Radaronline reports that women ages 21-45 are invited to a casting call to be a JAP, Jewish American Princess. As the email stated, ‘Gone are the days where being a JAP is a bad thing – today Jewish American Princesses are proud.’ Since being proud about one’s own high-maintenence lifestyle is a good thing, this show is bound to attract many high-profile young Jewish women. 

But don’t worry too much if you feel that this show will cast a negative light on American Jewry. I’m not sure one can really make JAPs look any worse than their current reputation. Maybe I’m out of touch, but do people even use that term regularly anymore?

Reality TV has gone ethnic, and expect more stereotypes to fill the idiot box in the near future. 

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While some cultural Jews may need motivation to care about the final days of Passover, Dolgin has just the cure. It has been nearly five years since he produced his own take on the seder, The Socalled Seder. To commemorate this anniversary, Jewcy was lucky enough (and had the Jdub connections) to get an extremely short interview with Josh Dolgin.

Jewcy: Before I ask any questions about the anniversary of the So Called Seder,I need to know something that’s been bugging me: how many records do you own?

Josh Dolgin: Like, 3/4 thousand… I should count…

Jewcy: So of all the Jewish holidays you could have picked from, what gave you the idea to put together a "hip hop haggadah"?

JD: The records started to find me. All these cheezy Pesach records from the 50’s and 60’s… even some I had as a kid… one break in particular, from a Moishe Oysher record, just begged to be looped, so I started cutting the stuff up and before you knew it, I’d made like 4 or 5 tunes for a little EP.

Jewcy: Do you think Killah Priest rapping on "The 10 Plagues" was the most Jewish moment in the history of the Wu-Tang Clan?

JD: It’s possible.

Jewcy: Is this the only fun Seder you’ve taken part in?

JD: No way. I always loved seders, especially after my brother and I cobbled together our own Haggaddah like 15 years ago. I think another reason I started this project was because Passover was always such a fun holiday in my house, I always loved the music and food and family, so it seemed like a great element of my Jewishness to explore with the sample-based hip hop I was getting into…

Jewcy: There hasn’t been a Socalled release in 3 years. Anything new we can expect?

JD:  Almost finished my next record, and you should also check out "Tweet Tweet", by Abraham Inc, a record I produced for David Krakauer and Fred Wesley and full funk/klezmer band.

The post Five Years After the Seder: An Interview With Socalled appeared first on Jewcy.

Axum, will soon be heading down south for a two month residency at university Hillels, Jewish day schools, and Jewish centers throughout Georgia and the South as part of The Schusterman Visiting Artist Program. The duo’s name is a tribute to their heritage, the legendary African kingdom of Axum, where Ethiopian Jews believe the ark of the covenant is hidden (although, Indiana Jones has proven otherwise). Teaming up with reggae group DubConscious, they are hoping to educate southern Jews and non-Jews alike about the difficulties and rewards that Ethiopians encounter while trying to mesh into Israeli society.

Judah (Gilor Yehuda) and Tedross (Reuben Aragai), the two members of Axum, write music that reflects their unique heritage and the obstacles they have overcome. They both grew up in a poor area of Netanyahu, dealing with the hardships and discrimination that immigrants receive when living in a foreign country. Yet while their heritage is unique, their laid-back attitude and diverse musical influences relate to a wider, universal audience.

Touring in America is nothing new for Axum. They are already familiar with the American music industry, having worked and toured with great Israeli artists such as Soulico. The South, our bastion of intolerance, may prove to be a bigger monster to overcome. Yet I’m sure that if they can find success here with such a positive attitude, being successful in Georgia should be easier than finding a Jew at an Idan Raichel concert.

I hope that we American Jews will appreciate and support this influx of diversity in an otherwise predominantly, eastern-European culture. Anyone who went to Hebrew school knew of that one token black kid, the closest thing to diversity at our otherwise gefilte-fish-eating high school parties. We need the home-grown diversity that is such a rarity in American Judaism. It would be nice to be part of a broader culture that goes a little beyond Woody Allen, AIPAC, and bagels with lox.

The best part about Axum coming to Atlanta is that they are going to be at Emory University’s Hillel Passover Seder. It is likely to be the most badass Seder of the century, nay, the past 2 millenium (sorry Jesus, but yours didn’t end too well). The music itself sounds alot like a Middle-Eastern Sean Paul, with equal (if not greater) amounts of sex-appeal, and I hope that more liberal universities decide to endorse this unique, culture-blending hip-hop duo. Axum just may be the music musical anchor for our wandering Jewish culture since Barbara Streisand. And maybe, just maybe, Jews can finally be hip again.

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