or at least that’s what he says. Biggie was the Jesus piece’s biggest fan until Kanye made the pendants really popular by releasing his own line in 2004. The Game gave the movement another push in 2012 when he named his album Jesus Piece and declared there was nothing wrong with smoking weed, going to strip clubs, eating fried chicken and still believing in God.
The Jesus piece has appeared on everyone over the past two years, fromhipster-deity Tyler the Creator to radio staple J Cole; from old fat boring guy Rick Ross to the young skinny weirdos in Migos. Earlier this summer, Trill rapper Lil Boosie showed just how far hip-hop’s Jesus obsession has come when he was photographed wearing a piece that reportedly weighed 10 pounds and cost $200,000 dollars. Conspicuous consumption has never been so ironic.
So why has hip-hop been so pious lately? D.C.-based rapper Wale provided the simple answer in his Jesus piece-bashing song “Golden Salvation”: “Religion is a style, if not then why this shyt a quarter mil?”
