No, Adam Yauch wasn’t a yeshiva boy, but we can still claim him

Published on May 7, 2012

As a student at an all-girls day school in Brooklyn, the first thing I learned about the Beastie Boys turned out to be untrue.
According to a yeshiva urban legend, two of the founding members of the Beastie Boys had attended The Marsha Stern Talmudic Academy in upper Manhattan. Some MTA students even claimed to know where the hip-hop pioneers had tagged the school with their handles.

MUSIC: ‘That Yemenite Kid’  Diwon makes a mix tape—in Yiddish

Published on October 7, 2008

Courtesy of Diwon, the artist formerly known as DJ Handler and otherwise known as the executive director of Modular Moods and Shemspeed.com, comes this fresh mix of pop, hip-hop, electronica and . . . Yiddish?

Israelity Tour teases trips with an Israeli beat

By Dikla Kadosh
Published on February 14, 2008

In a move that echoes this fusion of cultural exposure and music, the Taglit-Birthright Israel Alumni Association, recently rebranded as Birthright Israel Next, has launched the Israelity Tour -- a seven-city West Coast concert extravaganza aimed at exposing young American Jews to Israeli culture, promoting the free 10-day educational trips to Israel for 18- to 26-year-olds, as well as cultivating the connections alumni of the trip have already made to the Holy Land and one another.

Theater: Sax on the mic molds music into ‘Clay’

By Karla S. Blume
Published on September 27, 2007

Since the beginning of human history, man has struggled to figure out the meaning of life. Writer and solo performer Matt Sax's hip-hop musical, "Clay," doesn't just explain the notion of pain and struggle, but makes audiences part of the cure.

For Musicians, It’s Good to Be Labeled

By George Robinson
Published on May 4, 2006

When Chasidic reggae-rapper Matisyahu sold 350,000 units of his new album, "Youth," in the first weeks after its release, he redrew the rule book for marketing Jewish music.

Cultural Mix Inspires Revenge’s Warfield

By Karla S. Blume
Published on April 27, 2006

Justin Warfield, the monotone-voiced, seductive lead singer and co-songwriter of the local nouveau and dark-wave group, She Wants Revenge, has roots that stretch across the city, and truth be told, he really doesn't feel any tinge of revenge these days, because his band's moody, dance-club-beat debut self-titled album has not only conquered the radio waves nationally, but is about to take on the avid audience at the Coachella Music & Arts Festival this weekend, too.

Spectator - A Musical Trek to Israel

By George Robinson
Published on April 27, 2006

For 2,000 years, Jewish music has been a hybrid compounded of elements picked up from our neighbors. Salamone Rossi created Italian Baroque settings of Hebrew texts. Chasidic niggunim drew on Viennese waltz music and Eastern European military marches. Sulzer and Lewandowski wrote like German Protestants. In the Diaspora, Jewish music has always been a hyphenate.

The Sabbath Rap

By Gaby Friedman
Published on January 26, 2006

Welcome to Hip Hop Shabbat.

Spectator - It’s Hip to Be Chutzpah

By Gaby Friedman
Published on December 8, 2005

When you think of hip-hop or rap, you don't generally think of jowl-necked septuagenarians or skinny, psyched-out white guys rapping about the tsuris their mother gives them, but then again, you don't generally think of Jews either.

Hip-Hop’s Jew Crew Takes Center Stage

By Loolwa Khazzoom
Published on December 9, 2004

Jews have been part of hip-hop since its beginning," said Josh Noreck of the Hip Hop Hoodios, a Latino Jewish rap group based out of Los Angeles and New York.

Masi’s Grays

By Michael Aushenker
Published on September 21, 2000

The Borscht Belt has gone way downtown as a crop of young hip-hoppers redefines the shape of Jewish comedy.