PART 2: The Untold Story of Nissim Black (Ep. 206) 5th Anniversary!

hi this is D olowski and welcome to the rabbi olowski show whether you're watching with our friends over at tany time whoever you watch or listen to your podcast as always we're happy to have you along for this experience this is going to be the long awaited second half of the interview that I did with niss and black and uh I got a tremendous amount of reaction from the first half and um uh I hope you enjoy the second half and the insights that are there that we've shared uh I received one interesting actually a number of people made the same interesting comment and that is I've seen this in Black interviewed on other podcasts but this seemed much more of uh sharing as opposed to an interview I appreciated that because you know I I said at the beginning that I didn't look at Nissim as an Entertainer I looked at him as a mashia uh so uh so I hope you enjoy this and as a uh uh special observation this is our fifth anniversary show I always like to get a special guest for the F for the anniversary show and so I got one so please enjoy this is the end of five years of the rowski show my gosh what a long time I don't do things for very long and uh you know very few things do I have for that I keep going for such a long period of time and and the of all the good people who watch and listen and get from this show we should continue for many years to come and now the second half of my interview with niss and black fair enough that you're going to become an orthodox Jew right but you know you're going to become a black Orthodox Jew in a almost entirely white community yeah I mean that's got to give second thoughts yeah of course then you think about was everybody going to think what where we came from think what are they going to the whole thing is just like you didn't want to know so Hashim arranged that a I think it was a of shabas I was at a grocery store and I was doing like a self checkout and in between the beep I'm telling you with bright lights it was like music played from heaven and I can hear all the Angels going oh and I heard shabbat shalom brother you know yeah it was a black Jew and I yeah of course come on come on it's a black Jew in in Seattle yeah Yakov lenon was his name Master lenon as we affectionately call him uh and and he had a karate outfit on but I look what the OD what are the odds so we talk had a beautiful conversation he invites us for shabas today we call him Uncle yov he was he was really we had we went to him the next to shabas and and didn't he warn you off to being a black in the orthod community like a lall told he definitely told us it was going to come with some challenges truth is you know coming from where I came I grew up in seatt on the East Coast you're right that's true this is more than challenging you're right you're right but the truth is when you grow up on the East Coast like he did and and from the south I think it's originally from the south and grew up on the East Coast or whatever I always say people I know people I haven't been to the South so much been there a little bit haven't been to you know the heart of south Louisiana where my wife is even from like that so I don't know but just from all the places I've been like the most like uh racial tension I would say ever seen was like on the East Coast like I mean it's where the place is like most racist place in the world I mean think about all the burls your black Harlem Spanish Harlem nobody can even live in the same neighborhood you understand what I'm saying so everybody's got stereotypes on the other person and whatever the Jews are like this the blacks are like this the was like you come from 98118 where I came from like it's the most diverse zip code in all of this so we grew up you know Gana so we you being a galana I can handle you being black but not exactly so so we didn't so for me whenever I were here growing up black people who came from the East like talk about all the struggles I always stop not by me that's your world you know that's not by me but it's right he come from a guy who watched his father killed by the cuu clan when he was a kid I mean you know crazy crazy story he grew up seeing discrimination and different things like that so he's 67 I think Yakov you should interview him by the way but he's a crazy story but so for him I always thought okay yeah I hear it these struggles are not going to be my struggles he's hearing he's in raav now thank God we made Al before him he made it to Y first I made it to ER um you're so competitive yeah so competitive at least and one up so so so Uncle Yakov was was a big anchor for us and and and bringing us into the community um the first two shabas and the other people we met started having us for for shabas and want to know so inter so that was really the way we started rolling in and right around the beginning of that time I think maybe the second third we week or whatever there was uh there was a Messianic Jewish conference now this at this point we already have one foot out of the door you know and and it came down to argument you know that was like one of the last straws for me was an argument that we had on sh with some of the there we were staying up all night learning and uh and and the argument that we had was that that that who holds who has the real the real Authority is it or is it the apostles mhm now most are not having this over this right so this was this was our argument and we held you know me and my brother-in-law and couple held that it was in it wasn't the apostles whatever we had our reasons for why that was one of our argument that was like one of our last strolls and then they announced this conference is happen it's coming to Seattle and whatever and I remember being there for one of the meetings we stepped in for somebody else and they said you know whatever you do know there's going to be Orthodox rabbis who are going to come they you'll see them in the lobby whatever don't talk to them don't say h Hello to them don't speak to them whatever you do just Fu that was like codal contact who are these Orthodox rabbis one of them was Rabbi Michael scoach from Toronto who's an anti-missionary other one was Rabbi Ellie Cohen who's who's who's a KATU but he's also anti-mission works for Jews for Judaism and so they you know them and other people like the famous one to singer RAB toy singer he doesn't go to the conferences I you you know I have talked to him he should really he should really attend some of these anyway um so so so what happens is is that they in the in the lobby and what they do is they try to engage Jews in conversation they're very well versed in the New Testament very well versed in Tanakh and they are qualified to have these conversations now so we decided it was a four-day conference we will go but instead of going in we're going to go sit with the rabbis and CH not to go talk to right so I mean like now have real conversations you know right uh so that's what me and my brother-in-law did we