Once upon a time the internet was a darker, more primitive place for multimedia, but then the geeks went to work, the banks greased the wheels, and together they forged a bigger, better, and badder internet. Suddenly the mediums of the Television and the computer have merged into the new medium.
Jewish Mayhem is proud to present, Jewish Video Mayhem.
My Unit offers a no-holds-barred look at active combat through the eyes of an experienced Israeli soldier and the members of his unit. Filmamker Oded Zur captures the life of his unti from 2002 all the way to the 2006 Lebanon War. Tension of dangerous patrols, stakeouts and guard duties and the friendship, trust and comraderie that can only be forged in the heat of shared conflict and danger.
Credits
Co-produced by Oded Zur and Chutzpa Productions Inc.
Director/Producer: Oded Zur
Producer/Co-editor: Igal Hecht
Editor/Camera: Oded Zur
Death / Gangster-Rap from The Battlefields Of Lebanon To The Concert Halls Of North America
By Jewish Mayhem
Photography by Josh Meles www.meles.ca
Video by Jewish Mayhem
Video editing and graphics by Jewish Mayhem
Klee Magor grew up in Toronto, Canada, and hundreds of miles away across the border in Boston, Massachusetts, lived another young Jew by the name of Benny Brahmz.
Neither one knew the other but after High School when most Jewish teenagers go to University or get jobs, or tour with Phish , both Klee and Benny traveled to Israel to join the Israeli Defense Forces.
Moving ahead a many months, Klee and Benny eventually met one another while in the Israeli Defense Forces in the Golani Brigade -12th Battalion , and being that they were the only North Americans it was natural that they become friends; plus they both also loved to rap and write rhymes. After their army services Klee and Benny began rapping together as a duo under the name Riviera Regime in Israel but eventually they relocated to Toronto, Canada where they set up studio.
Moving ahead a few years to the present Klee Magor and Benny Brahmz are still called Riviera Regime and under Klee’s independent label Landmine Entertainment, they already have self-produced two CD’s of some of the best sounding violent, gangster / death rap music that you will ever hear.
To compliment their CD’s are two self-produced videos, the first featuring the entertaining dramatization of a murder, and the second featuring sexy women grinding, pimping, and money. Sex, drugs and gratuitous violence.
What’s not to like about Riviera Regime?
Riviera Regime are obviously pushing some serious dope because underground hip hop juggernaut Necro, who also happens to be a member of the tribe of Judah, hand picked Riviera Regime to be his show opener for his recent very successful 16 city North American tour.
I met Klee and Benny in the winter of 2005 in downtown Toronto not too long after they released their first CD “Thugz of War” and their first video, and because I had also served as a lone soldier in the IDF, we immediately had a instant connection and have remained friends since.
I have posted material about them periodically on Jewish Mayhem but I wanted to do a full feature and now the moment has finally arrived. I am happy to introduce you to Klee Magor and Benny Brahmz of Riviera Regime.
Q: Hey guys, it’s great to finally interview you for Jewish Mayhem.
Klee: No doubt
Q: Let me get some history and chronology going, so where were you born and then grow up and what kind of childhoods and teen lives did you guys have? Did you go to Hebrew school or have Bar Mitzvas or speak Hebrew?
Benny: I was born in Israel and lived in Jerusalem ’til like 5 years old, thats when we moved to Boston and we lived there for a while ’til I was a teenager basically. My parents divorced when i was young and my family life was fucked up ‘cuz my parents couldn’t get along. I was a drifter and pretty much a loner type for a while and I used to be into capoeira and martial arts and shit, but when I finished high school I decided to join the IDF and become a warrior.
Klee: I was born in Toronto and moved back an’ forth from Israel to Toronto for a period in my life. My parents split when I was young and then my moms moved back to Israel with her new husband. I stayed back in T.O. and barely finished highschool. I lived in the ‘hood ‘wit my pops back then still on Finch Ave. West. I was basically a hoodlum. I been arrested numerous times for being a delinquent on the streets. Thats when I figured it would be smart to split and head to Israel and join the army ‘cuz at that point it would of been either that or jail. And ya we both had Bar Mitzvahs…aint that what all Jewish boys have at 13?
Q: What are your parents heritages, Eastern or Western Jews? Benny: My moms family is Israeli (ashkenazi Jews), my dads family are American Jews, also ashkenazi. You can say i got Russian, Austrian Jewish ancestry Klee: Pops side are Hungarian Jews, moms side are Israeli since the 1800′s, but they came from Russia and Lithuania and Poland.
