From The Ghetto “moved by Y-Love’s life story and choic-

es, and inspired by how he uses his

individual kochos hanefesh (talents) to

To The Shtetl: serve G-d.”

Jordan first began rapping while

An Interview With studying in Yeshivat Ohr Sameach in

Jerusalem.

Hip-Hop Artist Y-Love “Hip hop …for me growing up was just

BY SAMUEL SOKOL
Swaying to sharp, syncopated
rhythms, a small group of American
yeshiva students sat entranced, listening
to a live preview of the latest mix tape
from emerging hip-hop star Y-Love.
As a bearded bochur sat beat-boxing, Y-
Love, whose real name is Yitz Jordan, fre-
netically rapped in a mix of Aramaic,
Hebrew, and Yiddish.
something on the radio… I was never
into underground hip-hop until yeshiva.
I grew up listening to punk rock and
heavy metal.”
“I wasn’t really connecting to
[Gemara], until one day… [my chavruta]
just dropped a beat and starts with a lit-
tle chorus and… that became my style of
learning.”
He ran into opposition in the Beis
Midrash, but he stands by his style.
“Some of the bochurim were like ‘Oh
this is so goyish. This is like shatnes;

Photo By Mike Sohn

This private concert in the home of
Yeshivat Reishit Yerushalayim program
director Rabbi Judah Mischel was part of
Jordan’s current Israel tour.
Jordan’s music was called the “sound-
track to social progression” by the hip-
hop magazine URB. So how does such an
act end up in the living room of a rabbi,
performing for boys who spend all day
engrossed in the Torah?
Yitz Jordan is a convert to Judaism, a
Yiddish speaking, black hat wearing,
African-American who has been
described as “making hip-hop kosher.”
Rabbi Mischel explained that he
“wanted [my] talmidim to understand
that individuality and ‘out of the box’ cre-
ative expression can flourish within the
boundaries of halacha.”
The rabbi said that the students were
how could you bring this into such a
holy place? It’s such a goyish style of
music.’”
“We went from the intermediate pro-
gram to the beis midrash program in one
and a half z’manim and I still remember
the Gemaras that I learned back then
because we learned it to a beat.”
He said that the style of learning does
not matter, but that the main thing is to
internalize the Torah in the head and in
the heart.
What began as a tool for Torah study
eventually morphed into a career.
Jordan had always wanted to be
Jewish. When he was seven years old he
saw a commercial on television wishing
viewers a happy Passover. He says that at
that moment he wanted to be Jewish.
He explained that, at first, there was no
intellectual component. As Jordan put it,
he was not yet able to tie his shoes, how-
ever, he knew that there was a group of
people called Jews, and that he wanted to
be one of them. His grandmother, who
grew up serving as a shabbos goy and play-
ing with Jewish children, also had an
intense interest in Judaism.
Jordan began drawing six pointed stars
all over the house and later began wear-
ing a kippah and tzitzis.
“I spent seven years of my life wearing
a yarmulke and tzitzis, pressed up against
the glass, wanting to be Jewish for seven
years, and it took that long before I
would go up to New York to find a beis
din and convert.”
Currently following Sepharadi minhag-
im, Jordan converted in Borough Park and
still dresses in a chassidic style. He is also
a fluent Yiddish speaker. He now lives on
Long Island.
During his Beit Shemesh show, Y-Love
explained to the students how important
it is to appreciate being born Jewish
“If people even realize that being
born Jewish is like being born with a
platinum credit card that you can’t read
the expiration date on, you’ve got two
choices, you can either lie to yourself
and tell yourself that the card already
expired, or you can max it out and that’s

24 October 30, 2009 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES

what people need to do.”
“Judaism is the hottest thing ever.
Torah’s the hottest thing ever,” he
exclaimed.
Asked if he views his music as a tool
for kiruv, Jordan responded that “Every
Jewish performer, somewhere inside
their heart of hearts, wants to write the
song that’s going to achieve one hundred
percent affiliation in the Jewish world.
Everybody wants to do that. Kiruv’s
nowhere near the central purpose of my
music, but everybody wants that. Every
frum performer wants to write that track
that makes the world frum.

“Judaism is the
hottest thing
ever. Torah’s
the hottest
thing ever,” he
exclaimed.

“But for me, my underlying message

of everything is that all prejudice is
destructive. Unity has got to be the way
that humanity’s going to be working
towards if it’s going to survive, not just
prosper.”
Y-Love’s sound is not only appreciated
by young Jews. He has a sizable following
in the gentile world.
“This one non-Jewish guy from
Louisiana fell in love with my song
‘Mehadrin rhymin’, which is like two
thirds in Aramaic. To watch this guy from
Louisiana try to sing in Aramaic, I tried
not to laugh…”
While Jordan expressed his admiration
for such traditional Jewish performers as
Lipa, he also expressed hope that Jewish
music would evolve from “just
consist[ing] of trumpets and little boys.”
Y-Love is one of several acts signed to
the frum Shemspeed record label. He col-
laborates with such other Jewish hip-hop
artists as Diwon and DeScribe, a Chabad
chassid. He has also produced remixes
with Israelis such as the ethnic/world
performer Idan Rachel.
Full of positive vibes and singing a
message of hope, Jordan did express one
pet peeve during his concert. When asked
about how he writes his music, he replied
that he is ”up at two in the morning when
it comes to write lyrics and I got Gemaras
out, I’m looking online, I got Wikipedia
open, I got Hebrewbooks.org…all these
Hebrew websites… Soulja Boy comes up
with ‘woo” and goes platinum. I can’t be
as stupid as you gotta be to sell.”
The bochurim responded with raucous
laughter.
Y-Love’s message of unity is not just
something theoretical. He experienced
intense racism during his conversion
process. He hopes that by breaking down
barriers between Jews, he can make the
world a better place. ❖
5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES October 30, 2009 25