sat with Rabbi scoach and Rabbi Ellie Cohen I think he was in Melborn he think he's he was in Toronto now I don't know where he is but uh so we we sat with him four days kept going back kept going back and and just were radically changed by the by the conversations that we were having and a lot of things that we did we didn't think about now now fortunately but unfortunately um you know they go with the intent to Eng engage Jews and conversations at these and what happens is they end up making a lot of G so I don't know if they realize the mission is or whatever you know uh there's there's a claw really in the Messianic world that wherever it's more like church you find the most Jews there wherever it's the most from you find the most going this just is what it is what I I taught Na Go you talk to three guys the one who's most interested is the Christian right all the time all the time all the time you know it's uh it's it's a very interesting thing but uh so after that we go back we don't end up associating with the Messianic congregation anymore my wife is serious about this I'm with her we're on the same page and we start you know looking we go to for a few and then we end up moving into the neighborhood just like that that quick I mean in a matter of weeks we were already found a place out I was going to Safar vium in Seattle uh Rabbi benzaken God bless him he was uh like became like a for and he wasn't surprised that this black family suddenly walks in they he already had this other black Jew there by the time we moved in we definitely added to the pot you know there was there was my friend nak he was also black and Jewish over there so it wasn't a lot for a small community you know there was there was a few black yeah there a few black the only place where there's two shes those are the Turkish one yeah yeah yeah yeah Turkish and and and Ro that's where I was at the Turkish sh one from roads R from roads right e bezi uh shout out to e bezi and then there was the ashkanazi and at the ashkanazi Shu at the time they were in the process of of changing rabbis I think that was one of the reasons why we didn't go there everybody told us to go to the Safar they're much more warmer plus they told me the Bas over there were much better so I heard baras I didn't know what it was but it sounded G we ended up going over there you went to the Turkish show yeah they had baras it was serious business over there but it was a certain type of warm maybe I guess it felt a little bit more more cultured that what's interesting about that was like we ended up going to Safar Sho and that's where we were but I I've always sort of been somewhat of a hybrid because in the Safari families were very very tight-knit it was like a mafia it's very our family very warm for everything the S Community doesn't even allow G yeah that's true that's true so by them it wasn't a thing sure they have a big sign up like you know all the really to or something you know yeah of course of course of course let me know where it is I want to go anyway so what happened is is that um so they because everybody was so you know like my family only not meaning they were very cord very nice and everything like that but meaning not a lot of people invited us over so we didn't learn a lot of the different Safari ways to do things at least according to their M because not a lot of people had us over and it wasn't on purp it was just like a cultural thing that's what culturally happened so who was having us over all the time asazi families so you can't imagine how confused we were about every single thing that we did I'm Lear we don't do anything like this we don't do anything like you know so and anyway the the other thing was that was very hard for us also too is just being very transparent is like coming from where we came from studying tanak and and eschatology other everything we were on fire for Hashem you know what I mean I was spending eight hours a day learning I was you know in order to find the truth I was fasting three days at a time I take a week I would fast three days I would go out crying to Hashem like I was like we were coming in like fire blazing and everybody was just like why are you guys taking this so serious understand the Orthodox just like nobody could understand what we were so excited about why are you sure you want to become Jewish like what's the whole you know like why would you do that someone El M burger why we put so much money into the kir movement instead of into the regular Jewish Community he said because you need someone who still believes in this that's good that's very good very good oh my goodness I have seor him on that um but anyway so that was that was a little discouraging honestly that was very discouraging for a lot of us um and that's that's really uh one of the biggest things that led me to breast is because I had the book from Seattle there there wasn't but what happened was is as we started getting more and more into the brastel of uh seor especially by the time I came across was talked about that was when I knew I wasn't crazy and once I see talking about in that type of way I read in in Ra's books already Garden of auna these things were keeping us through because you know it was that verse everything we we were seeing that nobody thought we were like everybody thought marbles were off like we were so excited about you you know what I'm saying like like you guys are so excited people would tell us like it's like what what were we supposed to do like you know that's where sort of kept us at Bay by the time I came across RAB for and he was talking about just just just crying out toim from that deep like that's how I found yish that's how I got here right so for me it was like the biggest relief and I I would say a living example of that fire that I saw was my rabby Rabbi Brody who was in Seattle at that time and I met him early on Rabbi Brody originally is from Silver Spring um but he was he was teaching at uh one of the schools there and over the time he had eventually started his own like a breakaway minion and and then from that it turned into a sh for for T over there like a new s style and everybody that sort of you know dated that davened over there and uh fiery daving I'm talking about wow wow found your place yeah I found my place but he wasn't bring no he was he but he he had he had a big breast love Tom because he spent four yearses for sure they only Str more than a thousand mile radius for sure but but but it wasn't about just the Lou and all that like people asking like today it's like Lou like I didn't get caught up on externals necessarily because for me be honest you know I wasn't so fond of the dress like nobody I mean come on I came from the hood like this is just having this fur on your head you know what I'm saying like you know it just wasn't really something that I thought was gmak but what made it for me CU see this he said CU I used to be a minister and I look dressed in black and white anyway so I kept it kep it with it that's funny