As a black Jew myself, it seems the words of Jay-Z were never more appropriate: “L’chaim - it’s my time. If the new Drizzy video is any indication, black people and Jews will have no problem coexisting in hip hop. We’ve come a long way from stereotyped depictions of Jews in rap videos and lyrics, and from lines like NWA’s “Cuz you can’t be the ‘Ni**az 4 Life’ crew / With a white Jew tellin’ you what to do.” Overall, it’s a positive thing that Drake feels he can express his multiculturalism through hip hop. ”Īt the same time, he seems cognizant of the importance of entering this new territory carefully, acknowledging that they were “very respectful of the religion and all that happens there.” Minutes before the MTV premiere of the highly anticipated, Rihanna-featuring video for 'Take Care,' Drake debuted the Lil Wayne-assisted video for 'HYFR' on his Octobers Very Own blog. In an interview with Vibe magazine he said, “It’s all a little crazy, like having Birdman and DJ Khaled sitting beside an old Jewish lady, as they watch Drake read from the Torah. Of the “HYFR” video, Director X has acknowledged that it was fun for him to make a video that breaks some cultural taboos. Take this video, for example, which parodies Wiz Khalifa’s “Black and Yellow” and made its way around the Internet last year.
Drake’s video is only the latest to capitalize on the increasingly complex identities of blacks and Jews to make light-hearted videos and crack jokes about culture. WATCH JAY-Z’s ‘99 PROBLEMS’ VIDEO HERE: CAUTION, EXPLICIT LYRICSĭuring the civil rights movement, blacks and Jews became engaged in unprecedented alliances, and a new class of multicultural Jews of color was born. Acknowledging Rick Rubin, an influential record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records with a simple “You crazy for this one Rick,” he had everyone wondering who exactly it was that heavily bearded man riding around in his car for the “99 Problems” video. Jay-Z was one of the first to place a visual emphasis on one of the Jews that had previously been contributing to his music from behind the scenes.
Historically, Jews have more been acknowledged for their behind-the-scenes roles bankrolling hip hop as record execs, supporting rappers as lawyers, and of course providing the ever-crucial chains and jewelry pieces, with enough shout-outs from rappers to make “Jacob the Jeweler” a household name.
WATCH THE BEASTIE BOYS’ CLASSIC MUSIC VIDEO: ‘SABOTAGE’īut with a few exceptions like the Beastie Boys, Jews are relatively new to the hip-hop spotlight. Combined with the majority black demographic of hip-hop listeners in the ‘90’s, the fact that they were white made them outsiders enough. But it was also a secondary factor in their otherness they came up at a time when rap had long been virtually synonymous with the black American experience. It’s not that Jews are necessarily new to hip-hop: the Beastie Boys, for example, hold an important place in hip-hop history, and their Judaism was never a secret (“I’m a funky a** Jew and I’m on my way”).