Kosha Dillz, ya'll

I love hip-hop, and if there's one thing I love more than hip-hop, it's Jewish hip-hop. Actually, I don't really like the Beastie Boys too much, except Sabotage, which rox my sox. So does the I'll-stir-fry-you-in-my-wok song. Still, in general, I think they're just white and whiny.

But I do like Kosha Dillz. I saw him a few weeks ago at the Aesop Rock show in Chicago. Dillz was playing with Yak Ballz, also Jewish, judging from his hair/swagger (here's a clip of Yak and Dillz at the show I saw in Chicago).

I like Dillz because he wears Judaism on his sleeve but its not his whole identity and its not his "shtick." He raps about being Jewish, his tour shirts say "All the Way! Oy Vey!" or something like that, but he raps about other stuff too, and he's not 2 Live Jews.

He's a Jew who is into being Jewish, but hasn't been around of Jews his whole life. This reflects a struggle I have with Judaism. I think its great for Jews to have Jewish pride, which usually includes wanting to be around Jews. But, as I understand it, Judaism is a minority religion by its terms. Half of our texts are about the Jews learning tough lessons from oppression - see Slavery in Egypt - or resisting oppressive majoritarian norms. Kosher laws, for example, prevent Jews from boiling a baby in its mothers milk because pagans in Judea at the time would do so. Some say that circumcision was originally a substitute for infant sacrifice, also at some point a normal practice in some places. So its hard for me to understand Judaism in a context where Jews are the majority, but I respect the common practice of Jews of showing solidarity with Judaism by living in majority Jewish areas.

I like Kosher Dillz because he's into being Jewish as a minority.

Plus, he can spit.