The Kebra Nagast, var. Kebra Negast (ክብረ ነገሥት, kəbrä nägäśt), or The Glory of the Kings, is a 14th-century national epic account from Ethiopia, written in Ge'ez by Nebure Id Ishaq of Axum, by the office of Abuna Abba Giyorgis and at the command of the governor of Enderta Ya'ibika Igzi'. The text, in its existing form, is at least 700 years old and is considered by many Ethiopian Christians to be a historically reliable work. It is considered to hold the genealogy of the Solomonic dynasty, which followed the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
The text contains an account of how the Queen of Sheba (Queen Makeda of Ethiopia) met King Solomon and about how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia with their son Menelik I (Menyelek). It also discusses the conversion of Ethiopians from the worship of the Sun, Moon, and stars to that of the "Lord God of Israel". As the Ethiopianist Edward Ullendorff explained in the 1967 Schweich Lectures, "The Kebra Nagast is not merely a literary work, but it is the repository of Ethiopian national and religious feelings".
Negus (Negeuce, Negoose) (Ge'ez/Amharic: ንጉሥ, nəgueś [nɨgueɬ]; cf. Tigrinya: ነጋሲ negus [negus]) is a title in the Ethiopian Semitic languages.
It denotes a monarch, such as the Negus Bahri (king of the sea) of the Medri Bahri kingdom in pre-1890 Eritrea, and the negus in pre-1974 Ethiopia.
I had been meditating on how to apply negus in a creative way ever since I listened to the Kendrick Lamar spoken word verse on ‘i’ from ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’. The concept was elevating our names for each other as Black people by understanding and embracing the word negus rather than the derogatory/demeaning/negative low vibration n-word that many of us have come to flip into a term of endearment. It reminded me of when I was a little boy growing up around my mother’s Rastafarian friends. It was a beautiful time. The first school I attended was called, Marcus Garvey Elementary & Preschool in Los Angeles and the parallel between who the school is named after + being around both american Black Rastas and Jamaican-born Rastas is largely where began a sort of pride in my blackness at an early age, that many Black americans aren’t provided with from the start. *Not a judgement…just a pattern I’ve noticed being beneficial for me.
Then Yasiin Bey created an album called ‘Negus’ as a museum exhibit only. The album cover is simply the Amharic spelling ንጉሥ, which I found beautiful and prompted me to go back and spend time reconnecting with the word.
*Other inspirations come from the film, ‘Brooklyn Babylon’ and The Kebra Nagast…both of which I purchased while in The Air Force.
While interpreting this design and working on various iterations, I noticed that ንጉሥ looked like 37W. Because this was one of those revelations the universe allowed me to recognize, I decided to break it down by using Supreme Mathematics + Supreme Alphabets.
3 (my little sister’s favorite number) = UNDERSTANDING -> Understanding is what shows and proves the completion of knowledge and wisdom (man, woman, and child). Understanding is a clear mental comprehension. It is the Original Child, which is a star. The highest form of understanding is love, the bond between man and woman, or Knowledge and Wisdom. Knowledge plus Wisdom equals Understanding (1 + 2 = 3).
7 (my favorite number, my day of birth) = GOD: Allah is God. The supreme-being Black man, who is the original, is God Allah, Lord of All the Worlds, Supreme Ruler of the Universe, which is everything: sun, moon, and stars (God is the sun in the solar system, Man is the sun, Woman is the moon, Child is a star).
W: WISDOM / Woman / Wise: Traditionally, women (or Earths) are called Wisdom in the 5 Percent Nation. Wisdom is also the 2nd of the 12 Jewels, after Knowledge (Knowledge being Knowledge of Self, Wisdom being the ability to act on that Knowledge).
‘UNDERSTANDING GOD’S WISDOM’
The eye is a symbol that has meant a lot to me the older I get. I’ve always been more of an observer/watcher than a participant. Paying attention to the world around me that I’ve never truly felt a part of, a world I’ve largely never truly ‘understood’…and still don’t…but ‘wisdom’ comes the more I ask questions aloud, to myself, creatively. It’s the part of living that opens up possibilities the more I engage with myself by being both honest and courageous…sort of like how a child embraces learning about all things curiously. This is symbolized by the star. The star and it’s 5 points also symbolizes the hue-man from left to right: ARM-LEG-LEG-ARM-HEAD (Allah/all-a-us). Each angle of the star is equal to 72 degrees. 72x5=360 -> 360 degrees (120 degrees of Knowledge, 120 degrees of Wisdom, 120 degrees of Understanding), which is a whole.
I decided to sample the idea with vinyl on a crewneck designed by one of my buddies, Rich Rayburn, who I studied graphic design with back in Cincinnati.
This is the back design and placement.