{"id":53660,"date":"2020-02-19T12:50:08","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T18:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=53660"},"modified":"2020-02-19T12:50:08","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T18:50:08","slug":"orthodox-rapper-nissim-black-reintroduces-himself-to-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/orthodox-rapper-nissim-black-reintroduces-himself-to-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Orthodox rapper Nissim Black reintroduces himself to the world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By EMILY BURACK<\/p>\n<p>Nissim Black knows that wherever he goes, he\u2019s going to turn heads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s always these questions,\u201d the rapper explains to me from his home in Israel. \u201cLike, \u2018Well, are you still black? How black are you? How does that work? But you\u2019re also Jewish? Jews are white?\u2019 No they\u2019re not!\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_53661\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53661\" class=\"wp-image-53661 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black-300x169.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black.png 1920w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/169;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53661\" class=\"wp-image-53661 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black-300x169.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/2-19-20-Nissm-Black.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-53661\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nissim Black&#8221; that he&#8217;s &#8220;Hitler&#8217;s worst nightmare.&#8221; (Screenshot from &#8220;Mothaland Bounce&#8221; video)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The questions annoy him, and rightfully so. Yes, he\u2019s black and Jewish and Orthodox. No, that combination does not make him any less of any of those identities.<\/p>\n<p>His new single, \u201cMothaland Bounce,\u201d sets the record straight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to be able to just sort of lay it all out there, and make a statement, so I could at least limit the questions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>In many ways, the song serves as a declaration of who he is. Even though he\u2019s been active as a rapper since 2006, \u201cMothaland Bounce\u201d is a re-introduction of sorts: He\u2019s black, Jewish, from Seattle, living in Jerusalem and \u201cHitler\u2019s worst nightmare\u201d (arguably my favorite lyric in the entire song).<\/p>\n<p>Making \u201cMothaland Bounce\u201d was a \u201crelief,\u201d Black says. \u201cI\u2019ve been spending time with a friend of mine in L.A., and he [told me], \u2018Back in \u2018hood, everybody feels like you just forgot about them.\u2019 I\u2019m living in a different world. I\u2019m living in Jerusalem, I\u2019m across the world. Even though I keep up with some family, I\u2019m not as involved right now. People feel like I may have left that struggle, [but] it\u2019s not really true, you know what I\u2019m saying? It\u2019s just a different type of struggle, but I\u2019m still there in the struggle. I\u2019m still with the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The video for \u201cMothaland Bounce\u201d pays homage to his past and his present; the visuals are inspired by one of Black\u2019s favorite films, \u201cComing to America.\u201d (In the iconic film, Eddie Murphy\u2019s character arrives in America from the wealthy, fictional African nation of Zamunda.) The video ends with Black in a barbershop, where the barber asks him to take off his hat \u2014 when he does, he reveals a kippah underneath. The barber goes, \u201cAnother one?!\u201d It\u2019s funny, Jewish and pays homage to the barbershop scenes in \u201cComing to America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The video shows Black rapping and dancing with three groups of male dancers. They all come together at the end of the video, showing how he\u2019s made peace with all of his identities.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Nissim Black - Mothaland Bounce (Official Video)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NJzEqTD2X7Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe three different groups are three different aspects of me,\u201d Black says. \u201cThe African dancers represent the slaves that came here to America, which is our past. And then, you have the street dancers, the urban aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The video depicts these two groups as facing off against each other, representing Black \u201ctrying to figure out what I was.\u201d The the Hasidic dancers show up near the end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat brought peace for me was Judaism,\u201d Black explains, \u201cSo the Hasidic guy, he comes to break up the two things, and he brings shalom.&nbsp;It was all very telling of who I was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old rapper is a dad of six who has had a long, winding path toward Judaism. His journey begins in Seattle, where he was born Damian Jamohl Black to James \u201cCaptain Crunch\u201d Croone and Mia Black, both rappers. (They were part of the Emerald Street Boys, Seattle\u2019s first rap group, and Emerald Street Girls.) His parents split when he was 2, and his mom remarried.<br \/>\nHis grandfather was a devout Muslim, so \u201cmy first introduction to religion,\u201d Black says, \u201cwas Islam.