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BRAND NUBIANS LORD JAMAR MAKES SOLO DEBUT ALBUM REVEALING THE 5% PERCENT MESSAGE WITH GUESTS FROM THE WU TANG CLAN

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If you know LORD JAMAR it will probably be from his work with golden age Hip Hop legends BRAND NUBIAN so lets just cap that in a short bit with words from the man himself. For Jamar Brand Nubian  has a solid place in Hip Hop history. I feel were respected. From his inner perspective he sums up the bands greatest moments thus Our first great moment was when I was walking through ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Harlem and our first album had just come out. I realized that every car going by, that was playing loud music, was playing one of our songs from the album. The second great moment would have to be when we played at the Syracuse Homecoming. One of my Hip Hop Idols, Run DMC & Jam Master Jay, where headlining the show, but because we were so hot at the time, they let us close the show! The third great moment was realizing we had become Hip Hop Legends in our own right.  Its not for nothing that Jamar closes with a sentence that includes the word legends  but thats not to say his ego is out of check. Nubian is still active after all and still pushing forward and one of the few groups worthy of the name. Some have said in the past that the groups intense in your face message was racist towards white people or homophobic  Jamar squashes those criticisms immediately The duty of the civilized, is to teach Freedom, Justice, & Equality to ALL HUMAN FAMILIES of the planet earth. I would also tell them we're living in a time that if you disagree with power structure, you will be negatively labeled. If you say your against the war your "UN-AMERICAN." If you say the word fagot in a song, no matter what the context, youre "homophobic." Its easy to tell Lord Jamar is not afraid to stand up and speak his own personal truth and its a truth that rings true for many both in his community and within his field of contemporaries. Thats what made Brand Nubian special back in the day and when Jamar openly states that hes always had the desire to "tell the real deal." Nothing has changed for me as far as that is concerned its easy to conclude that his outspoken nature is also going to play a crucial role in the record before you now.

 

So why a LORD JAMAR solo album now and why an album about the 5% message?  Jamar says

I've always wanted to do a solo album but certain things side-tracked me, i.e.: working with Dead Prez, acting in things like Oz, etc. Originally my album was supposed to come last year but we pushed it back so I could create more fire. For Jamar making the record an album about his faith   (culture )was a logical move. He grew up with a generation of rappers that were down with the 5% message, including hip hop acts like The World Famous Supreme Team, Just-Ice, Rakim of Eric B & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Poor Righteous Teachers all the members of the Wu Tang Clan (more on them in a minute), Digable Planets, & Busta Rhymes. Seeing this list its surprising no one thought to do this kind of record before now!

 

Jamar explains  there more rappers in the Five Percent Nation than in Minister Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam (NOI) because the NOI doesn't lend itself to Hip Hop. The NOI is a very structured, & rigged organization. Hip Hop is very loose, and free. The two don't compliment each other. Whereas the Five Percent Nation is more in the street, and is already respected, & accepted by the Hip Hop generation. The Five Percent Nation also isnt anything to do with straight Islam. I know of a few rappers who are straight Muslim, but I they dont outnumber those in the Five Percent Nation. I am not an oppressor of Muslims; I have no fear of them. We in the N.G.E. (Nation of Gods and Earths a.k.a The 5 Percenters) are not Muslims. To be a Muslim is to submit to the will of Allah, & practice the religion of Islam. To be a member of the N.G.E. is to come in the name of Allah, & to study I.S.L.A.M, which stands for I Self Lord And Master. See, in the Five Percent Nation, each man is the sole controller of his own universe. If you're the god of your universe, you set up your own laws. Jamar elaborates the 5% message has something for everyone that wants to learn. It's true this nation was started to empower poor black youth, but the lessons taught are ones we can all use.

 

Nation of Gods and Earths, hold beliefs so far removed from mainstream Islamic teachings as to be virtually unrecognizable as Islamic. For example, the chant "Allah wa Akbar" ("God is Greatest") in the context of a Brand Nubian song means something very different than in mainstream Islamic beliefs. God/Allah, for Five Percenters, is not the Divinity as conventionally defined by the monotheistic faiths. God is the black man. It would be a pitfall to adopt a position of fear, shock and horror towards 5%-er beliefs. Groups like the N.G.E and their doctrines may prove problematic or heretical to some but in this day and age we need to try to understand them and to engage them.

Jamar in speaking out for his culture is giving us insight into a movement rarely discussed in the media at all. 5%-er beliefs have been at the core of Hip Hop for decades now.  Yet Jamar is bringing us a message unheard and unspoken in the media. Its a message many are listening to. Instead of following preconceptions maybe we should just make up our own minds. The N.G.E can be seen as a uniquely American movement. In the same way that Hip Hop is a uniquely American music. The N.G.E believe in the divinity of the black man: that the black man is the original man (science seems to be helping them prove that fact); they believe that teaching based on technology is simply "tricknology (havent we all heard the tales of kids who cant do math without a calculator?), they believe that mathematics is a superior form of understanding (again given the recent advances in mathematics this would appear to be true in many ways) and they believe that Freedom, Justice, & Equality is to be had for all people (dont we all feel that way?). Agree or disagree this is a message that holds interest for many. Jamar isnt asking you to convert. You can still listen to his album and enjoy it as entertainment and music in its own rights but in our divided nation we need to understand the voices around us if we are to progress. The 5% Message is an important message many urban youth are being exposed to. Agree or disagree with it however you can still get down with Jamars music. Jamar is reaching out and giving a voice to something hes lived for many years.

