Description
Book SynopsisThe Five Percent Nation is a controversial organization and a substantial cultural force. This offshoot of the Nation of Islam has employed commercial rap, or "God Hop," to teach its beliefs, comment on relevant issues, and recruit new members. This work establishes the theological and historical underpinnings of Five Percenter Rap.
Trade ReviewMiyakawa (Middle Tennessee State Univ.) examines a breakaway sect of the Nation of Islam known as the Five Percent Nation, which produces music known as God hop. God hop rappers see themselves as teachers. Since 9/11 and the 2002 beltway sniper killings in the Washington, DC, area, this group and its musicians, known as Five Percenters, have come under more and more fire. The author divides the book, which originated as her dissertation, into two parts: in the first part she discusses the theology and history of Five Percent Nation; in the second she examines the tools that God hop musicians use to bring their message to the masses. Including appendixes of Five Percent Nation rappers, a glossary, a discography, and indexes of songs and performers in addition to the standard apparatus, this is an interesting examination of a little-known musical genre and culture. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.December 2005
-- B. L. Eden * University of Nevada, Las Vegas *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction: God Hop
History and Theology of the Five Percent Nation
1. Building a Nation
2. The Five Percenter "Way of Life"
God Hop's Tools
3. Lyrics
4. Flow, Layering, Rupture, and Groove
5. Sampling, Borrowing, and Meaning
6. Album Packaging and Organization
Conclusion: Reaching the Blind, Deaf, and Dumb
Appendix: Five Percenter Rap Musicians
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Discography
Music Credits
Indexes
