008 E-SHY isn’t so shy after all
E-SHY isn’t so shy after all
By Dustin Herlich
E-SHY’s career started in childhood. Born and raised in New York City, E-SHY realized his talents early and began writing poetry. After winning competition after competition with his poetry, people began to notice. Recognition meant people started writing beats for him and the rest, well, read on…
E-SHY knew that winning a poetry competition was one thing, but to gain respect, especially in the hip hop world, he had to earn it. E-SHY began competing in rap contests while still a teenager. Coming out on top in these competitions as well, he began to work with underground producers who gave him not only beats to work with, but precious studio time.
A Jew’s family is often your biggest critic. In E-SHY’s case though, he was lucky enough to have support. When pressed about the issue, he responded “My family is all artists; they really were fine with what I was doing”. While his family respected his creativity, on the mean streets, life could be a different story. “I was a White, Jewish rapper. I really had to earn respect. It was a completely uphill battle”.
That didn’t faze him all that much since “(I) started as a battle MC. I can hold my own”. To him, a Jewish rapper is a whole new level. “I got into putting Judaism into my music fairly recently. It started post 9/11. The world changed. I wanted to use my music to rile the crowd, get people angry”. In this different world “Jewish kids have to stand up for themselves. They have to be proud. You should be upset by what’s happening in Israel, the violence in the Middle East. You should be proud to be a Jew.”
In his own words “Judaism is part of who I am and part of who I am as an artist. I won’t shy away from what I am”. He recommends that the rest of us take on a similar philosophy and stand proud. Like many artists, music unfortunately isn’t his day job yet, but his day job is even more immersive in Jewish culture. “I work for the United Jewish Appeal. I’m there all day raising money for them. I can’t escape Judaism, no matter what I’m doing”.
Living in New York, there are two cultures that at times seem almost identical. “In New York, you have a strong Jewish an Italian connection. I want to explore that more”. From this desire to explore the pizza bagel comes the idea for Kosher Nostra. It’s an upcoming clothing line, and musical project that combines canoli culture with that of kreplach.
To some, hip hop and Judaism still seem like an uneasy mix, but E-SHY reminds us that “Jews have always been behind the scenes of hip hop, but there are almost no front men. You have the Beastie Boys for sure, but other than that, it is all behind the scenes”. Indeed, you have outlets like Source Magazine, and now WHO?MAG, all heavily Jewish, but outside of Israel, your Jewish front man is rare. Rare as he may be “guys in the industry appreciate me. I’m proud of who I am. A big part of Jewish culture is humor, and spoken word. Hip hop and rap are great ways to combine those two things, but at the same time, express anger when I need to”. Music is famous for being a vehicle for messages.
E-SHY takes a particular liking to hip hop and rap because “it’s all about the message. It is a forum for free speech and activism”. He goes on to add “hip hop has an edge. You can make it raw, hard, and I use that. A hip hop song is an essay. It’s not so much about the guitar solo as much as it is driving home a message.” You certainly can’t argue with that.
Coming up, we are going to see a lot of new things from E-SHY. He’s looking to get out and about in the world and explore. More into producing quality material than he is simply making money from his work, E-SHY strives to put that something extra into his songs. “I’d like to pull from the Torah, use biblical stories. I’d like to re-tell these stories through my music”. “Matisyahu really opened doors for Jewish artists in hip hop. People are starting to take us more seriously; this is still a growing movement. It’s important too for the Jewish emcee to take himself seriously. Sometimes, we joke around too much. People can only laugh for so long”.
What’s an artist to do when he has close ties and constant access to Israel through his day job, and a passion for Jewish music the rest of the day? The answer for E-SHY is to actually head east, and start working with artists in Israel. “I respect the rappers in Israel, the really keep it real. They’re honest. I respect their art”. Respect is one thing, but “(I) want to bring the no-nonsense rap here. No apologies”. With trips in the works, we can expect that E-SHY’s next few releases will have some bold lyrics and an aggressive style all his own.
You can check out E-SHY’s music by logging in to his myspace page:
You can order his CD online at www.cdbaby.com/cd/eshy.