Teen shows come and go, but Degrassi will always be the best adolescent soap opera of all time (fight me). The Canadian drama premiered in its first incarnation in 1989, and exists today: its 500th episode is on the horizon. But the show’s best run was in the early-mid 2000s, when it was called Degrassi: The Next Generation (fight me again).

If you didn’t watch the show about everything from eating disorders to bullying to moving in with your significant other when you’re both in high school and it’s a terrible idea (REALLY, Sean and Ellie??), you’re maybe familiar with it for another reason: Drake.

Everyone loves reminiscing about Drake’s tenure on the show, beginning when he was fifteen (he played Jimmy, popular kid and basketball star who was totally dating Ashley at the beginning of the series until she tried ecstasy this one time and went goth as a result and he was too preppy for her so then he dated Hazel for a while who was hiding her Somali Muslim heritage due to post 9/11 racism but then they broke up and he got back together with Ashley and at some point he was also paralyzed by a school shooting and you get the idea).

But the Jewish rapper wasn’t the show’s only Member of the Tribe— by a long shot.

Canada is a little over 1% Jewish (less Jewish than the U.S., but way higher than an average country). And if you watched Degrassi, you might agree with that statistic. But behind the scenes, Jews are amply represented. Let’s go through the half dozen from the show’s heyday!

1. Drake: Yeah, he’s super Jewish. We all know.

2. Jake Goldsbie played Toby, the token Jewish character. Toby is dorky in appearance and personality, and is So Jewish because he lost family in the Holocaust, and in one unfortunate moment, during a holiday pageant stood up and recited the English lyrics to “Chanukah Oh Chanukah” (because it’s not like Judaism has any fun holiday music, right?). Goldsbie is also Jewish in real life.

3. Shane Kippel played Spinner, the popular slacker who in the early days of the show struggled with ADD and had shenanigans over the years that included becoming a born-again Christian. But Kippel is far from that: not only is he Jewish, but one of his three brothers lives in Israel.

4. Stacey Farber played Ellie, the punk girl with an Avril Lavigne-vibe (this is Canada, after all), and in one story arc struggled with self-harm. Once again, unlike her character, Farber is Jewish too.

5. Lauren Collins played Paige, the sassy blonde cheerleader (of non-Jewish Ukranian descent) whose best-known storyline is her survival of sexual assault and her subsequent attempts to bring her rapist to justice. Collins is, surprise, a Member of the Tribe!

6. Jake Epstein played the sweet and troubled Craig, to whom pretty much everything happened (to name but a few: impregnating a girl at school, having an abusive father who then died, having bipolar disorder). Epstein has always been very involved in Jewish communities (he was raised Conservative and even went to Jewish camp). His mother, Kathy Kacer is the daughter of Holocaust survivors who writes books about the Shoah.

These days, Epstein lives in New York and does theatre: for example, he starred on Broadway in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical originating the role of Gerry Goffin.

So we salute you, Jewish Degrassi kids. Thank you for bringing real issues to teens around the world at a breathtaking rate (your characters always did have rotten luck).  Jewishness onscreen was minimal, but you all brought your yiddishe neshamas!

Image Credit: Wikipedia

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Drake’s newest album Nothing Was The Same has leaked and it’s a happy Monday for us all. The track “Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2” features Jay-Z rapping about Benzes and Maybachs while Drizzy’s on about a potential visit to his high school reunion, you know, to show up all his classmates who teased him way back when.

Drake’s feeling confident on this track, claiming “When I’m ’bout to drop somethin’ crazy and I say I’m the greatest of my generation.” More like the greatest of The Next Generation– at Degrassi, amiright? Sorry, it just never gets old, Jimmy Brooks.

Nothing Was The Same officially drops on September 24, but it can be pre-ordered on iTunes if you simply cannot wait. We understand.

Drake Ft. Jay Z – Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2 [YouTube]

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Drake won his first Grammy last night, and it’s safe to say the award has already gone to his head. The rapper’s confidence has skyrocketed with each successive hit, and nowhere is it more visible than in his song lyrics. Let’s start with Drake’s claim in his new single, “Started From The Bottom,” that he wears “every single chain, even when he’s in the house.” It’s an odd type of brag that doesn’t even sound cool to imagine doing. It sounds like it would be really heavy and get in the way of regular tasks like opening the refrigerator or trying to find the remote. Drake owns what, like twenty chains? At least twenty. No one wears twenty chains at once—2 Chainz only wears two at the same time, which, according to Yahoo! Answers, is the acceptable limit.

