Now I hope Y-Love doesn’t fret, but I recently found out about this dude Jewda Macabi, and he sounds like the real top 40 kind of hip hop you are likely to hear on Z100 style radio stations. You know, the kind of “rap” that really isn’t rap, but isn’t R&B either. That type of stuff that they play non stop for 3 months straight and then the next time you hear it, is at an oldies night at the local club. Ok maybe I am getting ahead of myself here, but besides for Eitan G, or Kosher Dillz, or Chutzpah, or any of the other crap that will never be anything.
The only promise we have is Y-Love and I think he is more talented and therefore more likely to stay in the underground. But you can decide, the video looks kind of scary, the guy sounds and looks like a regular old hip hop artist- except for the couple of Matisyahu accented lyrics, I think its pretty catchy. I hear he is originally from Puerto Rico or something- so that may explain his ability to shake and hand motion like a gang member rather then a Lubbie with an out of control beard.
you should check out a friend of mine, nosson zand.
he is also very good. http://www.kosherhiphop.com
i could only understand about 1/3 of what he was saying but it sounded good! i like the stomping.
He gives good shabbos.
I’d have a hard time finding to many things further from Chassidus than this video.
I was referring to Y-Love, above. I’ve never been at the same table as Jewda Macabi.
Does the Moshiach flag mean he thinks the Rebbe’s Moshiach (more than any other fellow is/was)?
I think he looks more like a terrorist
Hassidut is an organic method of worshiping Hashem, coming from where ever you are and with whatever you have.
The guy is an Israeli BT from miami. That flag towards the end belongs to a bunch of confused bochurim in chabad.
oh and to answer your actual question it depends on how you define “jewish hip hop”. There are and have been talented jewish rappers with reasonable popularity, MC Serch of 3rd Bass and solo works back in the 90s, and Abdominal (search on youtube for DJ Format and Abdominal) more recently. Oh and I think there was those three jewish kids who started a punk band then got into hip hop somehow, what were they called? Beastie Boys or something like that?
If you define jewish hip hop as a topical thing, probably never. Theres really only so many times you can fit shabbos into a rhyme scheme.
Saw this a while back off some j-music blog where the author was saying how this was gonna lead the youth the wrong way or something like that.
I was pretty unimpressed with this one. Its pretty much a one trick pony song taking the standard rap trope of “see what a badass I am” and replacing it with something to the effect of “see what a frum yid I am”. Sometimes this substitution trick works, pretty much anything Weird Al does because he has actual musical skill, but this guy does not have any notable vocal skills and the beats are horribly derivative. The visual theme of the video just looked silly to me and his beard looks glued on.
All that said, he may really be a great guy who loves g-d with all his heart. None of what I said was a personal attack, just my views as someone who 1 produces music 2 has listened to hip hop since the early 80s.
I like it, this guy has really improved. He use to be terrible now he’s all professional and stuff. I think as long as it is Jewish and the lyrics are kosher its all good to me.
I first heard about this guy about a year ago, his first video was a lot more “chassidish” style, he had the talis, the hat, shot some footage in a beis medrash, I belive it was in Florida. In the one you posted, he seems to have gone a lot more “militant” with the fatigues, the tanks and the “yechi” flag.
Check:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7530004795774523945
You want to see some really funny Jewish hip hop, check out the “Hoodios” at http://www.hoodios.com
I didn’t even notice the yechi stuff- don’t matter to me- hip artists are generally nuts anyway
If they rabbi’s banned the Big Event, because one of the singers, Lipa, who wears a beaver had, long black coat, and a curly peyos, because some of his songs sound a bit like hip hip, you think such music will ever go mainsteam????
my comment didnt post again
Frum Satire:
To a guy living in a predominanly yechi neighborhood, the flag in the clip sticks out like a sore thumb. Musically and vocally, this guys “sucks”, then again, hip hop is one of my worst music types, and I can’t say that any hip hop artists are “good” musically.
I’m almost strictly metal, as distorted guitars are my favorite. Unfortunately, good metal has been on the decline for a while, and Jewish metal is virtually inexistent.
Dude, Y-Love is simply amazing! Jewda ain’t bad either, its funny, I just watched that video yesterday.
Ok Heimishe, this is the reason you are Heimishe.
Did you actually think I meant mainstream Jewish???
Dude- by mainstream I meant as stated above- Secular mainstream
The fact that Matisyahu made it beyond Jewish mainstream and out into the the “real” music world is truly a miracle. Besides being really good at what he does, he was also the original. I assume most of these news guys will have a harder time as they will likely be perceived as copy cats.
