MATISYAHU, ROUND 2
catchdubs
492 Posts
interesting addition to "that thread" http://kollegedaily.typepad.com/product_shop_nyc/2006/03/matisyahu_no_mi.htmlhttp://jewschool.com/?p=10206
MATISYAHU | No Mitzvah with JDubMatisyahu is riding high with the top ten debut of "Youth" and two sold out shows at the Hammerstein, but things have not been so kosher with the Orthodox Jew and the Jewish Non-profit company that has managed him since before his first show and released all his records.Aaron Bisman and Matthew Miller have run JDub Records out of offices at the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University with the goal of promoting pro-Jewish artists. They've turned their little non-profit into a million dollar enterprise.Unfortunately for them, last week Matisyahu dumped JDub as his management and label (who have a deal now with Epic) for super-manager Gary Gersh. The website Jew School has been with JDub and Matisyahu from the begining and here's what they have to say:"The New York Times is reporting today that Matisyahu has, without any forewarning, breached his contract with JDub Records (with a term of three years remaining), and dropped the non-profit independent label which shaped his image, cultivated his talent, and propelled him to stardom. What they haven???t reported is that he???s signed a management deal with a major Hollywood talent agent ??? Gary Gersh, the man who ???discovered??? Nirvana and presently manages the Foo Fighters. Indeed, for well over a week now, I???ve been sitting on the knowledge that the men who broke their backs to make him a star, Aaron Bisman and Jacob Harris, have been hung out to dry by a man I now recognize to be a false prophet of our own making, who traded in his most devout ???true believers??? merely to maximize his cashflow potential do not say lightly, that there is no chasid where there is no chesed, and to those of us who have been Matisyahu???s most committed supporters, this is a turn most unkind. The news was delivered to JDub with no more than a curt and unexpected phonecall. As The Times reports, ???He said, ???I don???t know if you guys are old enough or have enough experience.?????? I struggle to ascertain what more success he could envision, beyond what JDub has already delivered. As some of you may know, I am the first to have ever written about Matisyahu. I designed his first fliers, leaked his first MP3, built and managed his website, and both followed and promoted his career every step of the way via Jewschool and other online forae, helping to craft the myth surrounding a man I once believed to be our generation???s musical Moshe Rabbeinu, destined to lead us to The Promised Land. In that time I have withheld all criticism, defended him from naysayers, and perpetuated his hagiography for the sake of his success alone. I stand before you today a remorseful Dr. Frankenstein. While I marvel at his success, and wish to be proud that I had some part in making it happen, I can only watch in horror and disappointment as he presses a knife firmly into the back of the man squarely responsible for his stardom ??? the man under whose chuppah I once watched him sing: Aaron Bisman. What should be a time of simcha and pure joy is now overcast by the shadow of gut-wrenching heartbreak. Now I can no longer listen to his music without being overcome with illness. His lyrics, which I have memorized from countless listening hours, spontaneously burst into my head, and I now shed tears unlike those which I shed before ??? tears of sadness and betrayal ??? as I prepare to watch this callous industry eviscerate the soul from his music and turn his sweet chassidishe melodies into nothing more than shallow corporate commodities, with my musical Messiah a willing participant."
MATISYAHU | No Mitzvah with JDubMatisyahu is riding high with the top ten debut of "Youth" and two sold out shows at the Hammerstein, but things have not been so kosher with the Orthodox Jew and the Jewish Non-profit company that has managed him since before his first show and released all his records.Aaron Bisman and Matthew Miller have run JDub Records out of offices at the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University with the goal of promoting pro-Jewish artists. They've turned their little non-profit into a million dollar enterprise.Unfortunately for them, last week Matisyahu dumped JDub as his management and label (who have a deal now with Epic) for super-manager Gary Gersh. The website Jew School has been with JDub and Matisyahu from the begining and here's what they have to say:"The New York Times is reporting today that Matisyahu has, without any forewarning, breached his contract with JDub Records (with a term of three years remaining), and dropped the non-profit independent label which shaped his image, cultivated his talent, and propelled him to stardom. What they haven???t reported is that he???s signed a management deal with a major Hollywood talent agent ??? Gary Gersh, the man who ???discovered??? Nirvana and presently manages the Foo Fighters. Indeed, for well over a week now, I???ve been sitting on the knowledge that the men who broke their backs to make him a star, Aaron Bisman and Jacob Harris, have been hung out to dry by a man I now recognize to be a false prophet of our own making, who traded in his most devout ???true believers??? merely to maximize his cashflow potential do not say lightly, that there is no chasid where there is no chesed, and to those of us who have been Matisyahu???s most committed supporters, this is a turn most unkind. The news was delivered to JDub with no more than a curt and unexpected phonecall. As The Times reports, ???He said, ???I don???t know if you guys are old enough or have enough experience.?????? I struggle to ascertain what more success he could envision, beyond what JDub has already delivered. As some of you may know, I am the first to have ever written about Matisyahu. I designed his first fliers, leaked his first MP3, built and managed his website, and both followed and promoted his career every step of the way via Jewschool and other online forae, helping to craft the myth surrounding a man I once believed to be our generation???s musical Moshe Rabbeinu, destined to lead us to The Promised Land. In that time I have withheld all criticism, defended him from naysayers, and perpetuated his hagiography for the sake of his success alone. I stand before you today a remorseful Dr. Frankenstein. While I marvel at his success, and wish to be proud that I had some part in making it happen, I can only watch in horror and disappointment as he presses a knife firmly into the back of the man squarely responsible for his stardom ??? the man under whose chuppah I once watched him sing: Aaron Bisman. What should be a time of simcha and pure joy is now overcast by the shadow of gut-wrenching heartbreak. Now I can no longer listen to his music without being overcome with illness. His lyrics, which I have memorized from countless listening hours, spontaneously burst into my head, and I now shed tears unlike those which I shed before ??? tears of sadness and betrayal ??? as I prepare to watch this callous industry eviscerate the soul from his music and turn his sweet chassidishe melodies into nothing more than shallow corporate commodities, with my musical Messiah a willing participant."