Q: What Tribes are you from, Judah, Levi, Cohen, other? Benny: Levi. Klee: The tribe is Israel, fuck divisions…I mean every Jew got a relative named Cohen or Levi, or Levin, etc…. whats the difference really?? We all in the same gang…right?
Q: Why did you guys both decide to go join a foreign army even though it is Israel’s, an army that sees combat which would entail great personal risk? What motivated both of you? Benny: Family pride, and basically watching a lot of rambo growing up Klee: Ha ha thats dope….for me it was also a family pride thing, my uncle is a serious war vet in israel and is a colonel in the IDF. I’m a thug and so is Benny so what better place for a thug to find himself then in the Golani brigade!
Q: Did either of you see any action over there? Klee: Obviously, we served in Lebanon for almost half a year….we weren’t sitting around playing scrabble…
Q: What do you guys have to say about the whole volunteering for the army choice now years later, would you have changed anything and do you have any advice to tell anyone else considering volunteering for the IDF? Klee: If its for you, you’ll feel it and know it, and if thats the case, then do it! I ain’t got no regrets! Benny: Me either, it helped me become a real warrior of life. Me and Klee are proabably tougher then most Jews in the world, Tzahal helped mold us.
Q: When did you both start getting into writing lyrics and rapping and why? Benny: I used to beatbox aiight, and wrote my first rap in Lebanon, and Klee peeped it and gave me props, and thats when we became tight. Klee: I been involved in hip hop culture practically my whole life, from my breakin days back in 1984, to my dj’n days in 92,93,94, and then in the army I started writing rhymes and rapping. It was a natural thing for me. Me and Benny even recorded some shit back then, but yall aint gonna hear it cuz its mad amatuer compared to our shit now.
Q: Who were your musical influences then and are they the same now? Klee: Eazy E, NWA, Rakim, EPMD, BDP, 2 Live Crew, Big Pun, Fat Joe, Mobb Deep, Gangstarr, Wu Tang Clan, Onyx, as far as hip hop is concerned, but thats just to name a few. In Rock and Metal… Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Hendrix, Metalica, Anthrax, and many others believe me the list goes on……We both like reggae, blues, opera, jazz, all that shit… there’s dope music in all genres.
Q: Did you perform there? What was the scene in Israel like? Klee: Ya we performed a few times, at this place called the Barbie in south Tel Aviv. The scene was weak when we lived there, after the army there wasn’t much opportunities in rap, at least we didn’t see it, I guess things changed and developed over the years.
Q: Did you meet any other rappers or hip hop artists while in Israel? Benny: Ya we ran into subliminal around Tel Aviv, before he got a record deal. Klee: We met Koby Oz and met HaDag Nachash dudes, there were a bunch of dudes we knew from around the way, but the only ones that did anything with their shit is I guess HaDag Nachash and Koby (Subliminal)
Q: Any rappers or hip-hop artists there that you don’t like? Benny: Not really cuz we havent been there in a long time, so we aint really on the judging tip, but it aint like we really give a fuck about none of that bullshit anyways. Klee: For real, its all about Riviera Regime and whoever down wit’ our camp.
Q: Tell me about how Thugz Of War the LP came about? Was it easy? Who did the production? Klee: I produced the whole album
Q: You followed up the LP with that hardcore video, any stories to tell about the making of? Benny: The video for “Dat Murder Shit” took us 2 days to shoot, and like 7 months to edit… Klee: Ya because we worked with a retarded video editor, Benny almost beat the fuck outta him, I convinced him not to.
Q: Tell me about how Cold Blooded the LP came about? Was it easy? Who did the production? Benny: … Klee: Its never an easy task to record and produce and then release an album, and do it professionally. Shit takes time and patience, and crazy focus, not to mention a lot of passion! I do all the production for Riviera Regime, unless we working wit’ a talented producer and collabin’.
Q: Your second video, do tell? Benny: We had fun doing that one Klee: It was a party, bitchez getting naked and shit
Q: So how did you guys end up becoming the opening act for Necro? Klee: Cuz Necro asked us to roll wit him and open up for him. He is our boy, at this point it ain’t a new thing that we down with Necro, he has been a good friend to the Regime, and I can honestly say that he is one of the truest cats I know. We gonna do an album with him, and Lord Ezec aka Danny Diablo for our combined crew “Jewish Gangsterz” , Its gonna happen sometime in the near future. Benny: Word…shout out to Ezec and Necro!! JG’z what!
