Jay Z Sets Off Controversy Wearing Chain From ‘Whites Are The Devil’ Group
Jay made a rather shocking statement at a Brooklyn Nets game on April 1, rocking a medallion from the Five Percent Nation, an off-shoot of Islam that preaches harsh tenets like “white men are the devil.”
Jay Z may be more of an activist than he lets on. The 44-year-old rapper raised eyebrows at the April 1 Brooklyn Nets game by taking his courtside seat with a Five Percent Nation chain around his neck, seemingly advocating for some shocking, racially charged beliefs.
Jay Z Wears Controversial Five Percent Nation Chain
The Five Percent Nation is an off-shoot of the Nation of Islam that preaches that black people are the fathers and mothers of civilization, the Christian god is nothing more than a ghost, and most shockingly, that white men are the devil.
When asked by a reporter if the Five Percent medallion held any meaning for him, Jay shrugged and said, “A little bit,” according to Page Six. And it must, because the basketball game wasn’t the first time the rapper was caught rocking the bling — Jay also wore it at his Magna Carta World Tour show in Philadelphia on Jan. 29.
NBA megastar Carmelo Anthony has been seen wearing a chain similar to Jay’s as well.
But Jay Z is not a full-fledged member of the controversial group. “Jay Z is not an active member — no one has vouched for him,” Saladin Allah, a representative of the Five Percent Nation’s upstate’s region, told Page Six. “It was always understood that you don’t wear the regalia if you don’t totally subscribe to the life.”
Five Percent Nation’s Belief: ‘F**k White People’
If Jay Z does “totally subscribe to the life,” his persona as a universally loved emcee will definitely be at stake because of the Five Percent Nation’s strict beliefs and harsh outlook towards caucasians.
“Whiteness is weak and wicked and inferior — basically just an errant child who needs to be corrected,” Michael Muhammed Knight, an author of two books on the radical nation, says. “The rationale is that the black man is God and created the universe, and is physically stronger and intellectually stronger and more righteous naturally.”
“The first lesson I learned from the Five Percent was simple: F**k white people. Seriously. White people are devils,” Knight adds. “For me, it is about who is marked as privileged in the power relations of this society.”
HollywoodLife.com has reached out to Jay Z’s rep for comment.
What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Is Jay Z alienating a portion of his fan base by wearing this Five Percent chain?
— Andrew Gruttadaro
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