The dance floor of Tel Aviv’s Gat Rimon nightclub is crowded with young Israelis impeccably clad in Tel Aviv’s latest fashions–boys with spiked hair and tight sleeveless sweaters, and girls sporting two-tone silver-rimmed sunglasses and hip-hugging leather belts. The main dance floor is so packed that the club-goers spill into the corridor and are forced closer and closer to the nearly abandoned room where a DJ is playing house and trance music.
The throngs at Gat Rimon are part of an ever increasing number of young Israelis who are choosing hip-hop over the bombastic beats of trance and house that have long dominated the music scene here. And just as it has elsewhere, this American import has inspired intense loyalty among its Israeli fans. For many, it has become a lifestyle, a profession, or, as one club-goer puts it, “Hip-hop is a culture, it’s a religion.”
Maor and Adam, two 18-year-old aspiring rappers, were first exposed to hip-hop music from their classmates at an international boarding school they attended near Tel Aviv. They note that just like any other new fashion in Israel, hip-hop is widely contagious. “Israelis have this thing; if they see a guy on roller blades, everyone wants roller blades,” says Adam. Adds Maor, “It’s like a snow ball; if they’re hearing rap or hip-hop, the ball starts rolling and soon everyone is listening to it.”
Although American hip-hop still predominates, it has spawned an offspring that is gaining more and more attention: Israeli hip-hop. And just as many American hip-hop artists use their music to discuss social problems and political issues, young Israeli artists are similarly illuminating the realities they face in Israel.
At the G-spot, another Tel Aviv club frequented by hip-hop fans, I meet a young Israeli who introduces himself as “The Shadow.” He and his partner Subliminal are the country’s leading hip-hop duo. They are one of a handful of Israeli hip-hop acts, nearly all of which rap in Hebrew.
Pulling up his pant leg to show me his massive Star of David tattoo on his lower leg, Shadow tells me their lyrics are political and very Zionist. In one of their songs they make reference to the current instability, rapping: “Israel trembles like a cigarette in Arafat’s mouth.” “A lot of the other rappers talk about drugs,” says Shadow. “We have buses exploding here; that’s our reality.”
Also at the G-spot, I meet another Israeli hip-hop artist, Shi, who goes by the name “Supreme Hebrew Intelekt” on stage. Having grown up in Canada and started his music career there, Shi is able to give some insight into how Israel’s hip-hop scene measures up. “Compared to the US, Canada, and Europe,” he says, “hip-hop in Israel is in its infancy…no, it’s still in the womb.” Although hip-hop music has hit the Israeli mainstream, Shi explains that hip-hop is about more than just the music. “Hip-hop transcended a line between music and culture…it’s the way you walk, talk, think, it’s a whole frame of mind. It’s music from the soul.”
Like Shadow and Subliminal, Shi uses his music as a way to convey a message that speaks to his fans as Israelis and Jews. When asked exactly what message he wants to communicate via his music, he replies, “I want to tell people that Israel is real. This is your country and this is your home. If you forget where you are from, how will you get where you’re going?”
