Louis Farakhan- The Atheist!?

[Ahh!]

I found a speech by Louis Farakhan where he says there is no god but man. I know its real because I've also heard it sampled on a rap song ("Meaning of the 5%" by Brand Nubian)

 

"...The poor have been made into slaves by those that teach lies. They don't teach the law of cause and effect. They make people believe when they see it rain, that a spook is producing it. But if the rain is real, how then can the cause be unreal? You are witnessing conditions in the world that are produced by real men, but you don't see the real cause of the effect of your own suffering. Because the Bloodsuckers of the poor make you think that God is some mystery God. Well, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said to us that there is 5% who are the Poor Righteous Teachers, who don't believe in the teaching of lies of the 10%. But this 5% are all wise and know who the true and living God is, and they teach that the true and living God is the Sun of Man, the Supreme Being, the Blackman..."

http://mentoryouthstreetacademy.com/default.aspx

 

I don't get it. This man is clearly not a theist. How has he fooled so many people into thinking he is? And what are we to make of a secular (or at least non-monotheistic) Farakhan.

[Dhampir]

You have to understand that the Nation of Islam is more of a political movement than anything, and some within it are about as close to the notion of black supremacy as that idea can be taken. I doubt this message is new news, and I think the movement merely uses their version of Islam as a front to push their agenda. Farakhan is probably a nominal muslim, or perhaps believes that this message is what Islam truly teaches.

[The Sage Nabooru]

Well NoI teaches that God became incarnate in a man, who was their founder. Kind of like Christians with Jesus. This divine origin is passed on to other blacks in a sort of God's-people kind of way.

[Lycorth]

Farrakhan and the NoI are a bunch of racist fucks, just like the crackpots who first wrote the Torah/Old Testament. They would certainly be every bit as oppressive as the god they admire if they had any real power. The sooner they are marginalized to the lunatic fringes of society (where they pretty much are, anyway), the better off we'll all be.

[HuaiDan]

The fact that he throws "the black man" in there for more than good measure speaks volumes. Sneak a racial supremacist message in a package of religion. That's deplorable. And now I despise hip hop even more because of it.

[Dhampir]

The fact that he throws "the black man" in there for more than good measure speaks volumes. Sneak a racial supremacist message in a package of religion. That's deplorable. And now I despise hip hop even more because of it.

Makes no sense to hate the pen that wrote the message.

[HuaiDan]

There's no inanimate object behind that message. Only dangerously ignorant, hateful people making choices. I refer to the one who originally spoke it, and those who would further that message by quoting it.

[Dhampir]

You spoke about the medium, not the people.

[Ahh!]

The black power stuff's kind of faded out of rap anyway. The record I heard this on is 16 years old! It was big in the early 90s. Fortunately, the new generation is more tolerant. The people who made that music were the children of the 60s and are somewhat of a product of that.

[HuaiDan]

Yes, but comparing an inanimate object with an artistic genre that more often than not revolves around bigotry, animalistic urges, and hate doesn't quite work as an analogy in my mind.

[Dhampir]

More often from what you know. Condemning the co-opting of the genre and condemning the genre itself is two different things from a validity standpoint.

[HuaiDan]

After the age of 14, I pretty much stopped liking the genre entirely in favor of others I found more meaningful. The co-opting of the genre by those who would use it to spread a message of violence and bigotry further alienated me. Were I to hear a hip hop song that had a more positive message, it's hard to say whether I would actually like it, that would have to be determined on a case by case basis. But I would almost certainly say I would find it more tolerable than majority of hip hop I hear these days.

Case in point:

"Fuck Dat Bitch"

(feat. Dave Hollister)

 

[Fifty talking]

If a bitch don't like me

somethin's wrong with the bitch...(fuck that bitch)

 

[Dave Hollister singing]

Why...oh why...why..you wanna fuck with me now?

 

[Fifty talking]

Yo Dave, that shit come with the game baby, the money, you know,

thats how this shit works, you know?

they supposed to love me now baby,

I'm hot now baby, I'm doin' it now.

 

[Chorus (Dave Hollister singing)]

Girl, what makes you wanna fuck with me now?

I've been wantin' to fuck wit' you for quite a while

is the money makin' you wanna fuck with me?

Whoa...if money's gonna make me slam these hoes..then alright.