What’s more, Drake might actually be telling the truth. Claire Hoffman’s memorable GQ interview, which ended with Drake asking if they would have sex, describes Drake’s house as the type of place where opening the fridge door is one’s last concern: “bronze animals—lions, elephants, giraffes!—checker the lawn, glimmering in the last light of the San Fernando Valley sun. A giant fire, fit for a king from Middle-earth, burns in an outdoor fireplace, and a flat-screen TV plays Sixteen Candles.” The man himself is humbly adorned with “two long diamond-rope necklaces.”

The king of bragging we hear in “From The Bottom” isn’t new to Drake. He’s as cocky as they get in the rap game. Which is fine, but what makes this single stand out, and what’s been drawing some ridicule, is its emphasis on class. The title gives it away—Drake started at the bottom, now he’s on the top. Along with the single he included a note on his blogspot (bless you, Drake) that partially read,

I feel sometimes that people don’t have enough information about my beginnings and therefore they make up a life story for me that isn’t consistent with actual events. My family and my second family (consisting of the best friends anybody could ever have) all struggled and worked extremely hard to make all this happen. I did not buy my way into this spot and it was the furthest thing from easy to achieve.

Drake’s background is pretty well-known at this point—I wouldn’t be writing about him for Jewcy if he didn’t have a Jewish mother—through a friend in school he was able to get onto the Canadian teen drama Degrassi as Jimmy Brooks, the nice guy (when Marco is having trouble coming out of the closet in Season 3, Jimmy organizes a sleepover with Marco and Spinner, where Marco saves Spinner from choking on a piece of cheese, helping them to later come to terms with Marco’s sexuality).

Drake grew up poor in a wealthy Toronto neighborhood, a child of divorce with parents living worlds away from each other in Canada and Tennessee. That’s got to be tough on a kid. But it’s not quite Chief Keef and Young Chop tough, growing up amidst Chicago’s shocking gang violence, murders getting announced regularly over the summer, and the mayor going on national television to plead with gangs not to target kids. That feels more like the bottom. And there’s no breakout role on Degrassi in that story.

Drake doesn’t try to downplay his squeaky clean TV past, but the choice to portray himself as such an underdog while 17-year-old Keef is heading to prison (and has a daughter) seems a bit much. Arguing with your mom “every month” is rough, Drake, but it’s not prison. The explosion of diversity of styles in mainstream rap over the last few years, an explosion Drake has partially led, has in turn expanded the range of allowable topics to rap about. So why return to the same old authenticity debate that we’ve been hearing since Ice Cube? Especially on a pretty lame track (to be fair, it’s got a great beat).

That’s the real problem here. Drake can talk about his upbringing as much as he wants, but he’s doing us all a disservice by playing this ‘I’m real’ game, because it’s 2013 and that shit matters less and less every day. More then any other type of music, rap has long been dominated by street cred—Lana Del Rey-gate was nothing compared to how 50 Cent ended (like really ended) Ja Rule’s very successful career with the song “Wanksta”—but it’s not 2002 anymore. With everyone creating, destroying, and reimagining personas on the Internet anyway, it’s increasingly pointless to rely solely on bragging about where you came from.

We know you’re at the top, Drake. Tell us what comes next.

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

***

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• Documentary nominees for the Directors Guild of America include Allison Klayman, the filmmaker behind the award-winning documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (who was Beijing’s most popular bat mitzvah tutor during filming) and Lauren Greenfield, whose film The Queen of Versailles offers a revealing look into the astronomical excess of the wacky Siegel family. [THR]

• Larry David watches Degrassi. Someone tell Drake. [Huffington Post]

• This is pretty much what Shoshanna’s Emoji-ridden texts look like [Vulture]

• Brisket, so trendy right now. [NYMag]

• Etsy’s Jewish stuff (see: this and this). [Forward]

• A scene from the ill-fated James Deen/Lindsay Lohan flick, The Canyons:

The post Daily Jewce: Larry David Watches ‘Degrassi,’ Everyone Loves Brisket Again appeared first on Jewcy.

• The New York Times goes house hunting in Poland.

• Not everyone liked Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris: the Faulkner estate is suing Sony over Owen Wilson’s character’s unauthorized use of a Faulkner quote.

• Jewcy contributor Hillary Busis talked to the Degrassi creator in advance of the series’ 300th episode—and yes, Drake came up.

• In what should come as no surprise whatsoever, everyone is making a really big deal about Lena Dunham’s pro-Obama video.

• Curbed takes a look at Manhattan’s synagogues-turned-condos.

• Watch Joan Nathan make the ultimate roast chicken:

The post Daily Jewce: ‘Midnight in Paris’ Legal Drama, Lena Dunham Obama Drama appeared first on Jewcy.