Q: How do you guys get the word out about your selves? What do you do to promote? How have you guys made as far as you have, with investors or…? Benny: Mainly street hand to hand promo…no investors yet, all our own money. Klee: internet, myspace has helped, but for the most part it all started with us doing the street hustle, sellin’ cd’s on the streets of Toronto, Miami, New York, and Montreal, Ottawa, spots around Toronto mainly. We had been written about in the Toronto Star, Pound Magazine, Underground radio played us here and there, we did some shows, and we got our cds in HMV stores in Canada.
Q: What was the tour like? Klee: The tour was dope! one of the best experiences in our lives, but also it was very draining and tiring.
Q: Now for the readers edification, at a Necro concert, many, many barely legal, sober and not so sober, gorgeous, nubile ladies envelop the stage to participate in a fun spectacle of public sexual debauchery while Necro performs his hits? I was backstage and at the after party and frankly what I saw and experienced is no one’s business to know about unless you guys or Necro are the ones to say it. So what stories from the tour can you tell us? Klee: Nothin major…basically us being Sleazebagz.
Q: As I understand it, Necro is in the Studio and you guys are in the studio recording and producing new material? What can you tell us? Any collaborations? Klee: You gonna have to wait and see, I don’t wanna’ say nothin’ ’till its ready, feel me….just know when it is ready its gonna’ be hotter then a smoldering corpse!
Q: What are Riviera Regime’s next moves? Benny: We plannin a video shoot in Israel this summer, shit is gonna be crazy! Klee: No doubt, plus we working on this new album, and we in the midst of working out a distribution deal for the States.
Q:Any shoutouts? RR: Shout outs to all our fans and true Riviera Regime supporters!! Mad love to all of you who bought our music and rep it, and basically to anyone that has helped us spread the word, like Jewish Mayhem….RESPECT!
IF ANYONE WANTS TO CONTRIBUTE TO RIVIERA REGIME THEY CAN CONTACT US AT: RIVIERAREGIME@GMAIL.COM
BOTH ALBUMS AND 12 INCH VINYL AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AND DOWNLOAD HERE: Myspace.com/rivieraregime
Riviera Regime just re-mastered their Hebrew language song Esh Esh and have also since completed a new song called Season Of War which can be heard on their Israeli myspace page.
The lemming is a small animal, about the size of a rat. The lemming is a strange animal with a very strange custom. The lemming, every few years, gathers together with a great many other lemmings, and they all march together- to the sea. The lemming and all the other lemmings march shoulder to shoulder and when they reach the sea they do a very strange thing: They jump in and drown. The lemming is a very strange animal and no one can understand it.
There are various categories of lemmings and last Saturday night, the Hebrew lemmings gathered in Jerusalem. There were several thousand of them, small creatures, the stature of rodents. And they marched. Sholder to sholder down the road of madness, inexorably moving to the sea of destruction. The march of the lemmings, “Suicide Now”. The Hebrew lemming is a strange animal, undoubtedly the most irrational of all. Psychologists and sociologists and anthropologists and biologists and students of irrational behavior from far and wide gathered to study the march of the Hebrew lemmings. “Peace Now” was what they carried as their slogan as they marched to the Sea of Suicide to partake of the most permanent of peace. “Leave Lebanon” was etched on their banners as they marched in preparation of leaving the world. “Stop Jewish settlements in the Occupied Territories”, they proclaimed as they began their uprooting of their settlement on this earth.
The Hebrew lemming is a strange animal and it is said that no one understand it. That is not really true. I understand the small Hebrew lemming, the stature of a rodent, who seeks to leap into the sea to die. And if sociologists and psychologists and anthropologists and biologists and students of irrational behavior will gather together, I will describe for you what makes the Hebrew lemmings run – to commit suicide. The issue is not and never was “Lebanon”. The issue was never “Occupied territories of 1967″. What strikes terror into the hearts of the Hebrew lemmings of the stature of the rodent, is an immense cancer called guilt, that grows inside of them until it gives them no rest.
The lemming of guilt is the Hebrew-speaking rodent who is haunted by the thought that he is not only an oppressor and aggressor in the “occupied lands of 1967″ but he is also a thief and a robber of people he calls “Palestinians”, and really has no right to come from Russia or Poland or Galicia or England or Canada or Argentina or the United States to create a “Jewish state” on lands that were owned by others. But since the lemming is the size of a rat, who lacks the courage to honestly follow up his convictions, stand up before the “Palestinian” and say: “I am a thief and hereby return my Kibbutz to you” – he must, instead, fight all the harder for the poor “Palestinian” in Judea, Samaria, Gaza, Lebanon. His weakness and inability to give up his houses in Kibbutz Mishmar Ha’Emek or the artist’s colony of Ein Hod or the tennis courts of Ramat Hasharon or villa in Savyon, drives the Hebrew lemming into even greater depression of guilt and self-hate.
