It's not as far-fetched as it might sound. Since his live album was released last year, the buzz has been growing around Matisyahu, a 26-year-old vocalist whose music combines reggae, hip-hop and Jewish spirituality.
Rapper Matisyahu – From Bible To Billboard
COULD a bearded, brim-hatted Lubavitcher from Crown Heights be one of next year’s breakout musical stars?
It’s not as far-fetched as it might sound. Since his live album was released last year, the buzz has been growing around Matisyahu, a 26-year-old vocalist whose music combines reggae, hip-hop and Jewish spirituality.
It’s an unlikely brew, but there are growing signs that it may be more marketable than anyone might have guessed. Released last winter, Matisyahu’s “Live at Stubbs,” a set recorded in Austin, Texas (at, ironically enough, a barbecue restaurant), has sold over 100,000 copies, and is still rising up the Billboard alternative chart, where it’s No. 2 in the “heatseekers” category.
Matisyahu turned a lot of heads last summer at the music fest Bonnaroo, when in front of 90,000 people he got up onstage with former Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio to beatbox, chant scripture and duet on the Bob Marley classic “No Woman No Cry.” And in January he’ll release his major-label debut on Epic Records.
“He’s very quickly caught a buzz,” says Josh Baron, executive editor of the music magazine Relix. “His music has a lot of appeal, and his live act is great.”
It’s another odd turn in the life of the former Matthew Miller, who grew up in a Reconstructionist Jewish household in White Plains. Miller got into reggae as a high-school student; after he dropped out, his adventures included several months spent following the jam band Phish on tour.
A spiritual seeker of sorts, Miller connected with his Jewish roots on a trip to Israel, and later became a convert to Chabad Hasidism, after meeting a rabbi in Washington Square Park. While studying 10 hours a day in a Crown Heights yeshiva, he never gave up his music (though dating women and taking drugs had to go). Eventually he released his debut, “Shake Off the Dust … Arise!” in July 2004.
Onstage, Matisyahu cuts a decidedly original figure, incorporating quotes from the Torah and melodies from Hasidic chants into songs that percolate over a reggae beat, extolling devotion to God while wearing the traditional black suit.
Though a seeming contradiction, it helps that Matisyahu is part of the Lubavitch branch, which is more open to such creative outlets, says Hella Winston, author of “Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels” “You couldn’t be a Satmar rapper, I’m told,” she says.
Still, Matisyahu’s rabbi keeps tabs on his career, making sure he lives in accordance with the rules of the sect – he eschews Friday night gigs, for example, and requires kosher food at venues. He’d rather Matisyahu was back at the yeshiva studying, but, the singer has said, he feels a sense of mission about his new calling.
“I have a way to affect people and uplift them,” he said last year. “To give that up is to go against what God wants.”
Fed-up
The entire Matisyahu thing is entirely over-blown. Peaple have to understand he is what he is. He is not Bob Marley or anything near that. His music is to secular to be Jewish and no way nearly good enough to go even colse to "mainstream".
mike bloomberg
i agree hes pretty good but just a novelty, a passing fad.
comparing them is like people comparing piamenta to jimi hendrix.
btw
Fed-up im sorry to break it to you but first of all its not over blown matisyahu’s song "king without a crown" is the 2nd top song in the country and is on the radio everyday and in you claim hes to secular if you listened to the lyrics theyre words strait from chassidus and him saying on the radio "i want moshiach now" is amazing!
a girl
amazing yea-but whats the pnt?? i dont think that we are elevating the radio by degrading our music!
btw
whats degrading about words of chasidus?
Anonymous
a girl:
The music isn’t degrading, I don’t see why you would say that, the Rebbe said to use every medium to spread the word of Judaism and Moshiach, this what Matisyahu is doing is just that, in the form of reggae music, here just take a look at these lyrics:
King Without A Crown – Matisyahu
Chorus:
What’s this feeling?