 

[Verse 1:]

Whattup Shorty, I ain't seen you in many moons,

talk to me, how's life been treatin' you? good I hope, y

ou got a smile that only a fool would forget

and a figure that'll leave a nigga droolin' and shit

there I was, kickin' my game

pickin' her brain

buggin' 'cause a while back I met this bitch on the train

she wasn't feelin' me, I pulled up, she wouldn't talk from the whip

Uptown girl, she feel like thats some chickenhead shit

but on the sidewalk we ain't play games

we exchanged numbers and names

I went back to the Range

I heard her Girlfriend whisperin' "I know that nigga, he rich"

she think I got six whips 'cause me and my Man switch

anyway, her name is CeCe

she said she go to BMCC

push a '98 328 with chrome BB's

she said she seen me in the Onyx video on TV

she liked my part the best, man, this bitch is tryin' to G me.

 

[Chorus]

 

[Verse 2:]

It's hard as Hell to find a Girl thats really down for ya

type that'll hold down the Tre pound for ya

they into diamonds now, to Hell with pearls

these trick niggas fucked up, they done gave 'em the World

Hey Shorty, why you like me? huh? you like the way I spit?

oh, I hit your girlfriend, she told you 'bout the dick?

nah for real, am I the type that you wanna roll wit'?

platinum iced out, got rid of that gold shit

I love my lifestyle, you too, you love it

that I could blow Twenty Thousand and think nothin' of it

know you wouldn't fuck with me if I had no ends

probably wouldn't fuck in the whip if it wasn't a Benz

I guess life looks different through them Shanel tints

Man, I don't care if these hoes love me or not

long as I rhyme hot I'm gettin' head in my drop

it goes on and on and on and it don't stop.

 

[Chorus]

 

[Verse 3:]

One thing you can always count on is change

and a rich nigga to come put shit in the game

had a 4.0 then Jigga made you trade your Range

would've felt broke if you couldn't get your change

now it's hard to find us or stay behind us

while we on the 900 double R Hondas

watch the cats who flip bricks recline in the latest whips

while Penetentiaries stay packed with cats who sling packs

all these hoes ain't Madonna fans but all across the World

you can find a material Girl

I sip Dom 'till I earl

take 'em two at a time

quick I get in they mind

have 'em thinkin' they mine

bust off then tell 'em "Bust a Uey, on mo' time"

I'm like the reason ya'll niggas can't eat this year

got your bitch breakin' her neck to peep this here

c'mon..uh huh...c'mon.

 

[Chorus 2x]

 

[Dave Hollister]

Fuck you bitch! leave me alone, walk on...get the fuck on...

 

[Fifty]

Yo, Shorty..tell your friends ya'll ain't fuckin' with us..aww

man...look...he ain't mean that shit..

c'mon thats just records..niggas is playin'..

we wasn't serious and shit..

 

Nothing in that for me. I must come from a different planet or something.

[Ahh!]

I'm not sure what you'd think about this, but there is some thought put into underground lyrics. This is probably the most popular unsigned artist today...

 

Ras Kass- On Earth As It Is..."On earth as it is..."

(center text)

 

Hallelujah when I do ya

 

Verse One:

 

Shit, I ain't never seen an angel, virgin bitches with halos

But my secular metaphysical theology is fatal

Because me with a mic cable is a religious experience in itself

I got a message from God

He said, "Don't even try to fuck with me," suckered reluctantly

Carried the cross and uppercuts and at that, I'm hazardous

I speak to the heads and raise the dead like Lazarus

Led the fucking lambs to the slaughter, and walked on water

When it's frozen, in the ground influence and I'm on point

like the unicorn and you need a form, to bring rains

to Desert Storm for 40 days and 39 nights

So my cerebral flows flood the Earth with a, megahertz

And the first shall be last and the last shall be first

Reciting a biblical verse before I make your melon burst

Like that nigga Jules from Pulp Fiction

My salvation is salivation, and diction crucifixion

It's a blessing just to live another day they say

Because the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away

So my niggaz pray five times a day and still

carry a trey-five-seven (On Earth, As It Is In Heaven)

 

Chorus:

 

(On the planet) Earth, it was my place of birth

Born to be the sole controller, of the universe

Drinking with the Lord and shoot dice with Christ

Hitting seven, On Earth, As It Is In Heaven

 

Verse Two:

 

Feeling like a cock, cause I be talking to a burning bush

But I'm not knowing till I fornicated with the hoe and

caught the claps so, my first communion consists of

bread and wine and dioxycill in one-hundred milligram capsules

Let the commandments begin again

Cause just like Moses on Mount Sinai, I broke all ten

For the believing, in the evening, when I covet my neighbors wife

I do dirt and get works to reap life, victimize

and give us this day to make our daily bread

Cause if I'm broke I'm serving cavvy in Bethlehem

Or selling my soul to Satan, six figure record deal

protection's my religious denomination, B.C.

