matisyahu

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Oh come on now. It is a gimmick, and calling it one is not a suggestion that everybody "act their race."

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:35 (twenty years ago)

After reading (endlessly) the factoid that he no longer "slamdances" since he doesn't want to touch strange women, and his quote in Rolling Stone about turning down a chance to duet with Eve because the Torah forbids women to sing in public, I quickly went from thinking he was a bad novelty act to thinking he was a scary, hypocritical religious fanatic.

― T/S: Pinks/Oki Dog/Scoobys/Tail o' the Pup (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:38 (twenty years ago)

Eeeew.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:39 (twenty years ago)

before he was Matisyahu, he was Matthew Miller, White Plains, N.Y., native and student at the New School University in Greenwich Village. Most tellingly, he was a dreadlocked Phish fanatic

FALSE ALARM - IT'S JUST THOSE HIPPIES AGAIN

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:39 (twenty years ago)

Yup. Rosen makes a rather courageous point about "Jewface."

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:42 (twenty years ago)

i keep expecting to see "stay in school" flash across the screen when i happen upon that video of his

― latebloomer aka rembrandt, the fifth ninja turtle (latebloomer), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:44 (twenty years ago)

fwiw i don't think he's faking his identity as a hasid

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:47 (twenty years ago)

http://www.egokippot.com/images/grateful_dead_bear02.jpg

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

"fwiw i don't think he's faking his identity as a hasid"

Does that really matter?

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

http://www.egokippot.com/images/federal-bureau-investigation.jpg

omg this site is a goldmine http://www.egokippot.com/personalized-kippah.htm

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:01 (twenty years ago)

I'm Jewish, it is a gimmick, and I have massive issues with Hasids and their Jewish fundie schtick (which I find deeply offensive and oppressive)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:03 (twenty years ago)

I don't think he's faking it any more than Madonna believes she is a Kabbalah scholar. Matisyahu is a Lubavitcher Hasid - notorious as the guys who hang around street corners like Hare Krishnas whispering "Hey, are you Jewish?" to kids who "look Jewish" and "lost."

― T/S: Pinks/Oki Dog/Scoobys/Tail o' the Pup (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:07 (twenty years ago)

Todd Barry has a great bit about yarmulkes with "fun" designs on them that I won't butcher here with paraphrasing.

― T/S: Pinks/Oki Dog/Scoobys/Tail o' the Pup (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:12 (twenty years ago)

xpost those jews are LOCO

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:13 (twenty years ago)

I'd have more respect for him if he'd affiliated himself with those superhero-costume black Israelites you see in Times Square.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:32 (twenty years ago)

Normally I enjoy Jody Rosen's reviews, but I think he gets a little hysterical in this one. "minstrelsy"? - I don't think so. And I don't think the collaboration with P.O.D. is really anything to be alarmed about (except for possibly the lousy music it might produce).

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:47 (twenty years ago)

I mean this is hardly the first time white folks have done reggae: Eric Clapton, UB40, the Specials, Robert Palmer - the list goes on and on. I don't see why it's so alarming just because the guy is Hasidic.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:52 (twenty years ago)

oh wow was he out of tune on conan. zero charisma.

― geoff (gcannon), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:53 (twenty years ago)

>"minstrelsy"? - I don't think so.

Why not, exactly? I think he lays it out pretty ably. And I didn't feel like he was using the word minstrelsy in a damning way - just stating the facts.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:53 (twenty years ago)

I think the Hasidic part is the alarming part. Well that and the fact that people seem to be buying it despite the fact that it's apparently not very good.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:54 (twenty years ago)

i don't think he's necessarily equating minstrelsy with a cause for alarm, however - just calling it what it is, and i think convincingly arguing the point via matiswhatever's forced patois.

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:55 (twenty years ago)

But why is Matisyahu minstrelsy if the others I listed are not? That's the part I don't get. Because he wears funny clothes?

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 22:59 (twenty years ago)

i think he's saying he's that Matisyahu is the last in a long line of minstrels...

― grady (grady), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:00 (twenty years ago)

Including Eric Clapton, Robert Palmer, UB40, the Specials, et al? Is he really claiming they're all minstrel acts? That would be news to me.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:01 (twenty years ago)

And to claim that accusing someone of "minstrelsy" in this day and age is a neutral observation and not in any way damning is somewhat naive, I think.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:03 (twenty years ago)

That Slate article starts to hit on something I've been thinking about for a while now at the end. There's a great essay waiting to be written on Matisyahu and the displacement of morality. The argument goes that his appeal to young, middleclass, white kids is that in listening to him they can "take on" his moral code (no sex, strong and strict religious faith) and get rid of some of the guilt they feel for being slutty, not going to church, and having minimal self-discipline. And since he's so much of a fucking cartoon the listener escapes any charges of ACTUAL interest in religion, unlike Christian rock.