My love will rip a hole in the ceiling
Givin’ myself to you from the essence of my being
Sing to my G-d all these songs of love and healing
Want Moshiach now so it’s time we start revealing
You’re all that I have and you’re all that I need
Each and every day I pray to get to know you please
I want to be close to you, yes I’m so hungry
You’re like water for my soul when it gets thirsty
Without you there’s no me
You’re the air that I breathe
Sometimes the world is dark and I just can’t see
With these, demons surround all around to bring me down to negativity
But I believe, yes I believe, I said I believe
I’ll stand on my own two feet
Won’t be brought down on one knee
Fight with all of my might and get these demons to flee
Hashem’s rays fire blaze burn bright and I believe
Out of darkness comes light, twilight unto the heights
Crown Heights burnin’ up all through till midnight
Said, thank you to my G-d, now I finally got it right
And I’ll fight with all of my heart, and all a’ my soul, and all a’ my might
Chorus
Bridge:
Me no want no sinsemilla.
That would only bring me down
Burn away my brain no way my brain is to compound
Torah food for my brain let it rain till I drown
Thunder!
Let the blessings come down
Strip away the layers and reveal your soul
Got to give yourself up and then you become whole
You’re a slave to yourself and you don’t even know
You want to live the fast life but your brain moves slow
If you’re trying to stay high then you’re bound to stay low
You want G-d but you can’t deflate your ego
If you’re already there then there’s nowhere to go
If you’re cup’s already full then its bound to overflow
If you’re drowning in the water’s and you can’t stay afloat
Ask Hashem for mercy and he’ll throw you a rope
You’re looking for help from G-d you say he couldn’t be found
Looking up to the sky and searchin’ beneath the ground
Like a King without his Crown
Yes, you keep fallin’ down
You really want to live but can’t get rid of your frown
Tried to reach unto the heights and wound bound down on the ground
Given up your pride and the you heard a sound
Out of night comes day and out of day comes light
Nullified to the One like sunlight in a ray,
Makin’ room for his love and a fire gone blaze
Chorus
Reelin’ him in
Where ya been
Where ya been
Where ya been for so long
It’s hard to stay strong been livin’ in galus (exile) for 2000 years strong
Where ya been for so long
Been livin in this exhile for too long
Personally I hate this style music (reggae that is, not Matisyahu). But you need to be real thick not to see the message in these words. That is ELEVATING the airwaves.
yossi
To see 300 goyim jumping up and down siging ‘we want moshiach now’ in a mush pit is unbeliveble
NOT IMPORTANT!
TO MIKE BLOOMBERG
WELL FIRST OF ALL PIAMENTA IS BETTER THAN JIMI HENDRIX IN A FEW WAYS,
2) NOBODY COMPARED MATISYAHU TO BOB MARLEY AND CALLED HIM THE CHASIDIC BOB MARLEY OR THE CHASIDIC DAMIEN MARLEY (BOB MARLEYS SON (ONE OF THEM!) WHO IS A FAMOUS REGGE STAR AND HAS HIS MUSIC PLAYD ON VARIOS STATIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY,(IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE SONG: JAMAICA JAMAICA, OUT IN THE STREET THEY CALL IT MURDA….VECHULU VEDAL!)
"I BELIEVE THAT MATISYAHU WILL MAKE IT TO THE GRAMMYS"
WHETHER YOU LIKE ROCK RAP REGGE HIP HOP…
YOUVE GOT TO LEARN TO RECOGNIZE TALENT AND PERFORMANCE, AND UNDERSTAND THAT MATISYAHU HAS GREAT TALENT AND IS A VERY UNIQUE AND AMAZING PERFORMER, AND HE IS NOT AT HIS PEAK YET, MARK MY WORD: HE WILL WIN A GRAMMY!
to yossi
They are not jumping up and down to the lyrics of the song. They are dancing to the tune & the music and the energy with there own thought involved.
i bet you they don’t know what in the world he is saying, just like the rest of us who have no clue what he is saying in till you look at the lyrics. & they certainly don’t know what the meanings of the Hebrew words are, like the word Moshiach. I mean these are people in a bar, not educated people. grobeh mentchen
btw
to the guy who wrote to yossi:
people who are into that kind of music do indeed understand what hes saying and as matisyahu says in one of his interviews that he loves it how in the crowds he sees poeple singing his lyrics and that his lyrics are words of chasidus and not just garbage so seeing as his lyrics are "we want moshiach now" the goyim in the crowd are saying "moshiach now" and so what they dont know what some words mean they know hes reffering to G-d as the one and only and they do know what moshiach these things are know to the world
now if u want to argue weather or not he belongs in certain clubs then you might have a point but his music on the radio as Webby said is only a good thing.
