‘The Illuminati want my mind, soul and my body’: Three 6 Mafia, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and occult knowledge in hip hop

This article discusses the concept of occult knowledge in rap music, which I define as using supernatural, fantastical and spiritual methods associated with the occult to access hidden information that heightens one’s knowledge of self. In hip hop, the fifth element (knowledge) is usually associated with social justice, liberation, education and self-awareness, and this article asks us to consider how rappers’ usage of occult knowledge challenges familiar conceptions of this element. Through an examination of Three 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s music, I argue that occult knowledge is crucial to understanding the fifth element for four reasons. First, rappers are utilizing occult methods, such as seances, tarot readings and pacts with the devil, to increase their knowledge of self, and the hidden knowledge they access through these methods increases their self-awareness, which makes it easier for them to achieve their goals. Second, I broaden the connections amongst hip hop, religion and spirituality to include the occult, as hip hop and the occult is an understudied area in academia. Third, I argue that by utilizing a social justice, activist framework to understand knowledge, scholars are ignoring constructions of self-knowledge, such as occult knowledge, that do not fit into the ‘conscious’ rap category. As Afrika Bambaataa admits, knowledge through liberation and social justice was not hip hop’s initial purpose. Finally, I disrupt the hip hop academic canon by studying rappers who do not receive scholarly attention, as conversations about American rap tends to centre around Kanye West, Tupac, Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z, who are ‘safe’ rappers that fit into familiar academic paradigms and methodologies. By examining occult knowledge in rap music, it opens up possibilities for what form the ‘spiritual consciousness’ aspect of the fifth element takes on.