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Gerald “Prince” Miller was second in command of the Supreme Team, the notorious Jamaica, Queens gang of crack dealers. His uncle Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff led the gang.

Richard “Fritz” Simmons was a Harlem drug lord who apparently died of AIDS.

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In a memorable scene from The Godfather, Sonny Corleone is killed in an ambush at a toll booth. Other rappers will end up the way Sonny did (shot up lyrically as opposed to literally) when Lupe is in the recording booth.

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In Five Percent teachings, Knowledge represents the Original Man and Wisdom represents the Original Woman.

Puba is expressing the belief that black women are more easily accepted in white society because black men are considered a threat. This was not an uncommon opinion in the 80’s and 90’s. Whether the evidence backs up that claim is another matter…

In any case, the mathematics is clear. 1 comes before 2, therefore Knowledge must come before Wisdom and Man must come before Woman.

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This song samples:

“Another Day” by Ray, Goodman & Brown

“Everbody Loves the Sunshine” by Roy Ayers

Following his Five Percent duty to civilize the uncivilized, Grand Puba drops knowledge on the deaf, dumb and blind, spreading the Supreme Lessons to Hip Hop heads across the globe.

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These questions and answers are paraphrased from W.F. Muhammad’s English Lesson No. C1. Muhammad was the founder of the Nation of Islam, from which the 5% Nation takes its lessons.

According to the lessons, slave traders tricked Africans into coming to America by telling them that they would be paid for their work – more gold than they currently earned. Of course this turned out to be a trick and the Africans were stranded.

Also note the use of the Supreme Alphabet:

  • Why Equal Self (or Why Equality Self) means Yes
  • Now Cipher means No

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Crack was a major blight on the black community in the 80s and 90s and Puba’s anti-drug message was always on point. In 1986, four years before this song, he released “Cracked Out” with his first group Masters Of Ceremony. It’s one of the best crack songs ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9ydZcMoULc

Note: This is the remix from 1987. The original version has less siren and more singing.

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Women are the Earths in the Nation of Gods and Earths. Your Old Earth is your mother. Puba’s mother gives so much money to her local church that she can barely afford to feed the family.

This is a central theme in Five Percent teachings. Those that preach of ‘mystery gods’ are bloodsuckers of the poor, otherwise known as the 10%.

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Puba wants his message to reach black people everywhere.

According to Five Percent teachings, there are 29 million square miles of useful land on Earth. The original man (black and other non-white people) occupies 23 million of those, while the colored man (Caucasians) occupies the remaining 6 million.

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ODB shouts out his fellow Wu-Tang members. The Abbot is an alias of RZA, and Shaquan the Panty Raider was Method Man’s original name.

In an interview with Red Bull Academy, RZA spoke about how he suggested Meth’s name change when he was putting Wu-Tang together. He also changed Raekwon’s name from Shallah Raekwon to The Chef, and Dirty’s name from Ason Unique to Ol' Dirty Bastard.

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