Yid Vid: Frum Rappers Put Aside Differences, Provoke Dismay

By Dan Friedman March 26, 2009

First Y-Love and Shneur Hasofer, a.k.a. DeScribe, collaborated on “Change” — a rockin’ track on the Modular Moods/Shemspeed label. Black, white, left, right, United States, Australia, all put aside to “uplift the mundane” in the name of Hashem.

Then Elad Nehorai from Chabad.org covered it for the news service ChabadOnLine Live, and suddenly the lashon hara flowed in. One commenter asked:“[W]hy do u have to print this. this is totaly not what lubavitch is about. where are the pictures of chassidishe lubavitchers that daven like a chosid etc.” The note was quickly followed by questions of the rappers’ eligibility: “[I]s shneur Devora’s son, and is he married? if yes to whom?”

A reader identified as “4 Questions” asked, “Why are all these seemingly talented young men going down this goyishe music path? Can’t they get a proper job? Is (G-d forbid) this the direction Chabad is really going?”

There were milder versions of that question, such as, “[A]s Chassidim do we have to take the Chitzoniyus?” (the external appearance of others) and more clichéd ones, such as, “Does this represent Chabad and do I want to give the children the impression that it does???”

In the end, the general opinion — helped by Y-Love and Erez of Shemspeed posting the lyrics and trying to explain their intention — was that “having Ahavas Yisroal is the main part of being JEWISH” and respecting Y-Love and DeScribe for their obvious talents and genuine dedication to Hashem was the way to go.

Finally, a crucial subsidiary part of the thread was concluded with a tease. It related that Shneur is Devorah’s son. There was no mention of his marital status.

Dan Friedman is the former executive editor and whisky correspondent of the Forward, and is the author of a book about Tears for Fears, the ’80s emo rock band.

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