Rappers Aren’t Limited To Being the Tool Of One Secret Society

When Noisey premiered M.I.A’s new track “Bring The Noize”, it didn’t take long for her to be accused of being an Illuminati puppet in the comment thread. Not surprisingly an inevitable argument followed: the symbolism of the film clip was debated, her Tamil links were name checked, and she was accused of having links to the alleged New World Order.

The conspiracy that hip hop is the tool of secret societies has been kicking around for decades. In 1996 Mobb Deep member and insane blogger Prodigy got the ball rolling when he guested on Tupac’s “I Shot Ya” rapping, “Illuminati want my mind soul and body/secret society trying to keep they eye on me." With one line, a conspiracy theory was born.

The rise of the Internet aided the swell of conspiracies, and today artists like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Rhianna, and Taylor Swift can proudly call themselves accused Illuminati puppets. People who believe the internet can find evidence of this in their video clips, lyrical references, handshakes and gestures, and of course their outfits.

But all this finger pointing raises a lot of questions, not necessarily about musicians being in the Illuminati but rather: why does one society have such a monopoly? There are piles of semi-secret societies, today's celebrities aren’t limited to being the tool of just one.

It’s important to remember that the Illuminati were a real organisation. They were a Bavarian group of progressive freethinkers who opposed inequality, the abuse of state institution, and religious influence on the public realm. In their time they were staunchly combated by conservatives, and have since become a blank canvas for conspiracy groups.

But the Bilderberg Group is also a real organisation. This assemblage of the worlds most powerful political and business minds meet annually to discuss global issues and have been accused of harbouring suspect motives. The Rosicrucians, a 17th century theological and philosophical society with ties to the Freemasons, are real too. Not to mention the participants at the annual Bohemian Grove get together in the forests of Northern California. Here the world’s elite meets for a two-week retreat that by all accounts it’s something of a frat party, complete with a burning effigy in front of a 40-foot stone owl.

These groups might not get as much press as the Illuminati, but they seem to have followed their trend of getting on the hip hop puppets gravy train.

As previously mentioned, each year at Bohemian Grove effigies are burned in front of a giant owl. Footage of the display has been captured by conspiracy king Alex Jones who infiltrated the retreat with journalist Jon Ronson during the writing of Them, the seminal account of conspiracy culture.

The ritual is known as the Cremation of Care, and allegedly involves a mock sacrifice in front of the owl that theorists believe represents Moloch.

So what does Azealia Banks have to do with Henry Kissinger, George H.W. Bush and their buddies enjoying theatrics, pyrotechnics, and a 40-ft idol?

Owls.

Banks’ video clip for “Yung Rapunxel” is quite frankly a conspiracy theorists wet dream. The imagery eludes to conspiracy favourite the all Seeing Eye, and an actual owl emerges from Azealia herself. The bird is featured heavily throughout the clip, obviously a representation of Moloch and a reference to her involvement with the cult of Bohemian Grove.

Later in the clip she rides a mechanical bull in a shout out to Ba’al, after all as legend suggests it was the bull that came of the owl Moloch. This is juxtaposed with images of riot police storming the streets: a nod to the police state that will emerge with the New World Order. Furthermore the track opens with Azealia proclaiming, “I want to be free”, a message to the Bohemian Grove cult to whom she is undoubtedly a puppet.

With all our newly acquired knowledge on the Bohemian Grove it’s not too difficult to see the links between the group and ex-Degrassi High alumni Drake. Much like Banks, Drake employs the use of Moloch imagery in film clips for “Hell Ya Fucking Right” and “5AM In Toronto”. The Moloch symbolism is very important to Drake, the Bohemian Grove mascot serves as the mascot of his record label October’s Very. He wears this symbol on his clothes, dangles it from his necklace, and even has it tattooed on his back.

Clearly Bohemian Grove and the Illuminati have a few dogs in this fight, but what about the Rosicrucian’s? The theologians and philosophers have been relatively quiet on the conspiracy front but may have the most powerful toy of all: A$AP Rocky.

It comes as no surprise that Rocky has ties to the world of secret societies how else can you explain why he is more popular than A$AP Ferg? A$AP Rocky has gone to great trouble to assure us that he’s not a member of the Illuminati.

He distanced himself from the organisation in “LV” rapping, “All this talk of Illuminati ain’t got a clue about me”. Yet Rocky has no qualms with flaunting a Rosicrucian symbol on his clothes.

In fact this along with his distance from Illuminati “puppets” Jay-Z and Rihanna and his feud with Bohemian Grove cult favourite Azealia can be seen as evidence of our very own secret-societies-hip-hop-war being carried out in verses and tweets.

Now obviously this could all be explained away as a bizarre cultural crossover with performers usurping baseless conspiracies of secret societies infiltrating the hip-hop industry as a tool to incur free publicity with each release. But it’s impossible to deny that secret societies and hip hop are a natural fit, as A$AP Rocky said: “When they accuse you of Illuminati, that means you made it”.