His need to prostate himself before the poor Arab of any other area except his own house, becames an allconsuming, obsessive one. And, of course, the guilt goes much further. The Hebrew lemming, who is a small animal about the size of a rat, deeply despises with a psychopatic passion everything that smacks of Judaism and the curse of fate that made him Jewish. In his little heart the Jewish lemming knows that Judaism’s values are at odds with everything that he wishes his life to consist of. The separateness and exclusivity of Judaism vis-a- vis other peoples is anathema to his universalistic desire to intermarry, assimilate, amalgamate with all the goym and thus find love and escape in their midst. The concept of Chosenness repels him, for he seeks anything that will enable him to eliminate the barriers between Jews and others. The holiness that decrees discipline and sanctity and abstinence and personal limitations are all diametrically opposed to his materialistic need for total freedom, anarchy, limitless right to license. He sees in Judaism racism, primitiveness, parochialism, concepts that he abhors because he seeks to be a universal rodent.
And faced with his Judaism, he is faced, too, with the fact that he is a Jew. This is the horror that he cannot abide. From guilt emerges self hate, black and ugly self hate. The lemming cannot exist with self-hate. No one can survive with terrible malignancy growing within him. The Hebrew lemming must escape. His escape is through the sea. The Sea of Suicide. Suicide Now.
Let the state that he feels to be a robber state, go under. Let the people and faith that he feels to be reactionary and facist and abominable, cease to exist. “Let my soul perish with the Philistines!” The cry of the Hebrew lemmings of Suicide Now. The tragic story of the Hebrew lemmings. But, if it must be, it would be sufficient if they leaped into the sea themselves. The real tragedy is that while ordinary lemmings take the plunge themselves, the Hebrew ones seek to take all of us with them. And that cannot be.
That is why the lemmings of Israel must be fought. Because they have become more than an interesting zoological phenomenon. They threaten the existence of normal, healthy, true Jews who are not small animals the size of a rodent.
Last night at 11 PM Moztie Shabbat on the day before Yom Kippur, thousands of Jews were making their way to the Kotel to take part in the last gathering of slichot before Yom Kippur. As the police in Jerusalem where blocking main roads and re-directing traffic because of the congestion, I too made my way into the center of the Holy city for a very unique tour. Along with 20 of my colleagues, all youth directors in the Jewish towns of the Shomron, we set out for a very different experience, a special sight-seeing tour that should stand as a wake-up call to all of us.
We gathered at Zion square near midnight to meet our guide Simon. The area was packed with thousands of boys and girls between the approximate ages of 13 to 21. Shimon told us that usually there are more. Over the last few years Shimon has been working as a “hearing aid” for “youth at risk” who hang out at the “Kikar” (Zion square). We stood on the platform at the top of the steps leading to Bank Hapolim overlooking the Square like a group of tourists would stand with their tour guide overlooking some historical attraction (or in a zoo). Shimon pointed at specific groups of kids and areas of the square, giving the breakdown of who they are and what they are doing. There are groups of Russian “anarchists” who literally live in the streets, and drink cheap vodka that they buy with money collected by younger kids from our settlements. These youngsters tell passers-by that they are stuck and need money to get home. The alcohol bought with this money is then spilt between the two groups. Thus a partnership is born. The young “religious” kids are more appealing for their “fundraising” abilities and the anarchists are privileged with the ability to purchase alcohol because of their age. Shimon tells us these anarchists lying on the street in dirty torn clothes are very intelligent and when they are not drinking they spend their time reading literature and discussing sophisticated philosophies.