Comments
To be honest, this kind of thing often happens when an act blows up, particularly if that act's been managed by enthusiastic amateurs up until that point. He's clearly now going to do a big money deal with a major, and somebody's probably pointed out to him that a seasoned pro will get him a better deal. Better for who, exactly is another matter altogether.
and my 2 cents is this:
What a fucking poser. Who gives a shit about a guy who's schtick is that he's a hacidic jew making fake reggae?
To the fans I would like to recommend some other artists to check out:
The 2 Live Jews
Born Jamericans
Snow
MC Skat Kat
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
Britney Spears
Blink 182
Fred Durst
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.
To all the hatters. Don't worry. in a few years you will have forgotten that he existed.
http://www.myspace.com/JimmyxBoi
asian dude acting like a white dude acting like a black dude.
watch out. there's always a few snow defenders in here when his name comes up. apparently he is like a cool dood or something.
Gee, so I was absolutely right. That's pretty shocking, huh?
Pull em on shortpants...
The singer Notch is a cool yute.
Chabad-Lubavitch is creepy, man, that's all I'm saying.
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Guzzo!
Tell the truth, N**k, you know you added this part... no way is that for real.
You've obviously never been to Alief. Tiger_blurp, stand up!!!
I'm currently accepting applications for my musical messiah.
Watch what you say about that shit bro. You might ruin soulstrut.
some people have apparently accepted something called 'Project Blowed' as their personal musical messiah.
they would probably tell you about it if asked.
following blowed is anti-thetical to zionism it appears tho.
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Cool, let me try something
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your unfortunate mother!
Rosen's piece makes Sanneh's NY Times review sound downright complimentary. He's willing to call, uh, a spade a spade, or in this case, just hit Matisyahu with the big fat MINSTREL label.
Does this mean Rosen has issues too?
Although Sanneh and Rosen are making the same point, I would be frankly surprised if those in our community who were upset with Sanneh's piece from the New York Times challenged directly Rosen's piece from Slate. Dude's squarely and unquestionably in the minstrelsy tradition. It's become less obvious since the days of burnt cork makeup, but it had to remove the mask to effectively wear it again.
JRoot
yes, it does mean Rosen has issues. i haven't heard too many matisyahu songs, but on the songs i've heard, he's not yelling out "BO!!" or calling people "chi chi mon". he is obviously using a fake jamaican lyrical style, but so what: a) he's not mocking it, b) he's not using jamaican english, and c) its authentic for what it is, seemingly his own take on music he enjoys listening to. does tribute=putting on blackface?
the beastie boys were a minstrel show too? that will be news to all the other jews who grew up in brooklyn listening to rap and embracing hip hop culture, not mocking it.
i think its obvious that jews and everyone else on the planet have fed off of black music, but is this author suggesting that a white person can't do black music without putting on a minstrel show?
Of course they were--please be serious.
to who? maybe to the people that were not into hip-hop, the beasties fed their stereotypes, but the beasties' were also a part of hip-hop history and wouldn't have been if that was their game.
That's actually just not true. Without getting too deep into it, the beasties were a punk group and they made a rap record to poke fun/mock/satirize the hip-hop records of the time. Story is that they at the time thought hip-hop was wack and silly - I do believe they came to respect hip-hop but strictly from a historical perspective they were (initially) mocking it.
i doubt the author had that historical footnote in mind when he wrote the article.