Entry · catalog no. 6373
God body
/ /ˈɡɑd ˌbɑdi/ /GAHD bah-dee
noun · Harlem — the Nation of Gods and Earths · 1960s
✓ Verified
1.
The body itself understood as divine, in the teaching of the Nation of Gods and Earths: God is not a spirit somewhere else but the Black man himself. Used as a self-designation, as a term of recognition between people who hold the teaching, and in looser hip-hop usage as a marker of being righteous, self-knowing and not to be played with.
“He carries himself God body, always has.”
Origin & Attribution
The Five Percent Nation, also called the Nation of Gods and Earths, founded in Harlem in 1963 and 1964 by Clarence 13X — born Clarence Smith, later called Allah — after he left Nation of Islam Temple No. 7 over the doctrine that Master Fard was God. He taught instead that the Black man collectively is God. He was assassinated in 1969. The phrase rests on the Supreme Alphabet reading of Allah as Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head, the physical body. It entered general Black speech through hip-hop, carried by Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Brand Nubian, Poor Righteous Teachers, Wu-Tang Clan and Nas, alongside cipher, word is bond and the original sense of G.
1964
Clarence 13X founds the Five Percent Nation in Harlem after leaving the Nation of Islam
1991
GZA states the Allah acronym — arm, leg, leg, arm, head — on Words From the Genius
2013
Jay-Z recites the acronym and names it God body on "Heaven"
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Harlem — the Nation of Gods and Earths · 1960s
Spoken by
Members of the Nation of Gods and Earths; New York hip-hop artists; Black speakers who picked it up from the music
$GODBODThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady62 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
44/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1964
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Felicia M. Miyakawa, Five Percenter Rap: God Hop's Music, Message, and Black Muslim Mission (Indiana University Press)
2005
■
Michael Muhammad Knight, The Five Percenters: Islam, Hip-hop and the Gods of New York (Oneworld)
2007
■
+ Cite a sourceJay-Z, "Heaven," Magna Carta Holy Grail
2013
See also