New York rappers Remedy and Killah Priest landed in Israel a week ago, for a visit that seems quite hallucinatory. While, for political and security reasons, foreign artists are staying away from Israel, and are even warning their friends not to come here, the two are happy to do just the opposite, and they declare that they have arrived here in order to express Zionist identification.
Killah Priest, a smiling black rapper who quotes from the Bible in almost every sentence, considers the visit a spiritual experience of the highest degree. He called his second album "A View from Masada," and is now very excited about his planned visit to the site. As a guest at the Army Radio studio this week, he bombarded all those present with trivia questions about Bible stories. Remedy is a Jewish rapper who writes words dealing with the Jewish tradition.
The two are sitting on sofas in the Marina Hotel in Tel Aviv, and look energetic, certainly considering the little sleep they have had. During the past few days, they started rehearsals for their performance - which will take place today at Hangar 11 at the Tel Aviv port - after midnight, finished at 7 A.M. and woke up two hours later. The last rehearsal was held with Israeli rappers Subliminal and The Shadow, and together they performed Subliminal's Zionist-rightist version of "Biladi" ["My Country" - the anthem of the Palestinian Liberation Organization] and even wrote songs together.
A Zionist lobby
Despite the promos, Killah Priest and Remedy are not members of the leading rap group Wu-Tang Clan, but one can understand why the organizers of the performances in Israel want people to think they are. Wu-Tang Clan is the most important rap group in the United States today. Since its establishment in 1993, it has been operating according to the tribal principle: It is an open, changing, dynamic ensemble, that hosts rapper-friends - in its various incarnations, between seven and 30 musicians have been members at any given moment. Even now one hears the claim, which doesn't especially bother the fans, that the ensemble was established as a marketing gimmick in order to enable its members, who came from the worst sections of Staten Island, New York, to become a part of the closed music industry.
It's hard today to find anything in common, musically speaking, between the leading figures in hip-hop and rap, such as Lauryn Hill, JZ and Dr. Dre, but all lovers of black music agree that Wu-Tang Clan is the group that brought ethnicity back to this music. They are "the real thing" - a street troupe that has sold millions of albums, hasn't gone commercial and is greatly admired.
Remedy and Killah Priest are considered close to Wu-Tang Clan: Priest has been a guest artist in a substantial number of the ensemble's albums, and is considered part of the extended group. Remedy included his song "Never Again," which deals with the Holocaust, in a collection edited by the founder of the group, The RZA, in 1999.
And now it turns out that there, in the heart of the tough rap group from Staten Island, which considers Eminem a "vanilla" singer who toadies to the central stream, a warm Zionist lobby has been organized. The activity for Israel is especially unusual in light of the security situation in Israel over the past two years.
The style of dress of Remedy and Killah Priest is faithful to the tradition of Wu-Tang Clan - this is not the garish street fashion invented by the hip-hop artists, or other eccentric combinations, but relatively conservative clothes. The most eccentric sign that Remedy is willing to wear is a band around his forehead, and a huge chain with a "Hai" symbol [meaning "life" in Hebrew].
The two came to Israel at the request of Lucas B, as they call Luke Brenowitz, who works in the Israeli consulate in New York. Brenowitz, who is accompanying them in Israel, wanted to create a connection between the words of their songs, which deal with the search for roots, and active support of Israel. The result is that he brings Remedy, whose real name is Ross Filler, to Jewish Agency rallies in Los Angeles and New York, and organizes performances for the Jewish community in Russia.
Remedy's father, Menahem Filler, joined them on their visit to Israel. He is also not easy to categorize: One moment he conducts tough talks with the Israeli organizers about performance conditions and payment, and immediately afterwards he adopts the image of an American senior citizen, who wants only to drink orange juice at the beach in the Land of Israel. He knows all the ins and outs of the American rap world, but explains that he does it only out of concern for his son, so that he won't work too hard. When Remedy mentions Eminem, his father is horrified: "Oy, I wouldn't let you enter the house if you sang like that about your mother. Disgraceful."
A view on the conflict
Remedy and Killah Priest have a packed schedule in Israel. By the end of the week, they had checked out almost all of the clubs in Tel Aviv, as though they were following a detailed list, and on Sunday, again after hardly sleeping, they toured the Western Wall, Ammunition Hill and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. They find this combination fitting, or as Remedy puts it: "Our concept is that you have to connect between the past and the present all the time. That's what makes the State of Israel what it is."
