If you know Lord Jamar it will probably be from his work with “golden age” hip-hop legends Brand Nubian.

Lord Jamar’s continually dynamic acting and musical career endures with the June 27th release of his debut solo concept album, The 5% Album (featuring guest appearances from Wu-Tang legends RZA, GZA & Raekwon) on NY-based powerhouse indie Babygrande Records, as well as his prominent recent role in HBO’s smash series The Sopranos.

While The Sopranos role is amongst the highest profile stints in Jamar’s acting career to date, he has appeared prominently in numerous other shows: "Law & Order" (once on original show, & twice on SVU), "Third Watch,"and perhaps his most renowned role to date as a 5%-er on the acclaimed HBO series OZ. 

So why a LORD JAMAR solo album now and why an album about the 5% message?  Jamar says “I've always wanted to do a solo album but certain things side-tracked me, i.e.: discovering and working with Dead Prez, acting in things like Oz, etc. Originally my album was supposed to come last year but we pushed it back so I could create more fire.” For Jamar making the record an album about his culture was a logical move. He grew up with a generation of rappers that were down with the 5% message, including hip-hop acts like The World Famous Supreme Team, Just-Ice, Rakim of Eric B & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Poor Righteous Teachers, all the members of the Wu Tang Clan, Digable Planets, & Busta Rhymes. 

The N.G.E can be seen as a uniquely American movement in the same way that Hip-Hop is a uniquely American music. The N.G.E believe in the divinity of the black man: that the black man is the original man, they believe that teaching based on technology is simply "tricknology,” they believe that mathematics is a superior form of understanding, but hardly an exclusive or prejudiced ideology, they believe that Freedom, Justice, & Equality is to be had for all people.
Owing to the rich history of the 5% movement, Babygrande Records will be issuing The 5% Album with a special 90+ page collector’s edition booklet that expounds further upon the principles of the 5% movement, its origin and continual growth, as well as its profound effect as one of hip-hop’s cornerstone ideologies.  And as members of the 5% Nation themselves, it only made sense that the Wu-Tang Clan would come to be integrally involved in the project.  As Jamar elaborates: “I met the Gods back in the day when we first came out. I remember building with RZA, GZA, & Dirty back then, I always felt the gods. That's family. My original goal was to get all the Gods from the Hip Hop nation. It just so happens that the Gods from Wu are ones that stepped up to the plate. Peace to the entire Wu-Tang Clan.”