uh but what I seen over there was is that his passion and fire for Hashem was just you're luy you found that cuz there a lot of places you won't find any place I know you don't understand how much I think a shim all the time that I had Rabbi BR in my life because me and my brother-in-law we naturally gravitate and it wasn't that everybody else is wrong but I just that it's a difference when somebody's passionate about passionate about and they're excited about it and all that and we saw that by him you know and and he exuded that and everything that he did the way he would make a bro the way everything he probably would not want me to talk him up so much like this but to be honest I didn't see it he was already he started pushing us to get up very early I remember we used to get up very early in the morning they come there he was already in there talking to shim and he's bu this fresh out the mikah and learning T in the dark you know what I'm saying with with a candle and just I'm saying by the time start ding with you know I would my soul was ready to jump out my body when he start diving sh love everything to him about yishai was a big deal you know what I mean he wasn't a rambunctious person they attached to families you're going to families sh yeah we're going to families and and that was that was sort of what gave me my fire and so then from there uh wait so you still doing rap I was still no so yeah I should have should have mentioned this so even before we started the gis um I retired I thought I retired technically I retired I didn't get a pinion or anything like that but I definitely I took some time off so what are you doing now so M way what are you supposed to do how do you go from from Hip Hop to so I started working in Property Management there you go no wonder you became a GW yeah I was just I always reluctant to say that cuz I know what line is coming right after I say that um so I I which which wasn't even intentional itself I started working at some you know apartment complex and uh you know as a facility coordinator the year I said that you know I was already I didn't even make my mind up on the Gus yet but I wanted to be close to shim and I'm reading aide the to you shouldn't work on shabas so I didn't want to work on shabas anymore and then and I didn't want to and I was already ending my last I already came to a conclusion it was going to be my last rap album and uh and I my conditions were that you know they could keep all of the money everything that came from it only thing I want is nobody asked me to perform on Shabbat I don't have to do anything like I'm off on on Shabbat and I don't want anything from this I was so like whatever that year working at the property management from a facility corner I got four raises that year four raises so I somebody got fired another person left and they kept moving me up they seen my customer service so good so they started moving into Leasing and I started moving my way up and it was like you know it was very very very interesting like totally not qualified for the job at all by the way was just wasn't my type of thing but you know that's what happened just me just trying to trying to do at the time what I thought what I thought was right so that was my last album and and you know fortunately or unfortunately that was the one that blew up like all everything I was wait waiting for was that that one record you know when MTV and bet was something you know I was I was on rotation over there full rotation I was on College radio the cmj charts I was like beating out people like Jay-Z and and most like it was like a big thing like they closed so this was it you on the cusp of success I was on the CP cusp of success and my last my last album I thinking and I remember flying I went to New York to play the cmj festivals cmj yeah the college music I you ever think to yourself like this is it this I've worked all these years for this moment and no it gets worse it gets worse bad it gu I remember going to play this fast and I'm sitting over there with some of my favorite rappers that I grew up listening to and stuff like that some underground some more mainstream and they I remember one guy he was like tapping his girlfriend they like introduce me to D black introduce me to and I'm like man I grew up BL even want introduce to me you know what I mean like having conversations with big people and they all knew who I was like you know what I'm saying I didn't have to introduce myself that was like crazy for me and then to come back and be like still has i' rather you i' rather you I've been working so much up until that point so that's sish it was my sish it was it was I foret about was I was always waiting for them to be discovered yeah entertainment that never happened listen you made it the to anytime this is big stuff this is big stuff I don't think I have so many Clips on Tor anytime you know I I haven't even made I love my Tor anytime anyway so all right so now here you are in Seattle you're on fire with God you dragged along your wife's sister and her husband you just increased the Jewish black population by about 80% yeah so now what happens so after that you know we live we we went through took us about two two years two and a half years for the for the whole GIS uh we finished and we stayed there in the community bashim uh we're there for about you got a good job now yeah well property manager well so something kind of happened over there with the property management what happened was to be honest with you it just wasn't my cup of tea really quite honestly I love the people over there so I really had separation anxiety I would have never left but I I I I had a problem that my boss believed in my music more than I believed in it even at that point and she couldn't get it past her she was just like like why are you doing this like why are you not the the career like at this point I'm at work they're watching me on betm TV and they're going like like why are you like why are you doing this like no I'm doing you know and um I'm finally living the dream Property Management yeah unfortunately my my position at the company was cut I I end up I remember losing my job and this all happened around the same time I was like yeah probably exactly uh no sweet people but but I I it's so funny I had friends and family my wife and other people around me were really pushing me encouraging me to go back to music at this point now this is already a year after this time now and I'm like there's no way in the world you know uh you know God Bless madis but madis had had definitely had a change of heart this is just all the same year publicly you know him there were other I do know misis what happened I know him very very well but we're friendly we're friendly you know what happened cuz he was like real Stark I I can't I can here's my honest opinion right so I can't I can't speak I haven't talked to him about I want to talk to him about it the way I just haven't had the courage and the time really to really talk to him