There was another group of kids we saw ? also from settlements, but better categorized as “hilltop youth”. Like the other settlement kids, many were created by the Gush Katif destruction, when their rabbis and leaders told them that if they pray enough, their homes won’t be destroyed. Disillusioned and disoriented, these hilltop youth have drifted to this insane meeting place to drink these poisoned waters of the city. Many are regulars who meet here in the Square and drift to alleyways of deserted buildings nearby to get high by using airplane glue, air-conditioner gas and smoke cigarettes soaked in poisonous incest repellent. All of these are cheep and easy ways to get high and cause serious damage to the brain. We are talking about many kids from good Jewish homes in the settlements, many who have become disillusioned and lost due to broken expectations following the destruction of Gush Katif and the pogrom in Amona. But Kikar Zion is not the end of the story. There is also a square down the road known as “Kikar Crack” where the “richer” kids hang out. These kids deal with some expensive substances like Crystal meth, the kids there mostly speak English (guess where they are from). At a not far off location on both sides of the police head-quarters, teenage girls rent out their bodies for cash, and in a park on the other side of the open mall, teenage boys do the same. In an unmarked store just around the corner from the Russian Compound police station, drugs and sex are sold freely and boys with black kippot are seen coming and going.
The police are around, but for the most part they are just there. Shimon told us told us how he saw a policeman’s arm broken as he tried to interfere with an interaction made on the street. Several groups run by the municipality and private organizations try to offer these kids a warm atmosphere in order to pull them in and let them talk about their problems, and try to help them. Unfortunately, it seems that at this point the beast is greater then the few hands who are trying to fight it. Surely, a great part of the problem is that we have been so occupied with the battles that we have been losing in Yehuda, Shomron, Gaza and Lebanon, that we haven’t realized (or don’t want to acknowledge) that there is a battle going on in Kikar Zion in the center of Jerusalem, and that our most precious treasure being poisoned before our eyes. Yes, we have been very busy, dealing with incredibly important issues. And we have been through some really hard times over the past few years; we have lost our dearest friends to terrorists and have been beaten and thrown off our land by our own corrupt leadership. We haven’t had a lot of time to look around and see what’s going on. But, let’s not forget; these kids have been there all along, they are hurting no less the rest of us and maybe much more. We must now pull ourselves together and win this war.
If God forbid we lose this battle, we might not have with whom to win the battles ahead of us on the other fronts. These are our kids and they need help. Are we going to turn our backs on them because we can’t deal with this? If we can’t, how do we expect them to? They need someone to talk to, someone to hear them out without judging them, and then gently but firmly point them in the right direction. I for one am going to do my best to be there for them. I am open to suggestions and will be glad to cooperate with others who understand the importance of keeping incest repellence and other toxics out of the brains of our youth.
Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah is the current and third Secretary General of the Lebanese Islamist party and paramilitary organization Hezbollah. Nasrallah became the leader of Hezbollah after Israel assassinated the movement’s leader Abbas al-Musawi in 1992.
I met Klee and Benny in the winter of 2005 in downtown Toronto not too long after they released their first CD “Thugz of War” and their first video, and because I had also served as a lone soldier in the IDF, we immediately had a instant connection and have remained friends since.
Benny: I was born in Israel and lived in Jerusalem ’til like 5 years old, thats when we moved to Boston and we lived there for a while ’til I was a teenager basically. My parents divorced when i was young and my family life was fucked up ‘cuz my parents couldn’t get along. I was a drifter and pretty much a loner type for a while and I used to be into capoeira and martial arts and shit, but when I finished high school I decided to join the IDF and become a warrior.
Q: What do you guys have to say about the whole volunteering for the army choice now years later, would you have changed anything and do you have any advice to tell anyone else considering volunteering for the IDF? 
Q: Who were your musical influences then and are they the same now?
Q: Tell me about how Cold Blooded the LP came about? Was it easy? Who did the production? 
Q: What was the tour like?
The police are around, but for the most part they are just there. Shimon told us told us how he saw a policeman’s arm broken as he tried to interfere with an interaction made on the street. Several groups run by the municipality and private organizations try to offer these kids a warm atmosphere in order to pull them in and let them talk about their problems, and try to help them. Unfortunately, it seems that at this point the beast is greater then the few hands who are trying to fight it. Surely, a great part of the problem is that we have been so occupied with the battles that we have been losing in Yehuda, Shomron, Gaza and Lebanon, that we haven’t realized (or don’t want to acknowledge) that there is a battle going on in Kikar Zion in the center of Jerusalem, and that our most precious treasure being poisoned before our eyes. Yes, we have been very busy, dealing with incredibly important issues. And we have been through some really hard times over the past few years; we have lost our dearest friends to terrorists and have been beaten and thrown off our land by our own corrupt leadership. We haven’t had a lot of time to look around and see what’s going on. But, let’s not forget; these kids have been there all along, they are hurting no less the rest of us and maybe much more. We must now pull ourselves together and win this war.