\u201d If anybody had asked Black as a kid, he would say he was Muslim, the rapper recalls, because of his grandfather\u2019s influence on his life. But at 13, he converted to Christianity after attending a summer camp, the Gospel Mission Youth Center.<\/p>\n<p>The conversion was \u201cgood for me,\u201d Black says, \u201cbecause I was already part of a street gang, Disciple Nation folks, and this helped me get away from the street mentality for a long time.\u201d (Disciple Nation refers to the Black Gangster Disciples, or BGD, that Black also refers to in \u201cMothaland Bounce.\u201d Funny enough, the main logo of the group is a six-pointed Star of David.)<br \/>\nOn \u201cMothaland Bounce,\u201d Black plays on this mix between his history and present, rapping:<br \/>\nHe said it\u2019s God\u2019s plan, but, I\u2019m God\u2019s man \/ I used to run with BGD \/ I dropped the B and put an O after the G \/ Six points still big up King D<\/p>\n<p>In the synagogue, camouflaged, but I can\u2019t wipe the skin off \/ I\u2019m proud of it \/ It\u2019s a loud a bit, but I\u2019m not trying to criss-cross.<\/p>\n<p>This verse is Black at his best: laying it all on the line. Acknowledging his past, talking openly about his spirituality, and addressing the reality of being a black Jewish person. Plus, the \u201cGod\u2019s plan\u201d lyric is a nod to the song of another black Jewish rapper, Drake.<\/p>\n<p>At 17, he had a potential offer from a record label and wanted to pursue it \u2014 the state of hip-hop at the time was focused on a \u201cgangsta rap type of thing,\u201d so the record label pushed him to adopt a \u201charder persona than what I was giving them.\u201d He ended up releasing his first singles on an independent label under the name D. Black. (Here\u2019s one of his few music videos from that era, released in 2006.)<\/p>\n<p>Then, Black explains, as success started happening with his music, in 2008, \u201cI got in an altercation with another artist, and this altercation led to a kill-or-be-killed situation.\u201d This situation led him to start praying over how he ended up where he was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually, all my praying and soul searching led me to Judaism,\u201d which felt very natural to him. Black had grown up in a Jewish neighborhood in Seattle, and used to walk by a synagogue on his way to elementary school. Coming full circle, he ended up moving back to his childhood neighborhood with his wife after both converted to Orthodox Judaism under Sephardic Rabbi Simon Bezaquen. They married in 2008, but remarried after their conversion in an Orthodox marriage ceremony in 2013 at the Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation in Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>Making and releasing \u201cMothaland Bounce\u201d was a big risk for Black, whose music in the last decade has been aimed at a primarily Jewish audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m very shocked at how much this song has been shared, how well received it was,\u201d Black says. \u201cIn terms of the Jewish world, it was a big risk; a lot of them are religious.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Black was worried that they wouldn\u2019t understand a song in which the influences are clearly black culture and black history.<\/p>\n<p>Yet this shift is in line with things he\u2019s been thinking about since moving to Israel in 2016, when he made aliyah with his wife and children. Living in Israel, he\u2019s been inspired to create a more universal sound. \u201cMothaland Bounce,\u201d therefore, demonstrates this new Nissim Black sound: one that\u2019s not just aimed at Jews but at everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m casting a net a little bit further \u2014 a lot further \u2014 than what my current audience has been,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing here in Israel, especially after living in Jerusalem, is like the center of the world. Everybody comes here. Everybody comes here!\u201d Black exclaims. \u201cI feel like my mind has sort of expanded, and my music\u2019s becoming even more and more universal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Moving to Israel has pushed Black out of his comfort zone. On his new record, he says, there are things he does that he \u201cwouldn\u2019t have done\u201d back in Seattle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m even creating at a crazier rate than what I was before, with even more obligations of life! I have more children,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cCreating is almost like I\u2019m like a kid all over again.\u201d<br \/>\nBlack and his wife, Adina, have six children; their eldest daughter, 11, is set to become a bat mitzvah in a month and a half. Their youngest son is 7 months old.