about it because you know I don't know how sensitive he is about it uh like I said we're not that close we're friendly but I can imagine being in a I would say somewhat similar position of how how much you you're dedicated to to use your gift right cuz minus also came from from that world he didn't come from a from world he came from the world of Ray so he was really being true to himself and using his talent and trying to he concert and stuff like that I mean he was like very he was getting mainstream Jewish right right also too so so but I think the thing is is that still we don't realize how much negative feedback really can affect you it wasn't for every person you know you could have 20 people that love you and one person that hates you and that bothers you you understand what I'm saying you could hearing all the time about this you shagets what are you doing and your whole everything I said I think that over time those things started affecting him and the people that were embracing him were less like even me right I'm more embraced by people who are less from than the people that are from right uh for for multiple reasons and so part of it they don't speak the language of of hip-hop yeah so they don't they don't speak the language but it's no reason to it's no reason to be to be ignorant of something or to t a person a certain way just because you don't understand something we see something we don't understand so oh my goodness immediately this is the and it's I think it gets us into a lot of trouble Israel is much worse than America when it comes to this I guess so I guess so aarty came over to me once and said do you know they have quotas for us in schools yeah I said don't complain to me I'm an American they don't have quotas for us they can just tell us no with no problem it's worse to be an America to be a smarty cuz at least a smarty you got a quota Americans nothing but we for sure an underclass they look at Americans is like you know F yeah of course Tak a toe on you yeah of course but I can make hisra I get back exactly exactly exactly so can I talk about um I got jokes anyway so so but because of that and you're in that very very unique position and for him I can only imagine was a little bit I would say even worse I came in I had my brother-in-law my sister-in-law had my wife he had no family he I mean madas got married after from what I understand after he was already uh you know well known different things like that I don't think he came in he was he was single when he started from what I understand so there's already certain grounding things whatever that did probably didn't happen as much I don't know how long he learned and Yeshiva before the success came I here was a smalla time from the success into that and me already I had already retired and lived two lives and ra a property manager right so there is already a little bit of a different artist a property manager right right right so so I I think that you know those were those were the differences but but I can only imagine like I'm saying being in that type of position and in a lot of ways he was in a higher position than me he was still on a major level I've been with major labels but he like really had a success on a major label and I know how that goes you know what's he doing now he's he's still performing he's still still performing definitely still performing yeah yeah I mean not playing him at so many B mitzvas these days it's just not happen but he's Still rocking the outside world still he's Still rocking he's still doing this thing he's still doing this thing um but I could like I said when you see stuff like that when that situation happened it scared me right you understand what I'm saying that made me feel further like okay it's right of course I'm right they can't go back to music and it wasn't the same time in that same year that mat is well most people don't know it was like something was in the air because there were other Jewish artists who were less known than matist that at least I knew you know who were in The world of contemporary type of music and they all was like just calling it quits that year so I was like this is like if there's any more proof that this is not what to do like I don't know what is you know and yet there was this push from people that around me even rabam that I talked to in Seattle and found out because I tried to keep what I did before a secret you know and they got out black je walks into a sha in Seattle what do they think they they thought that you did you were either a drug dealer or a rap singer what did they think you know oh this guy must be an opthalmologist that's true it's true it's true it's true I hate to say people stereotype but hey you know it's the truth it's the truth people do stereotypes so whatever people found out they're very awesome about it and and people encouraged me to like do my thing and I and I was pushing pushing away from it and um and and really I I I really try to rely a lot on on Rabbi Brody cuz I felt like he he was uh some my very unbelievable character to meet very few people like very few people like that and so he was very reluctant to tell me anything he he didn't want to go one way or whatever he said let's keep dinging yeah you know and so what happened was aim arranged that my my eldest boy at the time he's now my eldest boy um uh got sick with menitis he was in the hospital uh for about two weeks and because I was a big already this form from raar he talked about you know a person if you're in a in a very hard situation you need a big yes sure you should dive into for 6 hours you should pray whatever so I really took this on and I prayed I prayed I prayed and I hit a certain place inside of my deil and I start thinking about all these different people were encouraging me like cuz I want to know what was out of place I lost my job I you know things are not going so my kid my son is sick like we were going through a lot of TOS at this time you know what I mean and I'm trying to figure out like what what's going on and I started think about that I started thinking there's no way and then I thought about a dream I had when I was a kid I'm telling you like crazy dream super Vivid of of me doing what I'm doing now quite honestly I was I was a I I was a th% a Hashem guy I was talking about hasim one time I saw myself in a in a in a in a like on a screen and I remember this dream in the middle of me praying and I remember when I was a kid I woke I was not a kid I was teenager 17 or so before that but before well before y sky and I remember waking up from the dream I was crying on the edge of my bed I was like balling but I felt this this major like I'm telling you when I had this dream it was like unreal how much I felt hasim was with me and I was doing what I was do you know and I was just having a conversation about Hashim but I was a famous rapper and I I and I remember this dream in the midst of this of this six and I and I all of a sudden I started thinking like wow maybe this was the shim