Yetta
I was recently at one of his shows and a few of the young girls were crying when he said Sh’ma. Why would they cry? Because they were so moved to be standing there smushed up with a bunch of people in a seedy bar hearing someone say Sh’ma. I was moved by their tears.
chabadlover
Some of you are sooo pathethic and just so unhappy. Amazing most of you are probably Lubavicth and if so I’d assume you learnt chasidus and all and if so I’m shocked at the stupid remarks overall. Everything seems to be a problem. I bet you are all the leftover losers that did NOT move on, did NOT do chabad house work, did NOT follow what the rebbe advised overall.
yup maybe i’m just ranting but a simple guy like me from midwood non chabad can tell you besides matisyahu guys like salita the boxer you have just make lubavitch shine no matter how you look at it. yes we know – everything has faults and so on but some of you have your heads in the sand.
time to take it out too ;)
google
to the people he’s trying to reach (non-frum or non-jewish) it’s prity good what he’s doing.
But for frum or better yet ChaBad boys and girls, there is plenty better if you are looking to feed your soul.
[We have plenty of Nigunim, we have plenty of Shforim (in english), a Bocher or Girl that grow up in a Jewish Chasidic school or Yeshiva does not need Matisyahu to inspire him/her.
emi
Yetta: i dont think they were crying b/c they were squished?
to yossi
i dont agree with you but you have apoint.
being mekarev yidden & poeple is very importent. but we have to be carefull to be mekares people to torah & not mekarv the torah to poeple, lest you become another shlomo carlbach. evrybody knows what the rebbe -who loved every jew more then anybody els, and cared more then anyone to bring them closer to g-d-felt about the way shlomo carlbachs did kiruv.
im not comparing matisyahu, to carlbach, matisyahu is doing great work im just saying that you have to be carefull how we do our kiruve.
fed-up
Why are we still talking about this?
mike bloomberg
not important: dont get me wrong i love the guy too but i think your fooling yourself with this grammy stuff.
dont get carried away, man. hes a novelty in 5 years nobody will have heared of him.
and no, i dont think piamenta, good as he is, comes close to hendrix. sorry thats my opinion.
google: great point. i agree.
for some reason im being reminded of the book gordian knot…
btw
piament has a is 7th top guitarist in the world so yes he can he can be compared to hendrix and btw the saying hasidic hendrix is not really comparing to hedrix but saying hes very good
rappin- rabbi
all i know is that i work with alot of black (jamaican, african, etc.) people, hispanic, puerto rican, and whoever else… they all know of matisyuhu (they call him the rappin’ rabbi) and they all cant belive it… they absolutely love him. i dont know if they understand what he sings about cuz no one mentioned that but they DO love him
dont got a name
happy chnucka baby
NOT IMPORTANT!
"His music is to secular to be Jewish and no way nearly good enough to go even colse to "mainstream".-fed up.
"matisyahu introduces to the world a new form of music called "chasidic regge",-not important.
"because once you get over the sideshow aspect of matisyahu and actual listen to the guy,it becomes clear that he’s for real"-gq magazine october 2005.
in his misic and in all his interviewes he talks about god, concepts in judaism, and concepts in chasidus.
"dont get carried away, man. hes a novelty in 5 years nobody will have heared of him"-mike bloomberg.
well jimi hendrix himself ,the beatles,all great bands and performers out there have their peak, they do not stay number one forever.
"YOUVE GOT TO LEARN TO RECOGNIZE TALENT AND PERFORMANCE, AND UNDERSTAND THAT MATISYAHU HAS GREAT TALENT AND IS A VERY UNIQUE AND AMAZING PERFORMER, AND HE IS NOT AT HIS PEAK YET, MARK MY WORD: HE WILL WIN A GRAMMY!"-not important.
to be continued some other time.
NOT IMPORTANT!
Are You In Favor
of a Forum?
miki
yes i am
if the wins [which it prob. will] that there should be a forum, by when will it be here??
mike bloomberg
forums too official i wouldnt go there. this is nicer.
good shabbos all
nickel
ok, good shabbos.
Sophia
Well, sadly Matis didn’t win that Grammy, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t deserve it, because HE DID! He is really an inspiration to the youth. May he continue to bless us with his talent.