― Sean Braudis (Sean Braudis), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:05 (twenty years ago)

Appropriating a culture's music does not a minstrel make. Forcing a patois and making a grab for a very specific, ethnic-identified mysticism does. What Rosen says is that Matisyahu uses his "lesser Otherness" as an absurd but effective inroad into Caribbean authenticity.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:05 (twenty years ago)

i was refering to:

From Irving Berlin's blackface ragtime numbers to Al Jolson's mammy songs—from jazz clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow, who passed as black, to Bob Dylan, who channeled the cadences of black bluesmen, to the Beastie Boys—successive generations of Jewish musicians have used the blackface mask to negotiate Jewish identity and have made some great art in the process.

Matisyahu is the latest in this line, and while his music is at best pedestrian, his minstrel routine may be the cleverest and most subtle yet.

― grady (grady), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:05 (twenty years ago)

What Rosen says is that Matisyahu uses his "lesser Otherness" as an absurd but effective inroad into Caribbean authenticity.

I think that's a load of BS. He's wearing the garb of his own social group - he's not making inroads on anyone's "authenticity". He doesn't claim to be Caribbean.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:08 (twenty years ago)

And as far as the "patois" argument goes, lots of those other people I mentioned affected a bit of Caribbean phrasing and pronunciation in their own reggae recordings.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:10 (twenty years ago)

o.nate, read christgau's piece in the 2005 da capo best-of book....

― philip sherburne (philip sherburne), Tuesday, 14 March 2006 23:10 (twenty years ago)

He's the feature interview in the brand new Onion A/V club. I wish Noel Murray wouldn't have been so generous with the softballs.

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/46284

― T/S: Pinks/Oki Dog/Scoobys/Tail o' the Pup (Bent Over at the Arclight), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 00:31 (twenty years ago)

Nate -- one difference here w/ the others you mentioned is that this guy does all his songs that way, as opposed to Clapton or Robert Palmer. The Jamaican patois is the essence of his vocal style not just something he throws in every once in a while for effect. And yeah, after reading a bit about minstrelsy (including the Christgau piece Philip mentioned) I don't see use of the term quite as damning as I once did. I didn't feel like Rosen was making much of a judgment about it -- he didn't say it was offensive unless I missed it. Personally, I like gimmicky characters like this in the pop landscape every once in a while.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 00:47 (twenty years ago)

I don't really see Matisyahu as being gimmicky. Now, dressing up in an Elvis suit and doing reggae versions of Led Zeppelin songs (as Dred Zeppelin did) is gimmicky. A Hasidic guy who happens to play reggae music is not in itself a gimmicky act.

Perhaps a marketing person might crassly speak of being Hasidic as Matisyahu's "gimmick", but I'm willing to accept that he is probably quite sincere in his faith (and in his love for reggae) and that neither aspect of his image is a gimmick.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 01:32 (twenty years ago)

I don't doubt his sincerity at all, I think the gimmick I'm speaking of has more to do with the way he is marketed and covered in the media (only some of which he has control over). I believe he really digs this music and enjoys making it but, you know, since he spent most of his life outside this faith, he has to have some idea of how it appears to people, and that it's a bit of a novelty.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 01:48 (twenty years ago)

"fwiw i don't think he's faking his identity as a hasid"

Does that really matter?

in the context of "jewface"? yeah, kinda, don't you think?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:22 (twenty years ago)

honestly i'm drunk right now so i am not going to try and articulate this very well, plus perhaps i am being overly defensive bcz he is a friend of a friend, but uh... i dunno. like i said i'm drunk

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:23 (twenty years ago)

gawd, who cares about the "fake patois". it's part of the genre...and, just as a point of information, snow actually gets respect in dancehall circles, as does the extremely white and german gentleman--a guy who is bilingual in jamaican and deutch. the problem i find with matisyahu is that the music just isn't good enough for me--i want to hear him produced by a dave kelly or a donovan germain, not bill laswell. bill laswell is a dub fanatic; this is hardly the type of music i want to hear under some admittedly decent chatting. i don't think that i can properly judge matisyahu unless i hear him over a proper riddim. let's hear him on the drop leaf, fuck!

― cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:32 (twenty years ago)

oh, and s1ocki, i'm drunk too. damn those cinq a septs!

― cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:33 (twenty years ago)

haha! where?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:34 (twenty years ago)

But but but Cybele, I thought the only real music was dub and all that dancehall stuff was soulless sell-out music. A white rock critic told me so!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:34 (twenty years ago)

(I wish to visit Montreal and get drunk with Slocki and Cybele, they being good and noble souls.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:34 (twenty years ago)

ah, the tapas at taza flores is always excellent as is the beer.

― cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:35 (twenty years ago)

no shit,.... my gf used to work there!! i was with our collective "boss"

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:35 (twenty years ago)

al south himself, eh?

― cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:36 (twenty years ago)

yeah yeah... now i'm considering a trip to "videoself"... anyway i feel bad that this topic is now off-topic

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:37 (twenty years ago)

oh, and btw, i really think my piece this week is taking the t.o. / mtl divide a little too far...
wait, am i supposed to be talking about hasidic reggae? whoops...

― cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:37 (twenty years ago)

Yay drunken Canadian fun!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:38 (twenty years ago)

just to bring it all back to what we're supposed to be talking about (before i go and watch house...the best show evah!), i had a number of really interesting conversations with rastas in jamaica about the fact that i live in a hasidic neighbourhood...they specifically asked me about hasidism and wanted me to describe what hasidic people wear, what i know about them, etc. they felt that there was real connection between themselves as rastafari and the hasidim.

― cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:39 (twenty years ago)

honestly i totally understand the ilm skepticism (and the slate skepticism), i guess i'm either just being the devils' adv. or i'm just reacting to kneejerkism

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 15 March 2006 02:40 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 85 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Unless you're Jamaican or Sting circa 1979, don't adopt a Jamaican asshole. It just makes you an asshole.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 19 March 2006 21:30 (twenty years ago)

'don't adopt a jamaican asshole' - the new hit from vybez kartel

― j blount (papa la bas), Sunday, 19 March 2006 21:38 (twenty years ago)

Hommophobia inna dancehall style...

― latebloomer is a belly with a guy pierce in it (latebloomer), Sunday, 19 March 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

Hahahah, oh man.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 19 March 2006 21:54 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

http://spe.atdmt.com/b/DEDEIMSFTXBX/300x250_M.gif

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 June 2006 19:28 (twenty years ago)

sigh

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 June 2006 19:29 (twenty years ago)

my friend's 14 yo daughter was totally excited about Matisyahu and was disappointed that I thought he was horrible. really I didn't know where to begin...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 9 June 2006 19:35 (twenty years ago)

Unless you're Jamaican or Sting circa 1979, don't adopt a Jamaican asshole. It just makes you an asshole.

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), March 19th, 2006 4:30 PM. (vassifer)

hahaha

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 9 June 2006 19:36 (twenty years ago)

Adopt-an-asshole: they need love too

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 9 June 2006 19:41 (twenty years ago)

matisyahu is a total cuntrag?

― Marmotdeth (marmotwolof), Friday, 9 June 2006 21:29 (twenty years ago)

lol matisyahu is hueg

― Q('.'Q) (eman), Friday, 9 June 2006 21:35 (twenty years ago)

Can Matisyahu play games and chat on Xbox Live with women?

― Marmotdeth (marmotwolof), Friday, 9 June 2006 21:37 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

apropos to nothing ...

http://img.hmv.co.jp/image/jacket/190/02/5/3/822.jpg

― Eisbaer, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 04:48 (nineteen years ago)

"Oy it's so humid/Oy-Oy It's So Humid/Oy It's So Humid/It's Like a Sauna In Here"

Even when I was in 6th grade that album wasn't funny.

― Hurting 2, Tuesday, 27 February 2007 04:52 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

What's the name of the guy who sings Jewish-themed reggae?

― am0n, Friday, 4 July 2008 00:34 (seventeen years ago)

jimi hendrix

― jhøshea, Friday, 4 July 2008 00:52 (seventeen years ago)

four years pass...

I see someone is trying to make himself over:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/assets_c/2012/09/matisyahu2-001-thumb-550x335.jpg

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 13 September 2012 18:07 (thirteen years ago)

Yeah, he's going through some crisis of faith, apparently.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 September 2012 18:11 (thirteen years ago)

"Wow, I believe I kinda stink and I want to start looking like the Beastie Boys circa the late nineties or so."

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 13 September 2012 18:19 (thirteen years ago)

He supposedly had blonde hair for a while there.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 13 September 2012 18:26 (thirteen years ago)

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