Hip Hop Essence

GZA - Alphabets

Dare I say GZA is underrated? We’ve all enjoyed Liquid Swords (and if you  don’t have that album I highly recommend you snag it. It is so choice), but Alphabets takes the lyrical cake/pie/parfait.

There’s no doubt the second verse beats the first (and that rhymed). The chorus is what kills it though:

Allah Be or Born, See (C) Divine, Equality
Father, then after that, there’s the G-O-D
He or Her, I Islam, then Justice
King or Kingdom, Love Hell or Right, we still exist
Master, Now-End, Cipher (O), Power’s the Queen
Rule or Rulers, Self or Save, the Truth or square, the same
Universe, Victory, Wisdom, Unknown (X), Why? (Y)
Zig Zag Zig, and now we’re back home

This is the Supreme Alphabet; it’s a way of interpreting Roman letters in text, which comes from The Nation of Gods and Earths. It’s interesting stuff and getting a sense of it, even the slight one which Wikipedia provides, will give you a better understanding of many lyrics from various artists (The Wu-Tang Clan, Rakim, Nas, Mos Def and others).

To over simplify, the goal of The Nation of Gods and Earths is to absorb the common truths of as many religions as is possible so as to better oneself. Each person finds a unique way of doing this which allows one to recognize themselves as their own God. The Nation of Gods and Earths isn’t a religion, although they do study other religious texts.

I got tangential there, so let’s get back to the hip-hop. GZA (The Genius) is a solid MC, and you wouldn’t expect anything less from a Clan member. Like I said, if you don’t have one of his albums you should go grab one right now. He might teach you something new.