The new song from Rick Ross featuring Jay-Z off the Teflon Don
Album.
I’ll let the song and lyrics speak for themselves.
Free Mason.
I get that Free masonry is deep in the pocket of material culture, and that it has a variety of meanings all around, but rapper Rick Ross has adapted Freemasonry’s other spelling, Free Mason, to make it his own in the new song Free Mason on his Teflon Don album.
The onetime correctional officer from Florida turned rapper seems at home using the fraternity in his lyrics, but based on what I’ve seen so far, he’s not using it as a member of the fraternity, but rather using the idea of it to illustrate his point in the song.
From the lyrics:
like gifts of gold
I embark on life,
My path is all math
I understand the codes
these hackers can’t crack
…
Free Mason, Freelance,
Free Agents, We faster
Personally, I have mixed thoughts on the song. No one likes their sacred cows trampled, but in context, the song isn’t a terrible message. It has flow, and I think the heart was behind it in the right way. What sticks more is the use of the term Free Mason without understanding the work, knowledge, or philosophy that goes into it.
On the reverse side of that coin, have the Masons made that wisdom known in recent years so using their name in a song like this would of commanded more respect?
You be the judge, how do you feel good/bad indifferent? Is this a good representation of the ancient and honorable fraternity that you belong to? Or is this a good reference point to mark as when Masonry jumped the shark in its institutional memory in society?
Fraternal Greetings and thank you for this post as it brings attention and caution to the craft.
As a Prince Hall Mason from Canada I first became aware of this song while working with a youth program I run and one of the participants brought it up without knowing I was a brother. Although I adiminately object to the commercialization of our craft, the fact remains that with so much of our work posted on the internet, it will only increasely be used in mainstream media. therefore we must prepare and equip ourselving for the ensuing fallout by using these instances to shed the light on darkened minds. As for Rick Ross, the C.O turned self-proclaimed hustler, he’s a false flagger and by no ways carries himself off as a good man made better.
Fraternal Greetings and thank you for this post as it brings attention and caution to the craft.
As a Prince Hall Mason from Canada I first became aware of this song while working with a youth program I run and one of the participants brought it up without knowing I was a brother. Although I adiminately object to the commercialization of our craft, the fact remains that with so much of our work posted on the internet, it will only increasely be used in mainstream media. therefore we must prepare and equip ourselving for the ensuing fallout by using these instances to shed the light on darkened minds. As for Rick Ross, the C.O turned self-proclaimed hustler, he’s a false flagger and by no ways carries himself off as a good man made better.
This song may be coming from a different direction than some may assume. I certainly can’t claim any inside scoop, but there are Moorish American religious and spiritual movements and creeds that espouse “Freemasonry” as central to their tenet, or that what we practice out here in our Lodges is a stolen bastardization of the ancient knowledge that their religion (sometimes termed “Science”) fosters. There is a lot of numerology involved in these creeds, and very strong references and connections back to pharaonic Egypt.
From an objective historical standpoint (meaning, if one assumes that the history espoused by these groups is fabricated—I would rather suggest that it is symbolic/allegorical) this vein is traceable back to the Moorish Science Temple of America, founded in the 19-teens by a Freemason who called himself Noble Drew Ali for the uplifting of fallen humanity and the reclaiming of a lost, unique “Nationality” by Asiatics (all non-Europeans) in America. MSTA was the first self-consciously Black Nationalist group to align itself both stylistically and to some extent doctrinally with Islam, and from it later sprang the NOI, the 5%, the York movement (sheesh), Nuwabian Nations, etc.
I don’t suggest that Rick Ross is himself a member of any of these movements; I wouldn’t know. But it is very possible that the verbiage and nomenclature that he utilizes in his song comes from that direction, rather than having actually anything to do with what the “average” reader of A-V-T is identifying as Freemasonry.
(Or hey, maybe he’s a member in good standing of a Regular Masonic jurisdiction and I’m full of hot air!)
Rick Ross is a Bro. Mason from a PH Lodge in South Florida.
His verse is very esoteric in nature and generally goes over the heads of many ring bearers.
Tyler you are on the right path but went a lil extreme when mentioning Noble Drew Ali.
freemasonry as we know it is vailed in allegory however if you dig deep enough there are many references to Egypt.
What PH lodge in Florida is he a member of? People continue to make false accusations about certain brethren that have never had their names recorded in any lodge. With “Rick Ross” (or whoever he thinks he is today) plastering the awesomeness of selling cocaine in virtually all of his music I seriously doubt that he is amongst the ranks. We take good men and make them better….. Not take good men and make them better “OFF” to influence others to do worse.
The term” free mason”that he use will spread the word out to a younger generation when some younger people have never heard of the word,maybe it will plant a seed and they will research it or ask more questions.I don’t agree with the “slang’n” drugs part or the violence he talks about in his music.Regarding the Moor’s,research the making of this nation and those upfront and in the background,and you will see where Noble Drew Ali is coming from…you can also dig up treaties made with the Moor’s,ex.”Treaty of Friendship” .Some Masonic obediences call Freemasonry a Science also,so that may not be a stretch! Jay-Z to me is the one that embrace the Moorish paradigm, talking to different groups of people at the same time.He has also stated he grew up listening to Afrika Bambatta,who also see the Moor’s in history. I am also a member of AMORC,who has no fear of giving the Moor’s their just wages.A Mason knows another by perpendiculars!
HGW!
Well, men and brothers, would it be wise to assume that, unless a person is approved by a particular group, they can have no access to knowledge wisdom or understanding ?
I have been acquainted with masons, mystic, philosophers etc. for decades and have yet to find any group that has managed to corner the market, but one would not think so based on the arrogance of some. The universe is boundless and the Light of the Father, incomprehensible, how are any of us positioned to know or judge such things? No, I do not like rap, but like most of us who were young at one time, these young people are looking for answers and far too often, older people become the same impatient, intolerable, know it alls, that we ourselves complained about when we were in our youth. No, we do not know everything, and the sooner we realize this, the more understanding and effective we will be. The temples, lodges, and churches in America are drying up and emptying out, if we want to deal with this reality, the mirror may be the place to start.