The Quest for Quintessence

Insignificant: unimportant, of minor importance, of little or not import, negligible, nugatory, inconsiderable, inconsequential, of no consequence, inapplicable, irrelevant, immaterial, unessential, unportentous, unmomentous, of no matter or concern, of little or no account, of no great weight, trivial.


During an extremely heated discussion last night with a former NYPD detective - who is an African American male and had worked in a Brooklyn narcotics unit in the 1980's - I was invited to find, in his words, "one positive thing the five percenters have contributed to society... Not rap songs and lyrics, but evidence of some success and one member who is not a criminal".

I accepted the challenge.

Obviously the former officer was not, and still is not, a fan of the group, but our discussion inevitably became centered around his apparent disdain - which he acknowledged himself - for brothers "who on one hand tell me Peace God, and then the next day, what's up Nigga." He went on to say that he arrested many alleged "five percenters" back in the 80's, and thought that their messages never made any sense. "If one of them came to my house I'd tell them to get the f*ck outta here with that b*llshit".

As a living and critically thinking human being, I obviously have an opinion, or several opinions, including my own take on the history and organization of the Nation of Gods and Earths. For the sake of clarification, I have said from the very beginning that this film is not being based on any one person or group's opinion - least of all mine. When one has taken on the task of documenting actual historic events it is crucial to leave your personal opinion where it belongs - out and alongside all the others - like a**holes. I have said that it is my intention to tell another side of the story - something juxtaposed to the predominantly available dogmatism.

I think it relevant to note that when we initially sat down with the former officer, he told me that "the five percenters were not significant, and no one outside of hip-hop cares". If that is indeed true, then I am immediately confounded by the tenacity of his position from the beginning, and the venom that leaped from his opinion and right into my face at the mere mention of the Nation of Gods and Earths.

So again I ask- as I had originally - Were the Nation of Gods and Earths utterly an insignificant - and now defunct - group of Black radicals that operated solely in NYC in the 1960's?

The Producers welcome your feedback by email at NOGProducers@yahoo.com