Hey guys. It is two days after the aftermath of Coachella. For me it was Matzahchella. For others, it was Kanyechella or Arichella, and then back to me; two weeks of who knows what could happen. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2011, I was always enamored by the world of Coachella.
With that being said, there is a saying that it’ll take 10 years to be an overnight success in Los Angeles. As a full-time artist, I knew coming to this city was going to be the best decision for the opportunity. The first year I came, I was in L.A. only a week managed to meet Paris Hilton’s Bodyguard and walk past Rhianna. In 2012 I saw the Tupac hologram with Rza of the Wu-Tang Clan. I hung out with Alex Clare, the only famed Jewish artist with tzitzit since Matisyahu. I came in 2016 and curate the first ever Matzahchella, a Passover seder for Jews like me that didn’t have anything better to do besides run around in the desert, schmooze, and make some awesome content for Billboard Magazine.
It was the seder heard around the internet.So why Koshachella…you ask? Basically, it is my favorite time of the year. There are people that are happy there is no traffic in LA. Then there are people who wake up to drive to Coachella late Wednesday night and sleep in line with their cars to get the best car camping spot to the Ferris wheel and bring their own tent that says their name on it; that person is me.For my first week, I didn’t expect much, but so much happened. There was a build up this Shabbat onto the holiday of Passover.
I hung out with eight Jews in Shabbat Tent and felt it. The cooking. The welcome. The idea of hospitality and the spirit of Shabbat Tent. The slept outside by the Ferris wheel and was fed the best food. Besides dancing to J Balvin and 88Glam and Khalid, I ran around looking for all the press to chat about my big return to Matzahchella. We were gonna take on Kanye with all my might and not let Easter be the only thing happening in the desert. My week carried on as usual.
As many readers and listeners know, I have been sober for a long time (coming up on 15 years.) When you are around so much drugs and alcohol without a choice, a good thing to deal with it is attending your 12 step meetings, and the festival has something called Soberchella. It is this gift from G-d that is there for all the people who are making their way to the desert trying to not end up like last time.I geared up for my second appearance in the desert by riding out late Wednesday night to the lines of a late night drive. We finally entered in on Thursday and set up.
Prepping for a weekend of macaroons and matzah, we didn’t have much o eat if you were literally trying to survive the desert. Rabbi Yonah Bookstein of Pico Shul set me up with a 10-minute seder, and all week my job was to promote to the world that we are having a seder. I even made a sign that said, “Kanye can you please come to our seder a.k.a. Matzahchella.” Well, the joke is on him. Our first night we had an interview with the Alma that seemed to get picked up my all these Jewish blogs.
Soon the Forward wrote about the seder, and then Algenheimer, and then the Times of Israel and even Jerusalem Post. Finally, the LA Daily News picked up the story, and here we were with a live photo shoot of our 10 person seder. I happened to run into my old friend DJ Ethos while doing what everyone does at Coachella; charge their phone. He told me that later that night, I should come by the campground and rap for the silent disco which houses around 1000+ people at around 1 a.m. The performance went so good (naturally of course) that he mentioned he was playing on Sunday with his Subsuelo crew. I didn’t think much of it and went back to promoting the second Seder.
My main goal was to really have Matzahchella and Shabbat Tent make so much noise that Kanye West and the gang of Sunday Service would know we exist. Of course, we wanted all the skippers of the seder to come.I once went to a meeting over a dozen years ago where a Jewish recovering addict compared the story of Passover to that of addiction. The Exodus was us coming out of our personal slavery. Moses splitting the Red Sea was a moment where we walked through all the stuff holding us back to get through to the other side. My Sunday felt like this. As I managed to get front row seats to the Kanye Sunday Service, I got a confirmation call from Ethos to perform my song on the Mojave Stage. How did I go from sleeping on the floor with barely a GA [general admission] ticket to playing on a main stage before Israeli superstar Dennis Lloyd, Lizzo, Mansionair, Kaytranada…and lets stretch it out…a couple hours before Ariana Grande!!
After attending Coachella for eight years dreaming of playing, I finally graced the stage!My day was magical. Everyone was so happy for me. I got free socks. I got free lemonade. I got a free painting! To celebrate, I street performed and busked outside my lovely Shabbat Tent at the end of the festival. All of a sudden, a guy named Jay Jay appeared with an Israel flag amongst thousands of people walking to their campground. He told me he had been attending the festival since 2012 and said he never saw the Shabbat Tent, but know who I was and my music with Matisyahu, He asked to take a picture and even showed me images of him from a terror attack and how he saved a girls life, shielding her from an explosion. He said, “Matisyahu, Borgore and the Prime Minister signed my flag. I would like you to sign it.” I became speechless.
All I wanted was some buzz on my seder and to stay sober and I later danced with Kanye’s dancers, performed on an official massive stage in Hebrew (which I don’t think has ever been done since Matisyahu ) and was spoiled with gifts and smiles.
A real Passover miracle!! The next day, not the way home my car died. The engine Exploded twice. I had to get my car towed. Twice. $2000 later, I wonder how bad my day could get. What about the performance with Subsuelo? What about all the free gifts? What about all the press about the seder or dancing with Kanye at his Sunday Service?Neither. Although I thought it was about that, it was about meeting Jay Jay when I was street performing outside our closed down tent.
The original way of connecting to people for me was this way, and it is what had got me there in the first place. The Exodus is not just about the story of our freedom from Slavery many years ago. It is about our life today, in our personal desert, trying to free ourselves from all the things we think we want and being ok with the things we have.
Kosha Dillz is a billboard charting rapper from New Jersey residing in Korea Town Los Angeles. He raps in a style that is self-defined as User Friendly, and has performed all around the globe with everyone from Wu Tang Clan to Matisyahu. He has penned articles about mental health and sobriety as well as fighting anti-Semitism through Hip Hop , and also has a TedX talk called Freestyle Rap Saved My Life. His latest song Exercise, is on Spotify. When he isn’t on tour, he curates rap class workshops and tells his story at various jewish community events. He can be reached at rapperfriends@gmail.com or on twitter.
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