A latin flavor is heating up the scene here in Tel Aviv. I stumbled upon a really interesting video recently featuring friend and famous Israeli musician (Hadag Nachash MC and solo artist), Guy Mar. The video is called Rap2Spain and is the brainchild of Israeli immigrant of Chilean descent, hip hop artist and visionary, Jair M3. Jair moved to Israel in 2006 and has definitely caught the attention of fellow Israeli musicians. His passionate outlook on his responsibility to not only his heritage, but his new home is apparent in the project.
The Rap2Spain project was inspired by Jair’s strong emotions about the situation with Israel and the way it is depicted in Spanish media. His concept is based on the idea: “Ni el Bien, ni el Mal, lo Real”, meaning “Not Good, Not Evil, Real” in Spanish. He says this is “a proposition to look for an alternative and more authentic way of connecting with reality, leaving aside simplistic black and white visions.” He also states that his “project doesn’t take a political stand or represent a political agenda, it’s only purpose is to create bridges across peoples, promote dialogue, and include as many people as possible.”
The video was the first I’ve heard of this inspirational artist. His conscious hip hop truly embodies an urban quality with influences of Spanish and Israeli sounds and an aesthetic in the cinematography of the video that you just cannot help and take note of.
What is also cool to see in the production are scenes from both Tel Aviv and Spain in the video. “Israel is my home, and I love it, but Spain, Chile and other places in the Hispanic world are also a fundamental part of my life, my friends, my musical influences. The problem is that when I am in those places I feel there’s an abyss between what people say about my country and the REALITY that I see and live. I thought that with my music I could help to show such reality, to open some eyes and to leave aside extreme positions and promote dialogue and connections between people.”
It is clear that Jair is plainly connected with his new environment in Israel, but he still has deep connections with the Hispanic world at the artistic and personal level. Jair and I discussed his thoughts on the Israeli hip hop in general. “Israel is a MAGIC place, and has given me millions of incredible experiences and beautiful moments…Tel Aviv is my home sweet home, a place full of people, cultures, languages and diversity. Coexistence is the key word here, and that gives Tel Aviv special energy to exist…It’s not easy to be respected in the whole world for your hip hop being from here, so I give all my respect for all the amazing rappers of Israel keeping it real.”
Jair was privleged to work with some of Israel’s leading hip hop musicians in the scene right now. “Working together in this project with Guy Mar and Axum was a gift to me. They are incredible artists and they are an excellent example of what Israeli hip hop artists are.” Guy also commented that he felt that this was a really great project to work on and a very special way to promote Israel.
The project contained many special collaborations including not only Guy Mar and Axum, but Alejo Stivel, a very well-known musical producer in Spain, David Broza, Michael from Mayumana and Idan Raichel among others. “Every single person who joins is key to build a collaborative window made of real people showing real faces to the real world. Bienvenido a Lo Real.”
Jair is really focused on developing this project even further and is planning upcoming performances. Tel Avivian’s: be on the lookout!
You can find out more about JairM3 and information on the project here.
Check out this amazing project below!
hey fiona- usually greatly respect your taste in music and the artists you support so i gave this artist a listen. I was really disappointed to hear beats and hook and flows that were at best mediocre but i still gave the message a chance. turned out his message was trying to humanize israelis by showing them partying on a beach?? the only thing that will make us more humanized as israelis is to stand up against the oppression being perpetrated in our name and by us (since all but the religious must serve in the army there, and the refusers are imprisoned) as well as funded by US taxes. we can’t forget so soon that 90 percent of israelis were in favor of the attack on gaza in january. it will take much more than beach parties to transform this situation…it will take justice and solidarity. and it will take a cultural boycott of art and music that attempts to in any way normalize the israeli government policy that continues to occupy, displace, and erase palestinians.
much respect,
i
Hi “Invincible”
Thank you for your feedback! Dialogue is great and its exactly the point of the article. Sorry you were so disappointed with the the artist. But different strokes for different folks.
The partying on the beach is about 3 seconds of the entire video, and the point he was trying to convey is that yes, we are all human…I think the essence of the video lies in the people he shows in the market, rothschild st., etc with the spanish words that people use in the media to describe israelis.
As an israeli citizen, I can tell you that 90% of Israelis were NOT in favor of the attack. It is difficult to really understand what is going on here without actually being here. The media is not always a good source of what is real, as shown in the article I just posted.
Thanks so much and keep reading!