Master Fard Muhammad, Busta Rhyme's E.L.E. 2 and Generation X Nostalgia

   

   One of my football teammates at Central State University was a Muslim from Detroit named Brother Jackie. Brother Jackie was a stand-up dude and never dabbled in any un-Islamic activities while many of our teammates were doing everything from running trains on girls, selling weed and getting popped. He was clean, yet he had some spooky ideas about the Nation of Islam, Master Fard Muhammad and their teachings that I couldn't rock with. I remember one autumn afternoon we got into a debate about the divinity of Master Fard Muhammad and I asked Brother Jackie, "Would Fard beat Michael Jordan in a one-on-one game of basketball?" arguing that Jordan was Lord of 'that' World. Brother Jackie looked me square in eye with one of the most sincerest expressions and said, "Yes Brother, I believe that he can." I was done. I was done discussing things like that with Brother Jackie or any adult who shared these kinds of delusional sentiments. I realized that no matter how good some of our people can be about aspects of life, religion was a helluva drug and made some of us blind junkies and even hypocrites. That is dangerous. The seemingly harmless belief that Fard would beat Jordan in a one-on-one game of basketball today can easily become the dangerous belief in a People's Temple leader tomorrow.

   With the 2020 release of Busta Rhymes E.L.E. 2: The Wrath of God, the twenty-two year old follow up of E.L.E [Extinction Level Event], I felt like it brought me right back to that college conversation about Fard with Brother Jackie. Never to disappoint, this highly anticipated  Busta Rhymes project came with its share of high accolades and criticism. One such criticism is the record Master Fard Muhammad, named after the Savior of the Nation of Islam, which features Rick Ross. In Master Fard Muhammad Ross raps:

"Road to riches, fuckin' bitches in my favorite shoes
She thought I had a seizurе, told her April Fools
Fuck a lawsuit, bitch I'm tryna make the nеws
Master Muhammed sold silks goin' door to door
Givin' knowledge to the brothers fed who wanted more" -Rick Ross [Ricky Rozay]

   Hearing this song and watching the video I thought for sure I would hear a strong rebuke of Rick Ross from Nation of Islam believers for using their Savior's name in vulgar laced lyrics debasing black women. I was sure because just weeks earlier the same believers mounted an exhausting social media campaign against DJ Vlad for simply misquoting Minister Farrakhan, correcting it and not publicly apologizing. The rebuke of this record didn't happen. In fact, the total opposite happened. 

   In a LIVE Streamed Final Call Conversation with Starla Muhammad, Managing Editor of The Final Call Newspaper and Dr. Wesley Muhammad, they invited Busta Rhymes to discuss his E.L.E. 2 project. In that discussion Busta Rhymes acknowledged that he received a blessing from Minister Farrakhan to use a snippet of his lecture for his song The Wrath of God and at about 1 hour 15 minutes into the discussion they delve into to the song Master Fard Muhammad. Disappointingly, Rick Ross' controversial lyrics are never discussed. "Shout out to Ricky Rozay, ya'll repped The God [Fard] in boss way" is all that was said about Fard's representation by Wesley Muhammad. I feel that this interview was a failed opportunity for the hosts to have a substantive discussion with Busta Rhymes about his perspective on lyrical accountability, social influence and representation of our cultural icons. I don't think that a song called Minister Louis Farrakhan featuring a vulgar artist debasing black women would be acceptable for Muslims. So why would a song like that, named after Minister Louis Farrakhan's God [Fard], be acceptable? Instead of asking those difficult yet important questions the Final Call hosts sat there; fawning over the chance to be in the same virtual room with a forty-eight-year-old dungeon dragon. I did not expect them to attack the brother, yet I did anticipate something more in-depth. Given the opportunity, that is exactly what my audience would get from me or any of my Five Percenter colleagues; including questions for Busta Rhymes concerning our Five Percent degrees, Supreme Mathematics and our Nation history to clarify some confusing Five Percenterish Muslim rhetoric scattered throughout E.L.E. 2. 

