Israeli hip hop refers to hip hop and rap music in Israel. Israeli hip hop artists hold widespread popularity in Israel, and have expanded to international markets including the United States.
Hebrew hip-hop emerged in the mid-1980s, with the genre gaining popularity in Israel during the 1990s along with global hip-hop trends. Yair Nitzani, then a member of the Israeli rock group Tislam, released an old-school hip hop parody album under the name "Hashem Tamid". This early work was influenced by New York's hip hop scene. In 1993, Nigel Haadmor (later known as Yehoshua Sofer) and Yossi Fine produced the album "Humus Metamtem", further establishing the genre in Israel.
A significant milestone in Israeli hip hop was the establishment of the radio show "Esek Shachor" (Black Business) in 1995 by Quami De La Fox (Eyal Freedman) and DJ Liron Teeni on Galgalatz, the Israeli Army's radio station. This show played a mix of Hebrew, Arabic, and English hip hop and became highly popular, significantly influencing the Israeli hip hop scene. Teeni is credited with encouraging artists to rap in Hebrew, thus making the genre more authentic to Israeli culture and accessible to the local audience.
The first notable Israeli hip hop group, Shabak Samech, began rapping in Hebrew in 1995, inspired by the Beastie Boys. While their music was initially met with resistance, the group later experienced success. Israeli hip hop often addresses themes unique to the country's social and political landscape, including the struggles of growing up in Israel, spirituality, and politics.
History
Although Native Hebrew hip hop gained popularity only during the 1990s, stemming from global influences, traces of it could be found during the mid-1980s. Yair Nitzani, then a member of the Israeli rock group, "Tislam", released an old school hip hop parody album under the name "Hashem Tamid".
In 1995, the Beastie Boys toured Israel and were interviewed by Quami de la Fox (Eyal Freedman) on Galgalatz, the Israeli Army's radio station and most popular radio station of that time.Loolwa Khazzoom, “Hip-Hop Conquers Israel,” Hadassah Magazine, April 2005. http://www.hadassah.org/news/content/per_hadassah/archive/2005/05_April/art.asp . After the interview, Quami de la Fox created a Hebrew parody of their song “So What’cha Want” to promote their tour in Israel. Later that year Quami de la Fox collaborated with DJ Liron Teeni, also a host on the Galgalatz station, to produce Esek Shachor (Black Business) – the first all hip hop radio show in Israel. Playing a mix of Hebrew, Arabic and English hip hop, by 2000 Esek Shachor “was the most popular program on Galgalatz and today remains a leader in Israel's hip-hop world.”
Kool Herc is credited in America as being a founding father of hip hop, DJ Liron Teeni is given similar credit as the pioneer of Israeli hip-hop. His major role in the process of making Israeli hip hop the popular genre it is in Israel today was the transformation of the lyrics to the mother tongue of Hebrew. Kids would come on his show on the army radio station in order to showcase their rapping skills, but when they would start rapping in English, he would make them translate it into Hebrew. Because rappers began to rap in English, it was seen as an American export which was not authentic to the music of Israel.
Popular rock band Shabak Samech is credited with being the first Israeli hip hop group, and began rapping in Hebrew in 1995. Influenced by the Beastie Boys, their lyrics did not have any specific political or social message and were mostly party lyrics.Yael Korat, “Israeli Hip Hop as a Democratic Platform: Zionism, Anti-Zionism and Post-Zionism,” Anamesa: The Democracy Issue 5:1 (2007): 45. Israeli listeners initially rejected their music. Chemi Arzi, one of the band members, recalls, “‘They said you just can't rap in Hebrew; it doesn't sound good.’” Loolwa Khazzoom, “Israeli Rappers Prove Hip-Hop will Translate to Any Language,” The Boston Globe, January 4, 2004. . Shabak Samech continued to produce Hebrew-language rap songs in efforts to promote this new style of Hebrew and Mediterranean hip hop. The band was initially marginalized due to the belief of Israeli DJs that their audiences would be lost, but they eventually reached success.
While Israeli hip hop may be seem to have common underlying themes with US hip hop and they share the main elements of hip hop, mainstream hip hop in Israel tends to deal mainly with the situation in the country, spirituality, or politics. Israeli rappers talk about more personal issues such as the struggles of growing up in Israel. Most Jewish Rappers tends to disregard the political situation between Arabs and Jews, yet they refer frequently to the economic situations in the country. Since 2001, with the rising of new Hip Hop acts, most issues are dealing with creation, essence of Hip Hop, street culture, drugs, hedonism, etc.Vens, Hartwig. "Hip Hop Speaks to the Reality of Israel". Feb 2004. http://www.worldpress.org/Europe/1751.cfm
Some of the songs also gear towards more religious themes since many of the rappers are Jewish or Muslim. Israeli local governments support the Hip Hop movement that has exploded among Israeli youth. The government has supported Hip Hop groups who travel to other countries, viewing it as a good outlet for the rest of the world to view them through. Some of the things the Israeli rappers rap about can tend to be controversial as well. As far as media exposure of artists who address real issues like child abuse or the future of the state of Israel is concerned, Israeli artists seem to have the same problems getting heard as artists in America; they address current issues but don't get much attention from the radio stations that play popular music or television stations. Before Hip Hop was considered a genre in Israel, pop and disco music were the only genres being played on the radio. When Hip Hop songs started becoming popular, the radio stations refused to play them. They felt that Hip Hop didn't make people feel good so they would not play it. The songs spoke of everything from terrorism and religion to children speaking up about abuse in their home. And as far as the ongoing conflict between the Arab population and the Jewish population, hip hop music seems to document this more accurately from various viewpoints than any other popular music or news medium in Israel. Even the conflict between Arab and Israeli rappers is documented in films such as Channels of Rage which showcases Subliminal and an Arab-Israeli named MC Tamer Nafer whose friendship ended due to political tension.
