lmao
Father Allah, as his followers came to call him, taught that the 5% are those black men with "knowledge of self." This 5% knows their divinity, and uses that knowledge to release the hidden resources of black man. Once a man has tapped his hidden talents, he is a God. Most members refer to themselves as Gods rather than Five Percenters, reserving the latter term for those who have only begun studying the knowledge.
Why? That's most asked by 85
--Ladybug Mecca of Digable Planets
I fear for the 85 who don't got a clue
--Method Man, on Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Rawhide" (Return to the 36 Chambers: The DirtyVersion)
The 85% are those without the knowledge, the mentally blind, deaf and dumb who are bent on self-destruction. The 10% are the bloodsuckers of the poor, those who have knowledge and power but who use it to mystify and abuse the 85%. The 10% include the "grafted" white devil (created, according to Farad's teaching, by the evil scientist Yacub approximately 6000 years ago12) as well as the orthodox Muslims and Christian preachers who preach that god is a "spook" or a "mystery god."
To hear my people been lost for over 400 years
And they tried this mystery God
And all they got was hard times
--Brand Nubian, "Ain't No Mystery" (In God We Trust)
The 5% are the poor righteous teachers who preach the divinity of (black) man, the god who is "manifest" (not a spook, not a mystery god) and who will save the 85% from destruction.