thing so I I I I tested a shim I don't recommend this at home I I had a broke Road mic we talking on a road microphone there was an nt2 microphone that was up in my closet collecting dust that you know may had a short I don't know what the problem was but it just didn't work anytime you plugged it up it didn't work and then it went on for a while like that from back when I was using it and uh and I Ding and afterwards I plugged up the microphone it worked maybe it just need to sit for a while but for me that was a miracle it is a Mir and and it not only did it work it kept working I recorded a whole album on it um from that but before even after it worked after I hooked it up um I remember afterwards I was like so shocked I went to you know my Rabbi Brody and I went to talk to him about it and he gave me like two hour maybe lecture of Miss M I mean it was very deep like Musa and whatever and he give me braa and at the time I was in touch also with Rabbi laser Brody because I was so scared I just kept checking with whoever I could you know that I felt like would be would be straight with me and I remember I sent it a sample song to Rabbi laser Brody who was at the time doing the English stuff for raish and uh who I become very close with also from Brody to Brody and then he told me like you must do this like it's not even a Shila like to to use your gift to you you know how many people you could bring close to shim it's so encouraging and I was just like okay so what you know what do I do and so I started and I didn't know what you don't understand I didn't know really there was even a such thing as Jewish music like I I was listening to can go it died in 1982 I remember when I was there but when David put out yid that was the end that was the end of it oh so when they start playing a song and the girls give that Primal scream you know that's not was over no one ever did that with sa that's very good very good very good observation yeah um however so you know I didn't know what to do I went back to the regular go that I knew and and all good people that I worked with before and and I was having no sucess Jewish Album I didn't no I didn't call it a Jewish Album I just called it positive I wasn't really saying anything Jewish I was talking about uplifting things and very positive album and uh because I I was still unclear about what to do you it wasn't like I had straight Clarity and and what happened was everywhere that they the pr team and everybody would go back to me label just like listen be very honest with you this album just like way too positive we have no nobody on it like this stuff is just too like positive like nobody you can't sing hip hop to Pat Boon songs right right it was just like you know which it was so striking to me because my last album that I put out was also very positive it was just very black you know I'm saying what I'm saying like sonically was much more Hood much more that that that type of way even though I talking about positive thing but nobody really noticed cuz the Beats were knocking you know what I mean so but when I tried to go more alternative route I try to lighten up the music and different things like that they just like man we just really don't know how to interpret it I was like getting no bites do you know understand from being like the top guy on all the blogs and everybody was talking about DJ Premiere was running my and you don't know who he is but he I'm talking about he's one of the the The Godfather A hip-hop right you know so I had a lot of support from like but there were just nothing people I was lucky I was never successful so I never had to you never had to yeah the drop so so that was like you know that was discouraging um so I thought maybe you know made mistake you know maybe it wasn't for me I I just didn't have any direction so we go through Happ to that album uh the album's still still around people can still listen to it it's called n it was titled self-titled n um and um I sprinkled in a few words here and there but I wasn't really like uh it definitely was was I wouldn't say like a Jewish I also too I don't really consider my music like Jewish more than less than I'm I I I I make music about Hashem and so I try to make it universally enough to where anybody who who who who wants AEM can can get down with it so um anybody that doesn't probably not probably not shy for them but so I after that album we released it and uh and got when we got back which was nothing I ended up going homeless with my family for about a year was literally a year we had to be out on June 1st and cuz CU I didn't have work and you know obviously the the music thing wasn't going for me um we were homeless from June 1st to June 1st so we ended up moving in to a place after I ended up working you know job for like a a company that was uh like back then I didn't notice like a difference between being like woke and not being woke or whatever but this place was like Ultra and plus of Seattle I mean come on it was like super duper uh left in a lot of areas and I didn't know the difference between left and right either I just know I was butting hits with a lot of these and a lot of stuff was around Israel to be quite honest um and and and so um you know I remember during that to C for we we having like debates you you know Trayvon Martin gets killed you know and I'm somebody from the hood and then the three boys get killed and kidnapped you know in Israel at the same time you know and we're sort of having different type of sympathies and I'm supposed to be siding with this because you know so we were having like very heated arguments I didn't know difference between right and left and and I still don't know that much but anyway I just was it was a very hostile environment for me to be in with my my views on faith and different things like that and it wasn't for everybody else there were good people just wasn't the same way so I started working there it was good enough for me to get into a new place or whatever but uh I I quickly left and started working for coell now from a financial decision that was a mistake uh however for R's decision that was very was very very good for me um so I started work with the co there in Seattle and you know we're still trying to make everything and during this time a friend of mine reaches out to me and like hey have you ever heard of this song now I'm thinking to myself of course who who hasn't heard of this song like you know what type of question is everybody heard of the song now still not knowing there's a Jewish like music industry as you said that doesn't exist so I'm just like yeah I heard this song He's like would you do a remix for it I said yeah okay shout out to Elon Cohen that's who it was to call me and so he calls the GU Elbas and calls me back and he says okay we're going to do this song Whatever and I'm thinking like to me I'm going to make this record over that but I was already at this point past having a music career I'm working a regular job now you know I I I have you know