<\/p>\n<p>When I asked if he was looking forward to his daughter\u2019s bat mitzvah, he said, \u201cYes and no,\u201d with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s so hard, you want to keep them all young and small and dependent on you. It\u2019s hard to really give that up! She\u2019s becoming more of a teenager. It\u2019s really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Life in Israel has been an adjustment for Black and his family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComing from Seattle, I wasn\u2019t used to this many hot days in a row,\u201d he jokes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt took me a little bit,\u201d to adjust, Black explains. \u201cI come from a different background, you know, [a] more urban \u2014 trying to be nice and say this! \u2014 background. Usually when you step on my shoe, or you bump into me, or you push me out of the way, that means that you want to fight. In Israel, it doesn\u2019t mean it,\u201d Black laughs. \u201cYou have to get used to it. I\u2019m very much adjusting to the way things move in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Being a black religious Jew has definitely not always been easy for Black. In 2018, he was in the news after he shared that his children hadn\u2019t been accepted to yeshivas (Jewish schools) because they were black. He went to visit with Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who told him that \u201cbeing \u2018black\u2019 is your \u2018mayla\u2019 [virtue] not a \u2018chesaron\u2019 (lacking).\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">For a second it felt like the whole world stood still. Being &quot;Black&quot; is your Mayla (Virtue) not a Chesaron (Lacking), says Rav Chaim! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MkORW9nMzb\">pic.twitter.com\/MkORW9nMzb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nissim Black (@nissimblack) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nissimblack\/status\/1034012378957062144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 27, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>But he remains positive, and wants people to know that \u201cI put my heart into my music and I love to give my heart to everyone. I\u2019m a lover of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His relationship to Judaism also shifted once making aliyah.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe prayer and the devotion to spirituality in Israel is amazing,\u201d Black says. \u201cI could have the most amazing conversations with a Jew or a Christian or an Arab in Israel that I can\u2019t get anywhere else in the world. In terms of spirituality, the place is on a whole other level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why he is so excited that his new music is reaching an audience outside of the Jewish community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like one of the most beautiful things about me being able to make music as a Jew is that I can talk about spirituality in a way where it doesn\u2019t conflict with people,\u201d Black says. He\u2019s never proselytizing; he loves that Judaism has a \u201cuniversal message of spirituality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But of course, he still leans into his Judaism \u2014 it\u2019s who he is. The video for \u201cMothaland Bounce\u201d is intercut with Black, alone, in festive Hasidic dress \u2014 in addition to his long peyos, traditional side curls, he is wearing a bekeshe, a Hasidic black coat, tallit, prayer shawl, and a&nbsp;shtreimel, a fur-trimmed hat.<\/p>\n<p>The visuals of Black Jews dancing in \u201cMothaland Bounce\u201d are important to Black, as are any mainstream images of Black Jews.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, primarily in New York, there\u2019s been a lot of violence [in] the relationship between the African-American community and the more religious Jewish community. It\u2019s been very, very shaky and it\u2019s gotten uglier and uglier,\u201d Black says.<\/p>\n<p>He believes that by showing black religious Jews, it will help bring awareness that these two communities aren\u2019t as separate as they may perceive themselves to be. He wants people not to just think someone is the \u201cenemy because of the color of [their] skin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAwareness will definitely help to have the proper conversations that need to be happening between the two communities,\u201d he says. \u201cI would hope that this [song] will be one step forward in that direction.\u201d His mere existence, he hopes, will open dialogue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuite honestly, I owe my life on a physical level, for sure, to the African-American community. They gave me everything I need \u2014 including my parents and everything. But then on a spiritual level, Judaism has given life to me. I feel like I owe my life [to Judaism]. I\u2019m willing to sacrifice even my standing and notoriety in [the] very religious world to be able to try to bring peace between the two, because it means that much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His ultimate dream? To be on the world stage, and for his music to be a \u201cspringboard\u201d for vital conversations about acceptance. He wants to \u201cshine God\u2019s light in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe power that I have [is] that I can share what nobody else can: my story,\u201d Black explains, \u201cwhich is very, very unique in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s right: There\u2019s not a single person in this world like Nissim Black.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story originally appeared in Alma.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Orthodox%20rapper%20Nissim%20Black%20reintroduces%20himself%20to%20the%20world\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7137],"tags":[8781,8790,8795,8788,3008,10495,5803],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53662,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53660\/revisions\/53662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}