Brand Nubian 1992

Brand Nubian's 1992 Album

Quotes
"My people have been lost for over 400 years. . . . bloodsuckers of the poor want to keep your wealth, keep you a slave. . . . the black man is god. . . . who is the mystery God. . . . crazy delusions of a big white man sitting on the throne. . . . first soul [was] black like coal. . . . who is the clown that didn't paint Jesus brown. . . . buy a Tech [and] let loose in the Vatican. . . . I love the black faces; so put your Bible in the attic";
"Ain't No Mystery"; Brand Nubian, In God We Trust, 1992, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner.

"Give me a gat so that I can smoke this motherfucker; pass me the gat; I got to fight back. . . . I need seven brothers ready to roll. . . . brothers ready to bust. . . . this is a stick up. . . . just came to snatch the guns. . . . don't leave a witness; this black man is armed; another man is alarmed; this is the next Vietnam; set it off in the North; my moms is down with it; pops is committed; something has got to give; I'm like a powder keg; ready to stick a bank; driving a high-powered tank; news flash: Brand Nubian taking fifty hostages. . . . I got the automatic stashed in the attic. . . . I commence to slay the beast; so my advice to black men is: stay strapped";
"Pass the Gat"; Brand Nubian, In God We Trust, 1992, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner.

"There is a war against the righteous; but I got a gun, and the god got one; and his man got one; and we gonna all be armed; the scope is aimed at the White House. . . . .we're heading for Armageddon. . . . I proceeding with this plan to cut a hole in the grafted man; but then I chilled, and waited for the war; then I can off much more; skulls on the pavement, bones to bones, sawed-off; mix it with microphone; whole blocks filled with pools of blood; Stars and Stripes burned up in the mud";
"The Godz"; Brand Nubian, In God We Trust, 1992, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, Time Warner.

Article
      Basic issues, and expressions used to discuss them, which occurred on the 1990 album, are repeated on their 1992 album, called In God We Trust. More information about 5 Percent Nation is given, and like all their albums, the album is filled with paranoia. Throughout the opening track, an Islamic chant sounds. Brand Nubian says that for fans who "wanna know the truth," the rappers put out "war" style raps like the ones put out by "Sister Souljah." Lord Jamar greets listeners with "peace" and "Allahu akbar [Allah is great]," and he tells them that "Brand Nubian tracks are filled with black facts." Sadat X repeatedly calls himself "X." ("Allah U Akbar.")

      The rappers call themselves "the supreme black man." "Organized crime" put blacks in America where they must be around "the man from the cave." It is in America that blacks have been "lost for over 400 years," and where blacks have had "hard times, hunger, and nakedness from the snake that hissed." Whites, called "bloodsuckers of the poor," want to keep the wealth of blacks and want to keep them as slaves so that they do not "misbehave." Whites gave blacks a "mystery God" in order keep them looking into "the sky for [their] piece of the pie." With the use of the pronoun "we," Brand Nubian makes it seem as if blacks alive today personally suffered through slavery, and with the use of the present tense, the rap group makes it seem as slavery is still going on. The whites who tell blacks to believe in a "mystery God," Brand Nubian accuses, are the same whites who have "beaten and killed" blacks. Churches who promote the "mystery God" are part of the 10 Percent. Brand Nubian rappers would never regard a preacher as a teacher, they say, because the preacher gives out "lies and deceit." Blacks who follow "that mystery God" are "the deaf, dumb, and blind." The rappers say that when they prayed to the "mystery God" for money, the only thing they received is "free cheese." It is whites who promoted the "crazy delusions of a big white man" as God. However, Brand Nubian tells listeners, "the black man is god." "Who is the clown," the rappers question, who "didn't paint Jesus brown, [when] everybody knows the man was original." "The first soul [was] black like coal," we are told, and blacks are "the original one with the power of the sun." Allah is God, and blacks better "pray for Jehovah to come" if they want to get out of "the slum." Until they leave the slums, blacks will keep on "eating swine, drinking cheap wine on the welfare line." Brand Nubian accuses "courts" of writing lies when the "courts" hold that "these Asiatics is racist because [they] love the black faces." Listeners should put their Bibles in the attics, and the following threat is made at white Christianity: "I'm gonna go . . . buy a Tec [and] let loose in the Vatican." ("Ain't No Mystery.")

      Whites, being the "bloodsuckers of the poor," and also called "the 10 Percent," teach lies to the "poor" blacks who are known as the "85 Percent." However, "the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said to us that there is 5 Percent who are the poor righteous teachers, who don't believe the teaching of lies of the 10 Percent." "God is not some mystery God," as the whites say, rather "the true living God is the son of man, the supreme being, the black man of Asia." The 5 Percent are also "known as civilized people, Muslims, and Muslim sons." Those of the 5 Percent have a duty to teach what they know in order to release the 85 Percent from the tentacles of "the 10 Percent, the rich, the bloodsuckers of the poor, the slave-makers." The 10 Percent "kill the prophets [and] kill the communities," and they get away with it because they "feed the masses more lies about a righteous teacher." ("Meaning of the 5%.")

