Kriti Mehrotra
With ID’s ‘People Magazine Investigates: The University of Cosmic Intelligence Cult’ living up to its title, we get a deep insight into the online organization that has affected several lives. While the titular movement helmed by Rashad Jamal White has always claimed to be “geared toward enlightening and illuminating minds,” a lot of serious concerns about it have since come to light. After all, two disciples committed murder in 2022 while on a “spiritual journey,” a group of followers disappeared without a trace in 2023, and the founder himself is a convicted felon.
Rashad Jamal Once Envisioned a Thriving Career as a Rapper
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Rashad Jamal was born in 1986 into an environment far from comfortable, happy, or stable, especially with him reportedly not having a father figure around. According to his own accounts to St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the area he grew up in was also surrounded by poverty and violence, so he witnessed struggle in a way many can’t even begin to imagine. He claimed many of those around him either dealt drugs or struggled with addiction, only for him to find solace in poetry and rapping while also recognizing an internal need for optimism.
That’s when Rashad decided to pursue a career in rap music in the hopes of sharing his positive messages with the world, which reportedly led him to Wisconsin in the mid-2010s. A couple of years later, in 2017, he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, upon securing a record deal, where he also fell in love with a fellow rapper, and they welcomed a son into their lives. The artist has since alleged he soon became disenchanted with the industry, yet he has still released 2 studio albums as of writing: ‘Only the Real Gon Relate’ (2022) and ‘Promethazine and Pain (Based on a True Story)’ (2024).
Rashad Jamal Evolved Into a S0-Called Spiritual Leader in 2020
While Rashad was still based in Georgia and struggling to make any real headway in his rap career, he decided to be a lot more vocal about his personal moral and spiritual beliefs. The catalyst for it was the murder of a Black man named George Floyd Jr. at the hands of a police officer in Minnesota during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When he heard the news about this incident and its ensuing aftermath, he admittedly felt compelled to be “a voice of all people who have been oppressed,” driving him to ultimately establish The University of Cosmic Intelligence.
Rashad initially took to social media to just express his opinions on what was going on in the world, but he soon spread his wings into serving as a spiritual influencer for Black and Latino people. His teachings have always exclusively targeted them – in fact, he has even vehemently claimed in his videos that people of color are “natural earthly beings,” whereas White individuals are not. Afrocentrism and New Age movements seemed to be his focus at first, but as his following grew and he formally launched The University of Cosmic Intelligence, his messages took a strange turn.
Instead of focusing on harmony, positivity, and togetherness, Rashad’s rhetoric allegedly soon led his followers to cut off contact with families, push back on social norms, and reject world rules. He reportedly even began referring to himself as a prophet, messiah, or God in his videos before going as far as to preach theories claiming people are often programmed through technology. That’s just part of why authorities have since classified The University of Cosmic Intelligence as a decentralized online cult, alleging the leader’s teachings are dangerous, false, and scary at best.
Rashad Jamal is Currently Incarcerated in State Prison for Child Molestation
Despite the concerns of law enforcement, the University of Cosmic Intelligence remains an active organization to this day, regularly posting new content on its YouTube channel and website. In fact, even its online store has continued to thrive over time, offering books, clothes, crystals, gems, lectures, music, and more to followers, with the cost of them ranging from $33 to $444.44. However, what’s even more imperative to note is that the movement’s leader, Rashad, has been in jail since May 2022, so he has allegedly been using a contraband phone to manage everything himself.
According to records, Rashad was arrested in the summer of 2022 in connection with 3 counts of child molestation and 2 counts of child cruelty in Borrow County, Georgia. A little more than a year later, he stood trial for the same and was ultimately found guilty of one count each of child molestation and cruelty to children in August 2023. He was subsequently sentenced to 18 years in prison, so today, at age 40, he remains incarcerated at the close-security Hays State Prison in Trion, Georgia. According to the state Department of Corrections records, his maximum possible release date is May 2, 2040, following which he will be under probation for 22 years. Nevertheless, he maintains his innocence, arguing that these charges against him stemmed from “jealousy” in a child custody case, whereas his conviction was the result of racism.
Yet, we should mention that Rashad didn’t have a clean record prior to the child molestation case. He was convicted of domestic battery in Wisconsin in the mid-2010s and was convicted of disorderly conduct plus domestic abuse in Georgia in 2018. Moreover, he vehemently opposes the label of a “cult leader,” telling St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he believes it to be “outrageous. When you speak out, they’re going to attack you.” The 40-year-old convict has since also denied any association with the 6 people – 4 adults and 2 kids – believed to be his followers, who went missing from a home in Berkeley, Missouri, in August 2023. “I am pretty sure I have never met these people,” he said. “I get on my phone and I give a lecture. I go live, and then I get off the phone. I do not know the people that are in my live(stream). It’s too many people.”
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