   Some may wonder, "What does any of this have to do with you? You are not Muslim so why do you even care?" Welp, it is personal. First and foremost I respect Fard and his contribution to black people here in North America. It was he and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad who authored the Supreme Wisdom book which contains a slight variation of the 120 lessons we use within our Five Percent culture. To trivialize, minimize or disrespect that contribution dishonors that legacy. Ironically, when I released the above Atlantis School For Gifted Youngsters animation episode teaching the history of Fard and the Nation of Islam [NOI] I was criticized and even publicly/privately threatened by some registered members of the NOI. It was said that I was disrespectful and misrepresenting "The Savior." Being the first person to ever animate the history of Fard and the NOI, I worked very hard to create this family friendly animation for people to learn this important part of our history. While that negative response from some people was hurtful, it did not discourage me from continuing to create animations that inspire, empower and educate families. In fact, my animation series is now globally available on Roku via the first Five Percenter based streaming platform Seven On Demand. 

   To see the same NOI Muslims praising a song called Master Fard Muhammad featuring an artist name dropping Fard among vulgar lyrics debasing black women infuriated me. I simply did not think the song content and video reflected the actual title. This eclectic process of uniquely naming song titles is part of the Buffalo-bred GXFR [Griselda] brand. Since their ascendancy within Hip Hop there have been numerous artists using elements of their style. From song title selection, music production, rap flow, album artwork, marketing and promotion, merchandising and etc., I can see their influence in this E.L.E. 2 project. This is not a secret, as Busta Rhymes has been featured on a Griselda project and publicly shared his respect for their creative influence in Hip-Hop when he pulled up on their Almighty Tour. 

   

   Over the years many of our people have become very casual about people, places and things that we have traditionally held sacred. The exponential growth of technology and secularization of sacred traditions has contributed to this cavalier attitude. In my article Is Social Media The Digital Turn on, Tune in, Drop out? I discuss how social media and the internet is reshaping our brain architecture, our ability to form meaningful connections and how we explore and attend the real world. Yet even in the midst of this, there are those artists who have remained consistent in treating people, places and things with honor and respect. It brings to mind the record I'm Back by AZ where he also cites Fard among other notables in his opening verse:

"Spirit of Marcus Garvey, Farad Muhammad,
Medgar Evars and Bob Marley, I'm God-Body
The scripture says Allah's inside me, show love
I was hugged by the arms of Gandhi, gave me my strength
You could tell somebody raised me with sense

We all need somethin' to help us through our daily events" -AZ

  While I think the concept, record and video for Master Fard Muhammad could have been more respectfully presented to mainstream audiences, there are records on the E.L.E. 2  project that I definitely enjoyed such as the E.L.E. 2 Intro feat. Rakim, Don't Go feat. Q-Tip and Slow Flow feat. O.D.B.. Sonically, it is not a heavy rotation project. 

 Some have argued, including Busta Rhymes, that simply mentioning Master Fard Muhammad's name is an opportunity to bring many to Islam. My question is, "What 'many' are people talking about, what does that demographic look like?" Rick Ross was added to this song for pop appeal and primarily targets Generation X, my generation. Millennials and Generation Z are not Rick Ross' primary listening audience and they often have no clue who Busta Rhymes is or his discography. The shares, likes and commentary we see about E.L.E. 2 and the features on this project are primarily from Generation X. My generation was heavily exposed to Islam for over a decade during the Golden Era of Hip-Hop and most of us are age 40 and over today. If folks from my generation didn't get this consistent message over twenty years ago, I highly doubt that our folks, en masse, and on the cusp of middle age, are now going to change our trajectory of consciousness because of E.L.E. 2. It is unrealistic at best and delusional at worst. As for Millennials and Generation Z, en masse, combing the internet, buying books about Master Fard Muhammad and joining the NOI in droves? That is also unrealistic at best and delusional at worst. With any trending topic on social media, there will be curiosity on the part of some folks from my generation, Millennials and Generation Z to know what is going on. 

   There were many Hip-Hop projects released in 2020 that are far more impactful than E.L.E. 2. Regardless of that impact, most of these projects are not even trending right now. Even with the inclusion of a Farrakhan soundbite, a Rick Ross featured record named Master Fard Muhammad and free NOI social media hype from attention-seeking Muslims, E.L.E. 2 still falls short of that impact. By December MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO WERE TYPING IN ALL CAPS ABOUT HOW CLASSIC THIS E.L.E. 2 PROJECT IS will not even be mentioning it... For Generation X, E.L.E. 2 is nostalgia. It is a project of records that DJ's used to be spin in clubs that existed twenty something years ago. Clubs that folks on the cusp of middle age with families rarely go to anymore, with their twenty something year old children.

Peace,

Saladin