      The very next track begins with a chorus of threats: "give me a gat so that I can smoke this motherfucker; pass me the gat; I got to fight back." A Brand Nubian rapper, in the first stanza, carries the threats forwards with the following: "I need seven brothers ready to roll. . . . brothers ready to bust. . . . this is a stick up. . . . just came to snatch the guns. . . . don't leave a witness; this black man is armed; another man is alarmed; this is the next Vietnam; set it off in the North; my moms is down with it; pops is committed; something has got to give; I'm like a powder keg; ready to stick a bank; driving a high-powered tank; news flash: Brand Nubian taking fifty hostages." They say that they are the "black man police," that each of them is "the god who don't eat pig lard." They say that they cause wreckage and persuade minds by using the images of firearms, such as Tec's and "nines." More threats of the use of weapons occurs as follows: "today's mathematics is Uzi-does-it; I got the automatic stashed in the attic." The following threat is issued at peace officers, and at the end of it, blacks are told to carry concealed weapons: "Rodney King ain't this godly king; before I take a whipping, I'll dump a fucking clip in the police, who give us no peace, to be deceased; I'll have a feast as I commence to slay the beast; so my advice to black men is: stay strapped." ("Pass the Gat.")

      A bit of history is given about Marcus Garvey and about his efforts to run the ocean-liner company called "Black Star Line," which operated a ship between the Americas and Africa beginning in 1919 and lasting for only a couple of years before the venture collapsed. There is no mention on Brand Nubian's track about the failure of Marcus Garvey's effort. The rappers describe Marcus Garvey as one who pushed for blacks to be "doing for self, keeping the wealth." Brand Nubian uses the opportunity of the subject matter to imagine that their music is like "a mental ship, something like Noah's Ark." Blacks are called "the chosen few." A voice raps in raggae style on the track, saying that one would "never know they wickedness would have to come to an end," and he gives the following advice to listeners: "don't take another word from the white boy." Listeners are told to thrust up their arms into the air and to act proud to be black. ("Black Star Line--featuring Red Foxx.")

      Brand Nubian indicates a belief that President George Bush imported narcotics to the US. Lord Jamar, calling himself "a nappy-nigga child," says that it is people like George Bush who "want a nigga clean-cut like the Ancient Greeks," but he says, "the Ancient Greeks were fucking freaks." "There is a war against the righteous," the rappers warn, and the following threat of revolution is issued forth: "I got a gun, and the god got one; and his man got one; and we gonna all be armed; the scope is aimed at the White House." The non-belief in Christianity is repeated, saying that they "don't bow to the cross," and that they "had a priest get tossed." The 85 Percent are disagreeing with Brand Nubian, they say, and so the rappers repeat that it is an "actual fact" that "the black man is god." "We're heading for Armageddon," the rappers doom, and so they are "spreading the facts." They tell listeners that they were "proceeding with this plan to cut a hole in the grafted man," when they decided to "chill" and "wait for the war," because during the war, they can "off much more." The following shows how Brand Nubian envisions large-scale destruction being possible during war: "skulls on the pavement, bones to bones, sawed-off; mix it with microphone; whole blocks filled with pools of blood; Stars and Stripes burned up in the mud." ("The Godz.")

      The rappers say that they smoke marijuana, and they ask listeners the following: "are you ready to take the loot?" A rapper gives the answer as follows: "man, if we don't have that shit, then shoot." ("The Travel Jam.") Sadat X describes himself as "6 [foot] 2 and brown." Their mission is stated as "Brand Nubian fight against the weak and wicked." They give what they describe as a "study lesson about Farad and Elijah." ("Brand Nubian Rock the Set.") When describing relationships with women, Lord Jamar says that he told his woman to stop eating "swine," but she became upset, acting like she was "blind." If she does not listen, it will be her own "mental death." Sadat X describes sex, and he informs everyone that he does not perform oral sex. ("Love Me or Leave Me Alone.") Brand Nubian decries the selling of bootleg copies of their music. They suspect the record company is involved when bootleggers sell music of theirs that has not been "mastered" yet. Their racial paranoia is always present as demonstrated in the following: "it's black music that they want to discredit; Garth Brooks ain't bootlegged because they never let it." The bootleggers misdeeds "constitute the right to shoot one who steals [their] loot," they threaten. ("Steady Bootleggin.")

      Several death threats are made toward black police officers such as the following ones: "if you see one you gots to attack him. . . . give me a gat I'm about to smoke this motherfucker. . . . carry your gun, especially off duty; don't forget that there is a price on the booty; hiding upstate won't make you safe; by the way, are you of Christian faith; then prepare to meet your mystery [God]; become a place in history; Force come shot down with some brothers from Uptown [Harlem]; and if we're not totally through, then you'll be left black and blue. . . . I put a hole in they fucking ass. . . . I send that ass back to the essence quick. . . . the pig is gonna get smoked like cancer sticks. . . . you get sprayed." Such blacks are referred to as feds, cops, rookies, troopers, and pigs. Sometimes "gangsta" rappers say that their view of the term "devil" includes any black who acts too much like whites, and Brand Nubian says that "at any level, the worst devil is a black one." Also, said is the following: "man, these black ones is just as bad as the motherfucking white ones." Such blacks are condemned as being "sworn to whitey." Brand Nubian rappers say that they know of black officers who have committed many crimes. ("Black and Blue.")

      Sadat X threatens to "fuck up a faggot" for he does not "understand their ways [and he] ain't down with the gays." He calls himself a "black prodigy." The rappers threaten to beat up anyone who says that Brand Nubian's music is no longer good or that the group's popularity has ended. ("Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down.") Samples used by Brand Nubian were allowed by a company who handles licensing for the following artist who was awarded GRAMMY Awards in the past: the Isley Brothers ("It's Your Thing").

Reference
In God We Trust, Brand Nubian, 1992, Elektra Entertainment, Warner Communications, WEA International, Time Warner.

Posted at http://home.att.net/~phosphor on June 30, 1999.

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