“>Hip Hop Hoodios, a very talented Jewish-Latino hip hop crew, for an article that will be in this week’s Jewish Journal. The article focuses on the group’s August release, a 5-track digital-only album titled “Viva la Guantanamera,” which benefits Amnesty International’s efforts to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison. Josh Norek, 32, and Abraham Velez, 31, dished out lots of interesting tidbits that didn’t quite fit into the article, space-wise and tone-wise. So here’s their less formal, more personal side:
* Abraham on being at his New York office in the middle of the summer: “The French are across the ocean drinking fucking wine because it’s August and we’re over here toiling away.”
* Surprisingly, the crew is enormously popular in France despite its anti-Semitic reputation.
* “Kike on the Mike” was Hoodios’ way of reclaiming the Yiddish word for circle. “Fine, call me a circle,” said Josh of his attitude in the popular song.
* Abraham went on the Birthright trip in 2001 when he was 25 years old. “I stepped off the plane, saw the welcome sign in Hebrew, and started tearing up. It was a very emotional feeling knowing I was in the homeland. We have this enormous craving to belong somewhere, but I’m still a skeptic. What does it mean to belong to one thing or place?”
* Abraham on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: “We talk on and off about tackling the issue, but it’s such a complex topic and there’s quite a bit of public dialogue about it already. The question is, what do we have to say about it that’s new?”
* “We all hate Bush,” said Josh while explaining some of the motives behind their politically-minded single. He lost three high school buddies in Iraq.
* “The distance is good for us,” LA-based Josh said about collaborating with NY-based Abraham. ” I don’t think it would work any other way!”
* “We’re working in a completely new way through technology,” said Abraham. “But there are downsides to communicating only through computers and phones. I would like to hug Josh more.”
* Abraham on the process of creation: “There’s nothing better than getting a bunch of us guys together in a room. Sooner or later it devolves into hysterical laughing and fart jokes. In that atmosphere, we create our greatest stuff like ‘Dicks and Noses’.”
* Abraham on working with Wildog Abers of Ozomatli on their latest album: “He’s very pro. He’s down to business. Wildog is so modest – he’s a man without guile and very inspiring to be around. But he’s also got a lot of humor. I would always get voicemails from him when he’s on the shitter. I would hear the flushing sounds…I guess that’s when he had time to call.”
* Who’s hotter, I asked Josh, Israeli or Latina women? “Wow, that’s a hard one. I would have to say Israeli women are very hot. And smart. That’s sexy.”
* “I’m aware of the burden on my shoulders,” said Josh on the subject of perpetuating the Jewish race. “But it’s not necessarily important for me to marry Jewish.”
* Abraham’s wife is neither Jewish nor Latina. She’s from “the great tribe,” said Abraham. “She’s just great.”
* Abraham: “I don’t really care what ethnic group people are from. We walk this funny line with our band: we’re proud of who we are and our ethnic heritage, but we don’t want to emphasize the lines between cultures. I’m a citizen of the earth.”
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