Over 25 years after their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan maintains their legendary status. “Who is the Original Man? The original man is the Asiatic Black man the Maker the Owner the Cream of the planet Earth, Father of Civilization, God of the Universe.”-Student Enrollment Lesson no. “About 80 percent of hip-hop comes from the Five Percent … In a lot of ways, hip-hop is the Five Percent.”-RZA Surveying specific ideas, this article connects Wu-Tang Clan’s inclusion of kung fu to the Five Percenter idea of the “Asiatic Black man.” The reinforcement of this bridge between Wu-Tang and the Five Percenters gestures to the larger, undeniable impact the religious organization made on the hip-hop genre, especially in the early years of hip-hop. Drawing upon relevant scholarship in the area of hip-hop and religion studies, alongside Wu-Tang interviews and official Five Percenter websites, the ensuing analysis illuminates how the album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), maps selected Lessons and concepts of the Five Percent Nation. This project pinpoints how Wu-Tang Clan incorporates and interprets Five Percent Nation ideologies in their iconic 1993 debut album.

On the other hand, the Five Percent Nation (also known as the Five Percenters or Nation of Gods and Earths), a Black nationalist religious organization based in New York City, remains enigmatic save for occasional articles which denigrate the group.

Amidst other popular artists, Wu-Tang Clan is a “revolutionary force in hip-hop” that has “changed both the sound and business of rap music forever” and impacted artists like Pulitzer Prize–winning Kendrick Lamar.

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