The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip-hop and the Gods of New York (Hardcover)

~ Michael Muhammad Knight (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Korean War vet and martial-arts enthusiast Clarence Jowars Smith founded the Nations of Gods and Earths in Harlem in the late 1960s. Known as the Five Percenters, the group was seen as an offshoot of the Nation of Islam (NOI) by many and as pure heresy by many traditional Muslims. Excommunicated by the NOI, Smith used the new movement to teach his idiosyncratic take on Islam, for which he renamed himself Clarence 13X—Allah to adherents. The movement grew in strength, numbers, and influence, even after the (still unsolved) murder of Clarence 13X in 1969; and hip-hop royalty Rakim, Wu Tang Clan, and Busta Rhymes are purported members. Critics decry the Five Percenters as racist, and with alleged connections to the 1971 Attica prison riot, crack-dealing turf wars, and other dirty business, the Nations of Gods and Earths is often considered a street gang by the minions of justice. This exhaustive study of it scores high for gritty realism and insight into contemporary urban street life and culture. Tribby, Mike

Review

"Knight takes his readers to the heart of this community, weaving complicated histories, personalities and ideals. Written in beautiful prose, this is a long awaited and welcomed read for anyone who has even a casual interest in religion and culture in urban America." -- Aminah Beverly McCloud - DePaul University

"Knight does an excellent job of presenting the movement's founders, belief system and its history as seen by the people who live it." -- Monster and Critics, 06/04/07

Knight takes his readers to the heart of this community, weaving complicated histories, personalities and ideals. Written in beautiful prose, this is a long awaited and welcomed read for anyone who has even a casual interest in religion and culture in urban America. -- Aminah Beverly McCloud - DePaul University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Oneworld Publications (June 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851685138
• ISBN-13: 978-1851685134
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #258,915 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #76 in

  Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Practices > African American

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Remarkable Achievement, October 19, 2007

By	Barry Gottehrer "author" (Wilmington, N.C. USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A remarkable achievement combining voluminous detailed research and a skilled writing style. a very honest recounting of the extremely complex history of the five percenters--from its founding by clarence smith in new york city in the l960s who believed he was Allah and the survival and growth of his group of followers nationally following his violent death nearly 40 years ago. as an author myself ("the mayor's man" is one of my eight books)and one who knew Allah personally and was in new york city government when the five percenters were founded, i highly recommend this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the most thorough and academic approach to documenting the phenomenon of the 5% that I have ever come across..., May 25, 2008

By	Sanare et Ignoscere "Sheihan" (NY,NY) - See all my reviews

The author takes us into the lives and times of those who lived amongst the 5%ers founder in the ghetto of New York City amidst a hotbed of political turmoil and the changing of both the tide and the guard. From the likes of Sweet Daddy Grace Divine to Marcus Garvey to Harlem street youth who would not conform to the dietary regime and dress code of the NOI but were attracted to its self empowering, esoteric lessons in catechismal format...the author introduces you them all and shows you the world through their eyes. He brings it up to current times at Parliamentary sessions, and he details happenings and conversations he encounters as Moors, thugs, intellectuals and others engage him...a White, Orthodox Muslim...walking the streets of Harlem and absorbing the story and history of the NGE.

Being familiar with the intricate origins of the 5% Nation as well as many of its more obscure moments in history, I am quite taken back by this work. It is to date the only reliable, academically approached, work of cultural anthropology on the 5%ers that extends beyond the length of an academic essay. Covering everything from its inception in Newark, NJ with Duse Ali, Timothy Drew, the NOI and extending into the undocumented & shadowy world of the Black Angels and the nuances of young puerto rican and white urban youth (in addition to the black youth) from NJ & NYC who were brought under the tutelage of Clarence 13X (an incredibly complex and self contradicting icon who held down his square and mixed at ease amidst the City Hall social circles just as he did in the underworld of Harlem), this book even covers the interaction with Malachi Z. York's sect in Bushwick, Brooklyn. The approach is one of entrenched neutrality...laying the facts (both good and bad) out on the table for the reader to discern. Especially interesting is the information provided on the origin of the Supreme Mathematics and its author 37X as some have distorted this story in oral tradition as having been one and the same person as 13X. By far, the prize buried in all this substance is the detailed account of the relationship between Allah, Barry Gottehrer & Mayor Lindsay. This book reads well, and it is a far cry from the all caps attempts at capturing this movement's history in book form that have preceded it. It is hard to put down.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Informative however chapters lacked structure, June 17, 2008

By	David L. Evans "NAPHIYSH" (ITALY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book was extremely informative from a historical account however my only beef is that it bounced in and out of stories too rapid. The book is packed with historical information. Peace!