a gavala coffee and and and cake with Rabbi Brody afterward somea shom after doming like my life is made for me right now like the last thing think about like is is re rebooting my rap career I still doing music CU I felt like I I got that call this is what I'm supposed to be doing but I wasn't like so active I didn't know what I was going to do however what happens is is we end up doing this song and and before the song actually came out it was maybe five to 6 months laps before actually came out uh me and God's version but I had already recorded it so I was somewhere in London with the nuda to and we started they had like a kumit and they started singing it so they all asked me to like rap because they knew I rap so I already had something already so was like perfect I I didn't we didn't set up anything but they just did it so I started doing like you know my parts from and it like goes viral online before the song actually comes out right so then when we start crowdfunding for video everybody's like yeah I want to I want to see that video so people funded the video like from crowdfunding and we ended up putting out the video and I'm telling you by the time it came out I tell you where I was we were two months behind on my rent I didn't know where my next dime was going to come from or whatever and I wasn't like I didn't have I should have been more conscious and been more worried about it but I just something inside was I was so sure that hasem is going to take care of me I had no idea what it was and I knew that I needed to focus on my CRA I came back from shooting and it it had dawned on me and said this was it this is what you were trying to show me I'm supposed to be I'm a you guy right so that's the biggest thing for me a lot of people T me wrong but they need to understand for me I was put here to be a Hashem guy and everybody wants that because I have this great crosscultural type thing where well you're black you're Jewish you come from over here whatever galic that's great but I'm a Hashem guy and I realize throughout my life anything that doesn't have to do with Hashem I have a very short Gul of how much I can entertain it you understand what I'm saying even if I get excited about I have a very short G of how long I can I can give my energy to it because I start to feel like it's not tless for me right so if it start to feels not not my purpose so for me the moment I'm have a song called I'm like wow shim I'm all in at this point I'm really all in I was already two months three months behind on my room by the time this song comes out I didn't know where my next dime was coming from and I was literally in the forest of the upper Loop of sewer Park everybody knows where it was every day 22 days I was six hours crying out that and you know I was diving it on that I should be my of the people that should bring a shims like this is what I was diving I was spending the bulk of my diving I spent a little bit time on my rent but I guaranteed you not over here talking to sh even now I have a tough time I'm a breast lover but I don't do all his advice one thing I don't ask enough for is material things I don't not because I don't it's just very hard for me I really believe that if I can correct myself in my R then also handle my G so for me sometimes I I forget to mention my gos I don't think it's a good thing I think I should more but says I don't need money as long as I can buy whatever I want that's a good line that's a very good line yeah so so as long as you become a Scher right but yeah for sure but so so that's what happened day 17 of me doing these Tas the song comes out and goes viral now only viral by Jews it went by non-jews also too number three on the world charts when it comes out yeah people don't realize how big the song went so it hit number three on the world charts and it's like everywhere from all over the world people were calling me I was getting called for by mitz was getting called and I couldn't believe this all of a sudden there's this Jewish music industry and there like I you didn't even know the concerts and I came to one a God's concs I remember there and there was like thousands of people there and I'm like people like really like there's an industry of like Jewish music like people I didn't realize when you said you into God you meant God El God elb yeah I usually make sure people know that I was talking about God elb you know definitely not the same guy not the same guy I love God so suddenly that's it now now so so yeah so that was the beginning of that Journey now all throughout this we you talk about the moving quickly we moved to erell maybe a month or so after this but AR country now doing and wedds yeah but but once I got the call I had you know so I had a considerable amount of calls and I went for it we moved to erel so most of them came after I had already was was even making Al out people were calling for months in advance so I thought okay so listen first few months were in Israel well we have some work or whatever I did not think you know s 10 seven seven eight years later I would still be doing it we didn't have no idea we I'm talking about we moved to a we didn't have an apartment we didn't know where we're going to stay now people would say I'm a sugar and it's partly true but I you understand I think we more established that already throughout the entire story I used to think B trer were difficult but gri were impossible no doubt about it oh yeah oh yeah but but it's it's so hard for me to explain and and I don't want to sound even crazier but I I I I'll be very very honest you know one of the things that's always been hard for me to to adjust to and I'm not saying was was uh was rationality right to to some degree because on our way into yish because we believed inim so strong we seen so many different G we saw sh hash like and there there makorus for this in the seor for sure specifically lookn talks about what has does for game sometimes and talked a lot again we shut up because we're com to communties everybody looks like it were crazy but a is so picked up on the fact that you were a g though yeah oh I wonder why yeah right I don't know although if you buy the smart him you know go either way smart him like you know th% th% th% but because we were like at this fire so for us hasim was so real to me that that we were willing to move to atis my by the time my wife moved it was sight unseen she never been to Aus I had already been a year you know a couple few years before a friend had brought me on just a for me I said I was scouting but for him it was just that was your first time in ER that was my first time in ER it was 2013 mind so then we moved at 2016 the beginning of that year so 3 years later we moved and we didn't have an apartment we told NE been neish place we were looking at we sorry NE Benish but we we didn't have we got a place after moov here in raave but when you came up the plane where'd you go we we went and met up with a agent and went looking for a place immediately where' you