In the current issue (March 2011) of XXL Magazine, hip-hop's obsession with the Illuminati is investigated due to persistent rumors that linked rappers to the secret society for much of last year. Today's rap superstars, like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, have all been labeled as members of the clandestine organization founded by a German scholar in 1776. Though many of them have brushed off the accusations the rumors continue. And while the Illuminati hip-hop talk reached its peak in 2010, it's not a new phenomenon to the genre.

Way back in 1995 when Mobb Deep's Prodigy rapped "Illuminati want my mind soul and body" on the remix to LL Cool J's street banger "I Shot Ya" rappers have been talking amount the secret cult. Most famously, rap icon Tupac Shakur adopted the alter ego Makaveli to release his Illuminati myth-busting LP, Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. Though Pac's album stirred a huge amount of talk about the Illuminati, chatter died down in the early 2000's and reappeared in the latter part of the decade, with Jay-Z being the main target for Illuminati believers.

Here we take a look at a timeline of some of the more noted and wackiest Illuminati moments in rap.

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