Remedy also reports on the immediate chemistry formed between them and Subliminal. They are aware of the debate aroused in Israel by Subliminal's right-wing texts. "I understand that the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the main focus of the debate between right and left in Israel," says Remedy. "I'm in favor of a Palestinian state, but in one of the Arab countries. I don't understand why the Palestinians are supposed to live in part of the State of Israel. They are an unfortunate people, because they don't interest anyone. The Arab countries want to maintain their suffering in order to use them. That's a tragedy, the situation of the Palestinians is like that of the Jews before the establishment of the state, and they have to establish a state, but in a suitable place."
Killah Priest is the one who answers the question of how a boy from a good Jewish home in Staten Island was attracted to rap and hip-hop. "Rap and hip-hop are seen today as two extremes," he says. "On the one hand, gangs are active in it, and there dangerous battles for domination of the market, and on the other hand hip-hop is penetrating every area of music. We feel these are two very bad expressions - they show that big money is penetrating the business, and that it no longer has soul and a search for roots, but only commercial success. There's a good reason why the most outstanding star today is Eminem - he's talented, of course, but behind him is a massive marketing force like Dr. Dre. Eminem is also a white man who has crossed the lines - many people can listen to black music only through him. It was clear that someone like that had to turn up, when black music is becoming so commercial."
"Rap as I see it," he continues, "is the acronym for `rhythm' and `poetry,' and our singing is a return to these sources. I see a very close connection of the brotherhood of the oppressed between Jews and blacks. Oppression always leads to a search for spirituality, since it is the last resort: Nobody can suppress your freedom."
Remedy: "Rap and hip-hop have accompanied me from adolescence. I was hypnotized when I heard `Sugar Hill' and `Public Enemy' for the first time. Rap had something immediate, current and very strong that really spoke to me. Until then, I listened mainly to the usual, stylized music, such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath. Rap was a change."
Code red
Over the years, the careers of the two moved in different directions: Remedy became a producer and founded Fifth Angel Records, with which he recorded two albums. Killah Priest, on the other hand, attracted the attention of the members of Wu-Tang Clan with the unusual words he wrote, which gave far-reaching and current interpretations to the Bible, and with his ability to sing harmonies.
In his solo albums, Killah Priest likes to turn his words into acronyms. For example, in his songs he explains the Bible as Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth, and he calls on the audience to pray directly to God, without the mediation of priests and religious leaders.
Remedy, on the other hand, chose to combine rap and hip-hop with his family's recent history: the Holocaust. "When I was in school, I understood that everyone around me had only a vague idea of what happened there, but I didn't get any comprehensive explanations. Because I come from a very Zionistic family, I started to investigate. I discovered that most of my family was saved. We were lucky, and they all immigrated to the United States from Poland. But from the moment I started to take an interest in the history of the family, I couldn't stop."
The result was the song "Never Again," which was included in the collection album "The Swarm," and became a hit. In the song Remedy writes: "Never again shall we walk like sheep to the slaughter/ Never again shall we sit and take orders/ Stripped of our culture, robbed of our names/ Raped of our freedom and thrown into the flames. Six million died, for what?/ Moving targets who walk with a star on their sleeve."
"The song was sold in millions of copies, and, in my opinion, it was more effective than years of studying Jewish history in the United States," says Remedy. "An audience of hip-hop lovers was suddenly exposed to Jewish history. I received letters from high-school students and from families who wrote how moved they were by me. I knew it would be effective, but I didn't know how effective." Since then, Remedy has been called The Jew Tang by the Wu-Tang Clan, and he goes on intensive performance tours in Jewish communities all over the world.
Did your friends from Wu-Tang Clan have reservations about your visit to Israel?
Remedy: "One could say they're very worried. Another member of the group, Cappadonna, was supposed to come to Israel with us, but he was simply afraid. Killah Priest and I went on a performance tour with him all over the world, but he gave Israel a pass. We know that the situation here now isn't good, but want to feel exactly like the Israelis: To continue no matter what, to show that life continues. Yesterday we visited Mike's Place, [recently attacked by suicide bombers] which is very close to our hotel. The moment you see things from up close, you understand everything much better."
Remedy's new album will be called Code: Red, like the high state of alert declared in the United States since the September 11 attacks. Violinist Miri Ben Ari, an Israeli who lives in New York, who has now been discovered by the hip-hop community, will play with him on the album. "She'll be playing on Wycliffe's new album, as well as on JZ's and on mine," says Remedy. "The fact that she is Jewish and Israeli helps us connect, I think it will introduce more traditional motifs into the album. The Israelis are always living in a state of Code Red, without making declarations and turning everything into an event. That's the reason I'm so pleased with them." And his dad Menahem can only nod his head in agreement
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