February 8–15, 2001

music

Right Rhyming

Lost and found: The Lost Children and crew (from left) Ancient Kemite, DJ Ghetto, Rasul, DJ Man E, Niz Da Phyz, B. Jesus 2000, Cosmic Crusader and Shamash: The Ninth Elder. photo: Monica Hoover

by Walidah Imarisha

Three young men are huddled around a table in a South Street coffee shop wearing fezzes and baggy jeans. It’s not a meeting of the young Shriners; rather, it’s an interview with Philly hip-hop group Lost Children of Babylon.

We’re discussing their self-released full-length Where Light Was Created: The Equidivium LP. The debut album was crafted by a group of six MCs whose names are as extravagant as their rhymes. RasulAllah: The Face of the Golden Falcon, Ancient Kemite and Shamash: The Ninth Elder are gathered at the coffee shop; The Breath of Judah, Cosmic Crusader and Richard Raw are not.

Together, they made an album rife with quotes from The Matrix and rhymes about ancient Egypt, outer space and chromosomes, all laid over futuristic/sci-fi beats that seem transplanted from other worlds. It’s really much more than a musical creation; it represents a new, somewhat complicated religion called Nuwaubu (new-ah-boo).

CNN has reported that "The Nuwaubian philosophy includes elements of Christianity, ancient Egyptian polytheism and a belief in unidentified flying objects (UFOs)."

The Lost Children — who study the religion, as taught by Athens, GA’s Dr. Malachi Z. York, at a West Philadelphia bookstore — are on a musical and spiritual quest to show Philadelphia heads the way. The Nuwaubu religion stresses, among other things, discipline: that right knowledge leads to right action.

"You can dance to our music," Rasul explains of the group’s aim, "but it’s strictly to stimulate certain latent forces inside your chromosomes."

On Where Light ’s "Swords of Malachai," Rasul lets loose: "When my tongue swings in the form of a double-edged sword, it brings forth Nuwaubu, which is right Knowledge, wisdom and understanding."

The mostly-black group (their producer DJ Man E is white) is primarily between the ages of 20 and 23 (Shamash is 28) and considers itself a "brethren of the spirit."

Rasul, the spiritual leader, was the first among them to use music to spread the Nuwaubu messages that he has been learning for the past seven years. "When I came into contact with another form of knowledge and enhanced my consciousness, I wanted to start spreading that as a form of message, through sound and words and music."

Of the mix of spirituality and hip-hop, Kemite claims, "It’s the new evolution of hip-hop."

For those wary of taking spiritual advice from a group proclaiming themselves "lost," Rasul explains that the group’s name is "a metaphor for people in society today.… We’re like the teachers of a people who’s lost.… So we’re not necessarily talking about ourselves."

Rasul goes so far as to call the group "a miniature clan of Jesuses," "messengers of god" and "shamans," and said that listening to the album "is like taking shrooms."

Rasul likens the group’s evolution and struggles to "Horace, the Egyptian king, [who] had to go through an initiation before he could be rethroned."

A lot of that initiation for Lost Children has involved other hip-hop artists.

The group was featured on the first Jedi Mind Trick’s single in 1995, and later appeared on JMT’s 1998 album The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological, and Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness. Lost Children acknowledges that these performances helped to give them a name, but a rift has formed between the two once-kindred groups, a rift Rasul feels is endemic of Philly hip-hop.

They feel the scene is torn apart by lack of unity and professionalism and support. "They’re caught up in the matrix," Shamash says of some of their contemporaries, using one of the group’s favorite pop-culture metaphors, though Kemite adds, "We do have a lot of reputable people we associate with in the hip-hop world in Philly."

Shamash hopes those people will realize that LCOB "are a brotherhood of light, a temple filled with young disciples… trying to escalate the people… [who are] caught up in this madness out here."

Lost Children of Babylon will perform a record release show on Fri., Feb. 16 with Disciples of Discipline at Bennie’s, 1508 South St., 215-545-4511.