Hip hop for Ethiopian-Israeli youth Since the 1990s, Ethiopian-Israeli teenagers used the rising reggae and hip hop scenes as a means of forming a community and a sense of belonging. Tel Aviv nightclubs proved to be places of social gathering for Ethiopian-Israeli teenagers, giving them a space to gather and form a collective identity. Teenagers and young adults were able to identify with the black struggle of the music and felt reggae and rap reflected their own experiences. Through identification with historically black American musical styles, Anthropologist Malka Shabtay writes, Young Ethiopians living in Israel have... transformed their collective and personal experiences of alienation, both real and imagined, into an ideology identifying themselves as the blacks in Israeli society and attributing the relatively poor achievements of Ethiopians and their sense of inferiority and failure to racism. Their language of disappointment, disillusionment and hostility is addressed to those they hold responsible for their situation. They believe Israelis to be prejudiced towards them and see in them the reason that their chances of achieving integration are low: ‘You feel betrayed and are called ‘n-gger’. You made it to Israel and it doesn't work.’Shabtay, Malka. “‘RaGap’: Music and Identity Among Young Ethiopians in Israel.” Critical Arts Journal 17 (2003): 93-105.
Identification with the African-American struggle, mainly through music, formed a sense of community and identity among Ethiopian-Israeli teenagers. “Their search for a home is temporarily satisfied by reggae and rap... This encounter with black musical genres is a matter not only of musical taste, but of self-image and image in the eyes of others.” Ethiopian-Israeli reggae and rap, reflecting struggles and racism of daily life of these teenagers, provides a sense of community and identification among Ethiopian-Israeli youth. Ethiopian Israeli hip-hop groups, including artists such as Cafe Shachor Hazak, Axum, and Jeremy Cool Habash, have become very popular amongst Israelis, and have been growing in popularity as Ethiopian Jews integrate into mainstream Israeli society.
Strong Black Coffee ("Café Shahor Hazak"; קפה שחור חזק) is an Ethiopian-Israeli hip hop duo. The duo were a nominee for the 2015 MTV Europe Music Awards Best Israeli Act award.
Israeli rappers
Hadag Nachash
Hadag Nachash (Hebrew: "הַדָּג נָחָשׁ", English: "The Snake Fish”, IPA: /haˈdag naˈχaʃ/) formed in 1996 was one of the first rap groups to hit the mainstream in Israel. A sprouting Palestinian scene grew alongside them. Their sound consists of a mixture of Funk, Jazz, world music and western pop. They have been compared frequently to the American hip hop group The Roots since they use a live band instead of a DJ for their backup music. In contrast to the patriotic "Zionist" hip-hop of artists like Subliminal (see below), Hadag Nachash's music is often satirical and sometimes comes from a left-wing perspective. Two examples for that would be their songs "Gabi & Debi" (Hebrew) which spoofs right-wing Zionist rap music, and "Little man" (English) depicting the despair from the religious collisions in the city of Jerusalem".
Subliminal
Kobi Shimoni (Hebrew: "קוֹבִּי שִׁמְעוֹנִי", IPA: /ˈkobi ʃimˈʔoni/), more commonly known as Subliminal (Hebrew: "סאבלימינל", IPA: /sabˈliminal/), is among the most popular rappers in Israel. He has been described as "Israel's Eminem". The album “Ha'Or Ve'HaTzel” (Hebrew: "הָאוֹר וְהַצֵּל", English: "The light and the shadow", IPA: /ha'ʔoʁ veha'tsel/) with partner The Shadow (Hebrew: "הַצֵּל", pronounced "Ha'tzel", IPA: /ha'tsel/) has sold 80,000 Records in Israel which is a double Platinum Album. Subliminal was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. He started performing music at age 12, and at age 15 met Yoav Eliasi (Hebrew: "יוֹאָב אֶלְיָאסִי", IPA: /jo'ʔav ʔel'jasi/)' , who would later become his performing partner under the name "The Shadow". The two quickly became friends as a result of their mutual love of hip-hop. In 1995 the two began performing in Israeli clubs wearing baggy clothes and gold chains. They quickly developed a following among the nation's youth, and put out their first album, "Ha'Or m'Zion" (Hebrew: "הָאוֹר מִצִּיּוֹן", English: "The light from Zion", IPA: /ha'ʔoʁ mitsi'jon/). After the outbreak of the violent uprising in 2000 they wrote patriotic songs. They became known as creators of "Zionist hip-hop". In further contrast to the generally rebellious, "outlaw" nature of most hip-hop, they also praise army service and eschew drugs and smoking. With occasional Arabic lyrics and songs like "Peace in the Middle East" (Hebrew: "שָׁלוֹם בַּמִּזְרָח הַתִּיכוֹן", pronounced "Shalom Ba'Mizrach Ha'Tichon", IPA: /ʃa'lom bamiz'ʁaχ hati'χon/). Subliminal and The Shadow also helped discover the Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar (Arabic: "تَمِر نَفَر", IPA: /'tamir 'nafar/); they collaborated but eventually fell out over political differences. The bitter end of their musical relationship is chronicled in the documentary Channels of Rage (Hebrew: "עֲרוּצִים שֶׁל זַעַם", IPA: /ʔʁu'tsim 'ʃel 'zaʔam/).
SHI 360