Jeremy Cool Habash

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In the minority rap sector in Israel, Ethiopian rapper, Jeremy Cool Habash, is a popular artist who speaks to many Ethiopian Jews. Habash raps in both Hebrew and Amharic about his Ethiopian Jewish heritage and the struggles that face many Ethiopian Jews in Israel who live in low-income areas ^[1] Habash’s lyrics do not touch upon topics of mainstream rap and instead center around his passion for Judaism, the lives of the youth in Israel, and the difficulties of living as an Ethiopian Jew in Israel^[2] He describes the attraction of Ethiopian youth to hip hop: “Ethiopian youth are attracted to hip-hop as the new expression of our identity.” He explains that Ethiopian-Israeli youth seek to advance themselves through music much like the way African Americans have ^[3] Habash has taught many immigrant children throughout Israel about hip hop and how to create a song with the hope of empowering them with the ability to uphold their cultural heritage. Habash dreams one day of creating a recording studio for the Ethiopian-Israeli youth.

One of Habash’s most well known raps contains lyrics strung together from bumper sticker slogans^[4]. Habash creates a montage of contradictory beliefs by assembling these phrases. He links together pro peace slogans, left wing and right wing statements, anti-Arab sentiments and of anti-Orthodox Jewish sayings. Through this convergence of bumper stickers, Habash subtly criticizes societal aggression and calls for compassion and tolerance ^[5]

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