I be the coming like when Mary's water broke

So let there be light, so niggaz can see I rock mics religiously

Those who believe ye shall receive

But non-believers, you niggaz doubt my existence like agnostics

The hostile gospel, I apostle, with epistles from speaking in tongues,

but God sewed up and gave his only begotten Son

to set it on niggaz, blowing backwards bastards to Kingdom Come

And knowing the Judas in my crew

So do unto others before they do unto you

Like Rastas heads be dreadin

Phoenetic armageddeon (On Earth, As It Is In Heaven)

 

Chorus

 

Verse Three:

 

I hit the planet like a plague

The Book of Revelations red dragon with ten horns and seven heads

and seven crowns skills concealed until the Seventh Seal revealed

to fulfill prophecy

From D.C. to AC/DC radio receivers

The messiah comes back igniting the fever in the rap world game

(The hit after) The three headed raptor, is after

You hear the HemisFear trinity raps rap to you Babylon fires

Cause thou shalt not worship for sire

Just like David guillotined philistines even God is homicidal

Fucking these kids like catholic priests after mass

Pubic hair of lamb's wool, and feet of burned brass

That I can put up in your platinum ass son

Instead I arrive the Golden Child, every knee shall bow

when the divine styler is speaking in parables

Like old baptist churches I'm getting old bitches hysterical

HALLELUJAH! Praise be to Mamadullah, I blew God and not

another nigga hotter, believe that Meshach

The hip-hop martyr who sacrificed and gave my life

But got 4Pac, so I'm livin the Thug Life in the afterlife

Then I be walking through the pearly gates

with an infared scope ten millimeter heater

Cuz if my name ain't in the Book of Life I'm snuffing St. Peter

Drinking the blood of Jesus Christ and pissing holy water

no QUESTION who can come cleaner

M-D-C plus M-I-C equals holy B-I-B-L-E to me

Matrimony is getting head but I refuse to break bread

with Jezebels, my management already gets twenty percent

so fuck tieing, go to Hell

I'd rather continue backsliding

You're not from the tribe of Judah, so why you lying?

Come watch the Zion, I'm signifying

the next shit to wreck shit and see the Exodus

 

Chorus

[HuaiDan]

Now that's one I can relate to. Thanks Ahh! But I've yet to hear that one at the clubs....

[Dhampir]

'm not sure what you'd think about this, but there is some thought put into underground lyrics. This is probably the most popular unsigned artist today...

I've heard this one before actually. The underground is where it's hot, mainstream is mostly garbage, but then, like Nas says, the people that really care are not the ones deciding what gets put out.

[HuaiDan]

And here in China mainstream is all I've heard for the past 4 yrs. Underground don't make it this far...could bias my opinion just a bit you know....

[Dhampir]

I thought China was strong on the underground stuff. Maybe that's Japan.

[LosingMyReligion]

In fairness there are MANY great hip hop artists with great messages in their lyrics. It is just the pimps, thugs, and misogynists that get promoted. It is a sad situation because I feel like Rap music is a great art form that degenerated into nothing but gutter crap...Again, that is the side that is being pushed to the masses on a regular basis. I love some of the stuff that the mainstream never hears. The only positive rapper in ALONG time that has gotten popular is Kanye West...

To quote Mos Def, "if all you give people are acorns pretty soon they are gonna eat the fuckin acorns." We've been fed trashy music for years and years and now we accept it without hesitation. Yeah, there are so many people that are anti mainstream hip hop now, but as long as the youth keep buying the albums what can you do? Nothing...

 

On that note, the NOI is not a religious movement. It is totally political, and somewhat of a bastardization of Islam. The only thing I like about it is that it teaches young black men to respect themselves and others. However, I feel that it is pretty racist, anti semitic(well, sorta like actual Islam), and homophobic. Even if I wanted to I could never be a NOI member simply because I'm gay. They would probably want to kill my ass.