 

After all Jamar has put a popular face on his faith before, when he played a 5%-er in the acclaimed HBO series OZ  OZ was a great experience for me. I'm not sure if it impacted my music, but it definitely showed me I can do anything I put my mind to. I've done a lot of shows since then: "Law & Order" (once on original show, & twice on SVU), "Third Watch," & recently "The Sopranos." I've shot several independent films: "Morning Breath," "Funny Valentine," "L-O-V-E-", "Their Just My Friends to name a few. I will definitely do more acting in the future.

 

Lets also not forget about Jamars production work for acts like Black Moon, Artifacts and Dead Prez.  For Jamar when we name-drop them he says You just named a bunch of my friends. I've been hands-on producing since "In God We Trust." Artifacts were our first known fans. That's how

I met them. We started kicking it and they revealed they rhymed. I liked their stuff, so I produced a song for them, which ended up getting them their deal. I lived in Brooklyn for 10 years, & during that time Buckshot and me would hook up. I had a studio in my crib, and Buck would come over, and just do his thing. I ended up doing joints for him, Heltha Skeltha, & O.G.C. I also met Dead Prez at this time. Once again, these were fans that had something to say themselves. I knew I had something with these brothers. I started working with them, helping them to develop their sound, giving them the kind of insight on the game that I wish I had coming in. Got them tight, shopped 'em, and got them signed to Loud, when Loud was the shit. Jamar puts all that history in production to good use on the new album.

 

Also you can find Lord Jamar on mypsace. He sees the Internet is a good tool. Somewhere like OTBRADIO.COM, or MYSPACE are great places to build your base hands on, & to help level the playing field. I even met the God Gensu Dean on MYSPACE, who ended up getting two tracks on

my album (The Greatest Story Never Told, & The Cipherfeaturing 40 Bandits.) And speaking of guests lets not forget that the record features members of the Wu Tang Clan -  Jamar elaborates I met the Gods back in the day when we first came out. I remember

building with RZA, GZA, & Dirty back then, I always felt the gods. That's family. My original goal was to get all the Gods from the Hip Hop nation. It just so happens that the Gods from Wu are ones that stepped up to the plate. Peace to the entire Wu Tang Clan.

 

Lets also not forget that Jamars story and the story of N.G.E is a New York one, Mecca (Harlem USA) and Now Rule ( New Rochelle, NY). For Jamar New York means my home. It means Hip Hop's home. It means me.  Jamar sees his album as classic Lord Jamar s**t. As far as how it will do, as long as each and every member of my great nation supports me on this, I'll be just fine. I'm not trying to take Kanye Wests fans, (or any other rapper for that matter) I'm strengthening mine.

Ahh, the good ole days. Remember when an artist would bring you into their world? Create a landscape that was unique just to them? Groups like EPMD, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, and yes, Brand Nubian, were all known for their original sound, and style. Hip Hop in those days had more diversity, as far as content, & topics. Artist would often produce their own music, & get thisthey would even write their own rhymes. I know it sounds crazy, but they did. Back then sounding like another artist, dressing like another artist, rappin about shit another artist raps about, that was called Biting. Biting was frowned upon back then. The Hip Hop game was moving forward as far as styles, & lyrics, & biting would only show that you couldnt think of shit on your own. Artists took pride in reppin themselves, in their own way.

Whatever happened to those good ole days? Why has the game come to a virtual stand still? Todays Hip Hop is littered with artists, all doing pretty much the same thing, talking the same shit, over the same beat. If one artist is successful, a whole slew of new artist come behind to try and emulate that success. A hand full of producers beats appear on 85% of the product that comes out. Today it seems were limited to three main topics: violence, materialism, & sex. Now dont get me wrong, I personally think all three have a place in Hip Hop, b.u.t. Hip Hop is so much more than that. The fact that a large portion of the Hip Hop community has chosen to stay specifically within those three parameters is, in my opinion, a waste of potential.

It would seem the blame for the present stagnation in Hip Hop, can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the record companies, retailers, radio stations, video outlets, & the buying public themselves. The chain goes pretty much like this. The record company only signs, & puts out bullshit. The retailer, sells the bullshit. The radio, & video stations play the bullshit. We, the public, buy the bullshit. Now out of all the parties I just mentioned, who do you think gets the short end of the stick? Thats right, us, the public. We are the ones who are spending almost $20 for a CD that cost the record company 50 cents to make, & only has three good songs, that sound identical to three other songs youve heard before.

Back in the day of Motown, Barry Gordy would develop his artist. He was able to look at raw talent, and see what it was capable of becoming, rather than what it might have been at the time. Today, record companies dont nurture talent anymore. The aim these days, is to find artist who can be a record companies version of whatevers hot at the time. These corporate witch doctors, have made zombies out of the artist, & the public. They sit confidently behind their desks, thinking that they are the ones who decide whats hot, and whats not.

The Black Panther Party gave us the answer to our Hip Hop dilemma, in the slogan Power to the people. We, the people are the ones who decide whats hot, & whats not. It is our dollars that these corporations, posing as artist outlets, are after. If we didnt purchase the bullshit, the bullshit wouldnt get made. Lets face it, these corporations are motivated by greed. If tomorrow the people decided they were only gonna buy construction worker rap, then thats what these companies would start putting out. The fact that we support the bullshit, only perpetuates it. If the game is ever gonna truly move forward, it will be the voice of the people that makes it happen.

So I say to the artist, the fans, the record companies, radio, & video stations. Pleaselets advance the game/how many times can we rhyme about cars, & chains/how many bricks can a nigga really sell/ how many times can a nigga really go to jail/ how many murders can you do on one album/putem all together musta did about a thousand/Im just sayin lets change it up/if notnigga hang it up. Peace.