By A Negro With A Keyboard

So, I am having a conversation with a devout Christian friend, who is voicing his anger about Jay-Z’s line in the song, Empire State of Mind, when Jay says, “Jesus can’t save you, life begins when the church ends“, continuing from there to explain all of the connections to occultism that Jay-Z perpetuates through everything from his videos to his RocaWear clothing. As he is talking, as much I love and respect this brother, and even agreed personally with many of the points he made, I must admit that as he spoke, my mind slipped to thoughts of things like “What is the 2 for $4 at Burger King today?” and “Who Really Framed Roger Rabbit?” This lapse in attention was not at all due to any disregard for the validity of his thoughts, but rather, because I often disregard the intended target of his discourse: Jay-Z, the Jiggaman and now most recently, “The Illuminatist.

The latter nickname makes reference to the recently popular belief that Jigga is affiliated with the oft-mentioned Illuminati or New World Order;  a powerful and secretive elite with a globalist agenda that is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an autonomous world government, which would replace sovereign nation-states and put an end to international power struggles. (sounds like Cobra to me, but I digress-Ed)

Popularized in the late 18th century, this particular theory puts forth the notion that significant occurrences in politics and finance are orchestrated by an extremely influential group of individuals operating through many front organizations, with numerous historical and current events are seen as steps in an on-going plot to achieve world domination through secret political gatherings and decision-making processes (Thanks Wikipedia!).

Now, the fact that I was even involved in a discussion about Jigga being seen as an imminent threat to the world as we know it made me chuckle to myself, as I simply cannot perceive this being the case with an individual who has brought us songs like “Sunshine”, “Song Cry”, and “Venus vs. Mars”, which in my mind evokes more thoughts about my drama with my shorty than about the end of days. In fairness though, Jay-Z has had his “darker” moments, particularly on The Black Album, having songs on that album like “Lucifer.”

So I couldn’t help but wonder, “Am I missing something?” Has Jigga sold his soul to “Sweet Brother Numpsay” (throwback) and joined forces with the Dark Side? I mean he did say, “black cards, black cars, all black everything”, so that clearly has to be it right there, right? This just isn’t sitting right with me, so I’m going to do what I always do when I feel like this: I Google! (No endorsements till they cut that check-Ed.)

While what I found in general were sources that appeared to be much more based in speculation and myth than fact, I will admit that there are very clear ties between the many facets of the persona that is Jay-Z and symbolism rooted very heavily in occultism. Jay appears to have a keen knowledge of freemasonry, a fraternal organization existing in various forms throughout the world, which utilizes the tools of ancient stonemasons as metaphors in relation to the building of King Solomon’s Temple in Ancient Jerusalem. The brother has also truly become a master of not-so subtlety hinting at this knowledge.

While this connection had been spoken about for some time, it was certainly his controversial and extensively analyzed, “Run This Town” video with Kanye West and Rihanna that really got this hysteria in full swing. It begins with a man handing Rihanna a lit torch, said to be directly linked to Lucifer the Light Bearer, hinting some sort of new era (maybe that’s why he’s always talking Yankee fitteds- Ed.), be it spiritual or philosophical. There are images of revolt and overthrow, and lyrically, it appears that every single line in Jigga’s verse can be tied to some concept associated again with freemasonry beliefs.  

Next came the infamous interview with Mr. Carter, as he donned a sweatshirt which read “Do What Thou Wilt”, which happens to be the official motto of Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) and is believed to be representative of the group’s belief that in order to achieve “true free will”, one has to abandon all moral and ethical restraints.

Let us not forget about the RocaWear clothing line, and how it has recently begun to utilize freemasonry symbols like the Eye of Horus and the All Seeing Eye of the Great Architect . RocaWear clothing has also utilized Masonic slogans such as Masters of the Craft.

Now I must say that after spending a few hours researching, I am compelled to ask the question, what does this all establish? I am quite saddened to tell you that despite increasing the amount of random information in my medulla oblongata, NOT MUCH.

I mean really, what do all of these connections illustrate? That Jay-Z has READ A FEW BOOKS, which unfortunately for our community is a FEW MORE THAN MANY? That Jigga is affiliated with the Masons? Both my father and grandfather are both Masons and believe me, THOSE TWO AREN’T TAKING OVER A DAMN THING, AS MY MOTHER WILL ATTEST.

What it does establish however, is the fact that as a community, we need to EDUCATE OURSELVES just a little bit beyond MediaTakeOut and STOP PARTAKING IN ASININE WORLD DOMINATION THEORIES AND GET INVOLVED CIVICALLY IN OUR COMMUNITIES.

First off, Jay-Z isn’t perpetuating anything new to the music industry in the least. Occultism has been closely knit to various forms of music for decades. How many people have killed people over the years talking about they were “making sacrifice to the devil” because some rock song told them to? If you want to put the lens directly on Hip-Hop from its early origins, and removing one’s personal religious how does this use of symbolism differ so much from individuals Africa Bambattaa and the original Universal Zulu Nation, which was deeply immersed in the beliefs of the Five-Percenters, whose symbolic beliefs set the backdrop for the classic material of Hip-Hop royalty like Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers and Wu Tang Clan. Oh yeah, and if we are still looking for someone who is still believed to be “relevant” by present industry standards, take a look at just how much symbolism and linkage to occultism our boy Nas uses.

Even more important though, is the fact that so many have spent so much time denouncing this man, feeling like they have to label him as some “secret society” character, in order to validate their own beliefs. Even if he was Pen Pals with Charles Manson, that would be his right to do, so why spend so much time trying to denounce him? How about using that time you spent doing YouTube videos talking about him and listening to his radio interviews about his beliefs to focus on solidifying the morality of yourself and your loved ones. Everybody wants to save the world, but no one wants to put that much effort into saving their own homes!

So, for all of you sitting on your computers and in front of your televisions, trying to establish a link between the Devil, Jay-Z and the terrible tragedy in Haiti, I have done the research for you, and while I know that we have clearly established Jigga’s knowledge of occultism and freemasonry, I also feel very confident in assuring you all that this man is simply a microcosm in the Same Old New World Order that you have been living with your whole life.

Recklessly Yours,

A Negro and a Keyboard