What does Erykah Badu mean when she says "I was born under water with 3 dollars and 6 dimes ..."?

Question

It goes: "I was born under water, with 3 dollars and 6 dimes. yeah you may laugh- but you did not do your math...
oh what a day, what a day...."
I think the name of the song is "On and On"
Does it have to do with her spiritual beliefs??

Answer 1

I'm having a really hard time grasping this but it looks like there is a sect of Islam called the 5%? It is mostly made up of African American rappers.
In the early '60's a man named Clarence 13X began to question the doctrine of the Nation of Islam (NOI) and started teaching that the collective black man IS Allah. He was reprimanded and then left the NOI to start his own sect called the 5%. He taught that the 5% are the black men who have "knowledge of self" and uses that knowledge to release the hidden resources of the black man. Once the man has tapped into these resources, he is a God; therefore, the women of the 5% lifestyle witness that their men are "Allah." 5% rap is full of numbers. 7 is the number of perfection. It stands for God as "G" is the 7th letter of the alphabet. Women of the 5% can only get to 6 as they are subordinate to man. Women are also referred to as Earth since the Earth revolves around the sun and the women revolve around men. As the earth is covered in 3/4 water, so the woman must wear head coverings and cover 3/4 of herself.

So in answer to your question, maybe Erykah is referring to her body being covered as earth is covered in water. The money part? Something about numbers obviously. In the 5% lifestyle, women can only get up to 6 so what is $3.60?? Anyone?

Answer 2

It had something to do with spiritual beliefs 3 dollars and 6 dimes means 360 as in 360 degrees and comming full circle and having knowledge of self - which is part of the 5 percenters aka the nation of Gods and Earths religous teachings which is a group that broke away from the nation of islam - they advance in the religious sect by having knowledge of the supreme mathematics and alphabet which consists of their teachings .

Answer 3

I bet it does go along with her spiritual beliefs, or could mean maybe she was poor and had to make due with what she got. Had a hard life, I heard that song back in the day, maybe reading the song will give you a clue as to what it actually means.

Answer 4

It mean she has mastered the 5% lesson which we call 120, which is 120=knowledge , 120= wisdom, 120= understanding - which gives you 360 degrees of spiritual and physical knowledge.

Answer 5

Maybe her mother had her in the water, which makes pregnancy a little easier. And there was the money...