By Daniel Kirsch, Special to JTNews
If you’re sorry to see the summer’s gone and you’re looking for something fresh to help usher in the Jewish, academic, and fiscal years, try out this release by the Hip Hop Hoodios. In their debut EP, Raza Hoodio, the Hoodios — a play on the Spanish word judio, meaning Jew — combine equal parts hip hop and rock en español to celebrate a range of Jewish and Latino themes while having an all-around good time in the process. It’s all a part of their mission to spread the gospel of Latino-Jewish culture.
The EP opens with “Havana Nagila,” a tune that layers the traditional Jewish melody over a Latino beat and features a chorus declaring “I’m a Jew for Allah, a Jew for Jesus, a Jew for Milagros and telekinesis/I’m a Jew for you, a Jew for me, a Jew for the birds and a Jew for the bees.”
Track two, “Raza Hoodia,” with its well-timed and astutely selected samples, highlights the production behind this recording. The centerpiece of the album, “Ocho Kandelikas,” is an ode to the Festival of Lights and is likely to become a staple in many households this Hanukkah. Tracks 4 and 5, “D—s & Noses” and “Kike on the Mic,” fuse the Hoodios’ Jewish-Latino style with some of the lesser-appreciated aspects commonly associated with hip hop, such as the embrace of racial stereotypes and epithets, and exploitative boasts of sexual prowess.
The hilarious lyrics to these tracks, such as those claiming that large noses are not the only exaggerated feature on Jewish men, illustrate the Hoodios’ sense of humor.
Here’s a Tipper Gore spoiler alert, however: you might want to put the kids to bed before playing tracks 4 and 5, because the material could be considered objectionable to minors.
This adventure into Jewish hip hop is far from new. Some 13 years ago, 2 Live Jew produced a series of Dr. Demento-worthy tunes such as “Oy It’s So Humid (It’s Like a Sauna in Here)” with lyrics seeking to teach the world about bagels and shtupping (“what you do in the back seat of your father’s Chevrolet”).
While some continue to focus on parody — I recently found a reference to a tune on the Web called “In Da Shul” by 50 Shekl, which I can only hope is a joke — the Hip Hop Hoodios venture into new territory, demonstrating how diverse Jewish culture really is.
This above all else is what initially drew me to the Hoodios. Well that and the fact that my wife has caught the Hoodios bug. In eight years of marriage, I have yet to find any other hip hop (or rock en español, for that matter) that she’ll listen to.
The only major downside to this recording is its brevity: it left me wishing for more.
A full-length album, however, is apparently in the works and expected to be released shortly.
Raza Hoodio can be purchased for $5 via mail (details on the band’s Web site at www.hoodios.com) or for about twice the price from Tower Records or www.Amazon.com — the link can also be found on the Hoodios site.