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Hip-hop Judaica

The politics of representin' Heebster heritage

Bibliographic Data

ID4850264
AuthorsJudah M Cohen (Indiana University Bloomington, corresponding author), Judah Cohen
Year2009
Volume28
Issue1
Pages1-18
Publication date2009-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopular Music (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0261143008001591
OpenAlexW2146225379
LanguageEN
Citations received4

In this essay, I explore the use of rap and hip-hop conventions as they have developed within the self-consciously contemporary American Jewish 'hipster' scene between c. 1986 and 2006, framed particularly around the way these genres have addressed the discourses of masculinity within Jewish culture. By exploring the works and actions of such artists as Matisyahu and the Hip Hop Hoodíos within the context of both American Jewish masculinity discussions and the historical relationship of Jews with commercial hip-hop performance, I attempt to explore how a population's attempts at musical 'change' act as a crucial part of the religious and ethnic transmission and preservation process. Although outwardly seen as based on mimesis and even novelty, 'Jewish' hip hop, I suggest, instils a deep sense of identity into a population often characterised as iconoclastic, dynamic, politically inclusive and culturally mutable. Masculinity therefore serves largely as a vessel for young Jews to fashion a sense of self into a conversation from which they had previously been largely absent: one of several strategies used both to unmoor and to redefine what it means to be a 'new' Jew

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Context (archaeology · Conversation · Ethnic group · Judaism · Literature · Masculinity · Musical · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · Anthropology · Communication · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Jewish Identity and Society · Law · Race, History, and American Society

  • Music and Religion

    Open Access•Dustin D Wiebe•Religions•2021

  • Jew Media

    Henry Bial•TDR/The Drama Review•2011

  • Staging a new South Sudan in the USA

    Caroline V Faria•Gender Place & Culture•2013

  • Reconfiguring "Heritage hip-hop" From the scenes

    Open Access•Xihuan Hu, Yupei Zhao et al.•Poetics•2025

Unique citing works4
Citations per year0,27
Citation span2011 - 2025 (15)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 3

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