Furthermore, even the non Jewish / black hip hoppers would have a lot harder time getting any air time if it weren’t for their outrageous videos. Musically and vocally most of them really suck, all they have going are stupid hairdos and booty shaking “hos”.
The “real” originals such as Run DMC and the Beastie Boys made it due to their originality, most new guys are basically copycats that normally end up hot for a year or 2, then everyone forgets about them and the next copycat with a different hairdo or other shtick moves “in”.
As far a Jewish mainstream, I can see a few DJ’s playing this sort of music at Purim parties. The Heimish Rabbis / Chumra reasearch institure will likely ban this sort of music, along with everything else that’s fun or different from Shtreimels and herring.
and I reread the heading a few times, pondering what mainstream meant. And since i knew that Matisyahu, who i think sings some hip hop too, is mainstream, abviously, you meant jewish mainstream.
I actually saw him on Def Poetry Jam, in full hasidic garb, reading a poem from R’Nachman, I think he meant breslov. It wasnt that good.
I love that show, but most poets have some left wing/angry agenda that they spew. But alot of good and true feelings come out.
Everyone has some sort of agenda, most artists are poor left wingers, its always been like that.
Jewish in what way? Religiously? Matisyahu is the closest you’re getting and he only gets away with that much religion because the mainstream unobservant Christian audience is big on anything that isn’t Christian (like Buddha, American Indian icons, etc.) and he dresses like he stepped out of a Chabad farbrengen two minutes ago and the public likes exotic.
Ethnically as in maybe Zionist? Most of the US is naively opposed to their own nation almost reflexively at this point which is suicidally stupid in international human affairs and history, but there’s only so much you can do in promoting other countries before people turn against it because what was out and thus popular is now in and passe.
Secularly? What is Jewish secularism versus everyone else’s? Referencing Judaica especially gastronomical? Not sure what there is to rap about in the secular world that can have any real Jewish secular slant other than something that follows along with the established comedic patterns start with the Borscht Belt comics down to Jerry Seinfeld and Ben Stiller today and that gets stale quick.
Rappers who happen to be Jewish? Too numerous to mention but the Beastie Boys come to mind. There’s rappers who happen to be Baptist Christians but make no religious or cultural references to it unless hos and 40s are somehow distantly religiously derived.
I saw a rap video from some Israeli rappers whose name I forget but it had a good measure of nudity and a bubble bath involved and naked women in bubble baths are always good for getting attention visually, but from a strictly audio pov, not so much.
That’s all I got.
If it’s entertwined as you claim, would you say that they are artists, because they are poor left-wingers, or they are poor left-wingers because they are artists?
I almost forgot about my buddy David Lazar. He doesn’t do much music anymore, he is a full time outreach Rabbi, but check out his myspace page, he rocks harder than most so called Jewish rock bands.
Check out:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=55420822
Sorry, if first URL doesn’t work, try:
http://www.myspace.com/lazzardavid
So what do you guys think of Ta-Shma?
Heimishe- I would say that the artsy crowd is poor because the starving artist is more respectable then a starving day laborer. Its cool and hip to be a poor artist. Happens to be that many artsy folks are people who grew up wealthy and therefore have access to money and privilege- they just chose to be poor and liberal.
Almost every person I know who is a writer, musician, or visual artist- as their career choice is left wing. Besides of course the more religious ones.
Hesh,
I dont agree about the myth of the liberal tortured soul artist (I hate the use of that word for performers, musicians, DJs, etc). Its an adolescent fantasy used to justify alot of otherwise inexcusable behavior or to cover up one’s inability or unwillingness to function otherwise.
I’ve been around musicians and music related people much of my life. The dependable ones looked at it as a job plain and simple, most of the rest were just flakes who happened to be able to express themselves as singers and players. The starving ones were just as useless as musicians as they would have been as brick layers. I dont care how tortured you say your soul is if you cant show up to rehearsal, gigs or the studio on time. They filled the same spread of the political spectrum as the regular folk I’ve known.
Oh and from my own times trying to make a living in music and having to choose between food and rent? Cant say I felt cool and hip at all. I feel alot more cool now having a full time job which supports me and my wife and making records and DJing when I can. To veer a little back to JM, I did play some Adonai & I in my last DJ set last sunday night.
B”H
I must admit that I am most impressed with the “kosher” hip hop music of Nosson Zand. He seems to really be good at what he does and he also seems to actually care about Hashem and Torah and not just be using it as a gimmick.
Haters Haters Haters…. Jewda Rocks…. i heard some of his new songs… wow
he is real Hip Hop. and atleast you can understand what he is saying.
check this video out its amazing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whLYM9o946w