sleep that night that night we got a place we took a that night Hashem is with us man I'll tell you that if you if you believe in hasem has will you got to buy me a lottery ticket got to buy me a lottery tickets I never thought you ding for your go so how about me yeah I got to be a b bu buy a lottery ticket anyway so but but the truth is is that I mean when we came we we got into a place here can you imagine the amount of confusion that we had going on over here like we just had no idea we moved to ravia like it was still a lot of Americans over there also too and then you know whatever so we still didn't know we're going then you go to me the Dynamics of all the different places we were everybody had horror stories about school so we didn't even tried to put our kids in school for the first 6 months that we were here with the whole thing was just like bbum confusion I was with one people that started you know the the mash over there started going a different way and it was just like and now I'm touring I'm traveling back and forth all the time also too I you know it took me so long to get my Israel passport huh God bless your wife God bless her yeah she was she's left here with the kids she left here is don't speak a li Brew does mean nothing but we just we were you know call us crazy or whatever but it led us to a place to where it it let us a very real and awesome tangible relationship with hasem that we because already we're G right already we look different like everybody else so does it matter to me that I'm going to do things a little different also too if I if I try to do what you're doing am I going to fit in later on no I'm not so it doesn't matter you know I was cutting I had to cut a friend's hair uh ok Yakov I remember I was cutting hair and before I cut his hair you know everybody somebody had told him you know he had dreadlocks he was going dreadlocks at one point and and somebody said to him you know why don't you just like it's black by the way you just like cut your hair man so you could look like the rest of us and he looked at he said if I cut my hair I'm still not going to look like the rest of you what you talking about you know so nothing you could do to fit in you know and as they it's a very famous quote you know that when you were born to stand out why try to fit in when you born to stand out my son was was five yeah so we had some people over from the Heritage house and he had an earring uhhuh and my son is staring at him and he whispers to me he says ABA he's an evid that the only an he had for somebody would have a rick in there ear that's too funny wow wow wow if I cut off my hair that I'll fit in so yeah so that's my story you know all the way from Hashim to love me my new song that's out you know I over the years so let's talk about music so now so now you're flying around yeah and you how many albums have you made now those eight years I didn't make a lot uh just I put out a lot of singles I didn't make a lot of albums but I think I put out I think this is my fourth studio album now yeah what's your second hit after hashm second hit after hashm was million years and and then Fly Away um and then uh yeah those were I think those were the next biggest songs that I put out that I'm probably most known for at least at least in the Jewish world and the non-jewish world I'm probably most known for my motherland bounce song right but and and as much as people I know they love that song it's sort of like an illegitimate child of mine it is it is it is you know like that's one of the biggest toughest Parts about about this is like you know I haven't spoken so openly about this I'm kind of giving you some jewels that body else is really going to get uh or haven't gotten up until this point but I've been more open about it over the years because um you know well people know that I also don't fit in any place so they're okay it's all good it's all good and I I say this not in a way want to fit in but I just want to be Amis on myself like you know I put out sng motherland bounce I was I was working with a with another label and my inner core U people around me in terms of my career had changed and I don't think any body had bad intentions but one of the things that happens when you start to experience some type of success is that everybody has the best version of you for you you understand what I mean sure and and and and especially when you're a performer because you have handlers exactly and they have an idea of exactly and they can see your everything's busy with brand what is your what is your brand right and because I'm Black and I'm from the hood and and people admire that so much for some reason they what happens is a lot of times is that people start to say like listen we want to see you like this you know I think about I was hosting bam at my house for for many years I was living in May for a couple two two and a half years every night every Friday night I was home have 30 40 B usually from brisk from the from you know C slum we're boys from from all the mits whatever you want to call it and these were the bulk of the boys that come every once in a while the H boys will come or whatever but for the most part I had you know super star yeah and and never without fail there was at least a boy or two who want to make me feel comfortable so they'll start talking like somebody from the hood you know until they realize I'm not talking like that just like speak I don't speak yish not not yet my my yish is is is weak I understand it quite a bit though I do understand yish quite a bit I have these videos of these black guys who speak yish speak they're beating me out cuz I don't speak parents only spoke when they didn't want me to know going got work on it's it's a little bit of a b so so what happens is they trying to make me feel comfortable so what happens is is what develops over time by people's like listen he see I see you like this and I see you like that or whatever so you know and and it was perfect timing I think why I released this song because my kids were being rejected from school cuz they were black right really yeah you say Israel over there at least in America sometime they won't tell you but in Israel for sure it's not it's no politically correct I'm not being list kick it they didn't kick out you black cuz you're smarty right exactly imagine how many strikes strikes I had against me oh my goodness that's too much I I remember one time I was I went to one school and and you know the hanal whatever you know his kids come here look he if he comes here with his kids expose our kids to and all this other stuff now I went there all the girls were coming out going oh n and black is here n black these all the the girls that are coming out saying that my daughter up until that point had never even seen a clip of mine she never she didn't know why people were stopping go s out of the stuff and my kids were way less exposed even was still to the day my daughter's having complained with me last night cuz she didn't know certain you know ABCs by the rest of her friends but for her we didn't we didn't expose our kids to the my kids my kids didn't know what basketball football were till then we moved to raat B Chim for sure they had no idea so sinair used to tell his story and then he said he sensed at some point it was making his kids uncomfortable really so he used to tell the story about somebody else instead of his telling his story that's very good that's very good um so it'll be harder for you it I knew this black guy yeah exactly I don't know if uh anybody will buy it I don't know if anybody will buy it I I have to say this I have to say this so this was a deviation for me because I was I was having all of that I remember I started the this this record and and somebody who was a really good friend of mine was like really pushing me to finish that song and I didn't want to finish the song cuz I just I started it like jokingly you know what I mean I was just freestyling one time and the lyrics were coming out you know like old school and and eventually I was in the studio one time I was recording on something else and then he's like no it comes in he's like man you got to finish that song that song you got to finish so I end up putting it out now the truth is the song comes out it goes viral and even when we had thought I I went I went in the non-jewish world yeah for sure um even in the Jewish world but for sure in the non-jewish world this song ends up becoming like super viral right to where like every I was already part of a label but every other record label started calling me in afterwards I was by Universal Warner Republic everybody want because everybody was hearing about this song it was getting shared a lot so anyway some people took it way too serious but even still it was such a deviation from my usual thing but you don't realize it until afterwards you start going like you know this everybody pushed me because they they nobody had bad intentions but they this is how we want to see you this is how we want to see you and the truth is is that all the time if a person's not checking thems you you will always be pushed in a Direction that's not really you if you're listening to other people tell you who you are and it's not who you are so I don't so for me today very very much so I don't care I look at it as EXA if I am I cuz you make a song about that I I probably should I do I do have a song about on the new album on the new album I do it's called someone else that's I do have a song about it someone else and I wrote it because of of that T I had with Mother new album's called Glory coming out November November and um and the reason why I have this song someone else was because of this teer that I went through and also how many boys I talk to who are B who everybody struggling with who am I really and and and I didn't I thought for sure like Hashem I'm done with these type of I don't have to go through these anything things I'm serving a I'm going I'm with my and then all of a sudden you get hit and you with reality that listen if you don't if you're not a 100% to really stay focused on what your mission is in this world somebody will give you a mission you understand so you have to be focused on your mission and my mission is bringing people close to has and I and I had had my is whole motherland BS I still perform it for people cuz I know the especially for the BAM they're really into the gets the gets the blood going uh but every I try not to perform in most places just because it's for me it's like it's a it's not it wasn't my was my you know it was me trying to think oh if I can be M more people everything so said but me my my regular schedule programming is it's it's Hashem you know and and openly and not side door talk about hasem I'm not trying to like talk it if I don't say Hashem in the song it's just because it didn't come out in the word but you're definitely going to know what I'm talking about if you're listening to what I'm talking about uh but consciously being very very open about my relationship with theim and and trying to bring people close to theim is really what my music is all about so can we ask you to do one song I mean I you didn't put that on the question sheet I didn't know we were going to do that you know I don't have any accompaniment but I think if I'm correct with hip-hop you don't need that if I'm even hip hop if it's kach I at least did a guitar if I'm if I'm even hip hop anymore no you I'm not going to be able to join in I don't speak that come on come on come on I listen to El jolon got it got right right right right everyone's waiting they they say you know you know gosh I had Ari Goldberg sing okay so they have to do something so I I guess one of my fav other they accuse me of discrimination of course we don't want that we definitely don't want that so I'll I'll say over and I think maybe I say these words Acappella sometimes because when the music's going you don't always hear what a person say especially with rap is is comes off very fast and people complain that the rap's too fast and when never I say listen listen to you whatever anyway learn how to learn how to listen faster learn how to listen faster if you're not hearing me for sure you're not hearing the schl TBO in the morning also right so whatever so anyway um the hardest thing to deal with is to move without feelings seeing signs on all sides but don't know what the real is I don't know what your will is feeling my backs against the wall I see all of my mistakes and I desire to fix them all but without you it's impossible and from my insides I will call but then it don't even ring cuz they all say how much you love me so how could it be that you will let me destroy myself I need saving from me so when they write inside my book use my tears as the ink so they can testify on me all I did to break free just to glorify your name cuz I gave back what you gave to me I'm falling down so can you lift me there you go thank thank you guys thank you guys thank you what's the best this and black song Oh my goodness thank you okay so I'll take it Flyway is really really big uh big big song I'm very you know who loves the song the most it's a big hit by the them yeah they love fly away I want to fly fly away Place do a fly away I want to fly fly away far far away from this place when nobody can bring me down when nobody can bring me down and then my brother goes law goes hey e that's it so he he was like an example demo thing but we left it in the song so so thank you so much I appreciate it all right ladies and gentlemen this in Black it's the rabbi orlovski show Tor and S ready to go the rovski show knowledge and wisdom will help you grow lots of some fun in every episode and we don't have to rhyme no we don't it's the rabbi orlovski show on Rabbi orcky.com Tor anytime you two and more it's Rabbi orlovski show Torah and S ready to go it's the rabbi orlovski show till next time till we meet again the rabbi Orlowski show it's the rabbi Orlowski show it's the rabbi Orlowski show