What happens when you crack open the vault at popular Canadian talk show Canada AM? As it turns out, you find videos of young Canadian stars-to-be like Ryan Gosling, Celine Dion, and Alanis Morrisette. And Drake.

The Hollywood Reporter found this gem of a clip of young Drake, who at the time played Jimmy on Degrassi—and still went by Aubrey Graham—appearing on the show. It’s basically the sequel to baby Drake saying ‘Mazel Tov’ and dancing.

Even though the show’s host can barely keep track of their names, Drake speaks thoughtfully about what it’s like playing a character in a wheelchair (spoiler alert?). What better way to celebrate Drake’s recent high school graduation than with a look down memory lane, especially the part where Drizzy says things like “It’s going to be a wonderful season.”

Previously: First a Bar Mitzvah For Drake, Now a High School Graduation
It’s Drake’s re-Bar Mitzvah, and You’re Invited!

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First he became a man. Now, he’s a high school graduate. That’s right, people: Drake, born October 24, 1986, has fulfilled the requirements needed to graduate high school. We’re verklempt, really.

97% on my final exam. 88% in the course. One of the greatest feelings in my entire life. As of tonight I have graduated high school!

— Drizzy (@Drake) October 18, 2012

It must have been hard for Drizzy to concentrate on that final, what with Shyne—fresh off his rant against Rick Ross’ Black Bar Mitzvah mixtape—getting all up in his business about his lack of street cred. The Orthodox Jewish deported rapper and Mitt Romney supporter told MTV News, “I would really prefer Drake to sing about girls and sing about being a good kid from Canada and whatever that entails.”

Mazel tov, Aubrey. Next stop Degrassi: Drake: the College Years.

Related: Watch: Drake’s HYFR Bar Mitzvah Wins Best Hip Hop Video at MTV VMAs
Matisyahu Says He’s More Jewish Than Drake, Even Without His Beard
Drake Buys a House That Might Have a Mechanical Bull
It’s Drake’s re-Bar Mitzvah, and You’re Invited!

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What exactly inspired Rick Ross to name his latest mixtape The Black Bar Mitzvah? There’s not much in the text to give us any clues. Ross mentions the mixtape’s name a few times, but no more or less than he does Meek Mill’s upcoming Nightmares and Dreams (to be subtly released the day before Halloween!), his own previously released God Forgives, I Don’t, the upcoming Maybach Music Group tour, or the assortment of other projects and groups and associations that come with a mixtape released by the most powerful name in radio rap.

The only direct focus comes in the “Rosenberg” skit, in which New York DJ Peter Rosenberg sells out his heritage to take on the role of rabbi commenting on a “lavish” lunch spread and “the beautiful titties hanging out at the bar mitzvah service” (to be fair, I’d probably do this too if Rick Ross asked me). Weirdly, church organs and a Latin-sounding choir play in the background, strongly suggesting that Ross has never actually been to “Beth Shalom, Miami,” as Rosenberg claims.

Logic dictates that Ross got this idea from Drake. Drake, who brought the age of getting re-bar mitzvahed down from 73 to 25 with his “HYFR (Hell Yeah Fucking Right)” video earlier this year. Drake, who is actually Jewish. In the instant-classic music video, Drake’s re-bar mitzvah is a mixture of your typical synagogue-going crowd—and Lil’ Wayne and DJ Khaled. As Rembert Browne wrote in Grantland, the video was both ridiculous and deeply personal. Not entirely logical from the outside, it clearly felt right for Drake and the moment: “His world is a collision of cultures, so why pretend that any of them live in silos?”

Drake shows up on The Black Bar Mitzvah, but doesn’t bring any Talmud quotes with him. Instead, he’s got the most victory-lapping verse on the whole victory-lapping album; he sounds drunk and it’s terrific. “You let Drizzy get a verse, you gon’ get this worrrrk!” he slurs, like your best friend celebrating a promotion. Ross’ mixtapes have a way of bringing the out the best among those chosen to guest, and Bar Mitzvah is no exception. Rap baby Rockie Fresh steals the show with lines like “Like racism/I’ma be around,” 2 Chainz shows up because Obamacare made it illegal to have a mixtape in 2012 without him, and the whole thing runs pretty smoothly. Ross comes off as a slightly weird, very rich person who can make people feel successful just by being around them.

Basically, it feels like a normal mixtape, which makes the Jewish trappings even odder. The cover art, with a golden Ross popping out of a Star of David, feels like the end result of some historical fiction where Israel’s main export is customized 1970’s shag vans. It’s absurd—and absurdly eye-catching—which is precisely the point. It could raise questions about black-Jewish relations, but of course it doesn’t. This is a Rick Ross mixtape, and the guy who has claimed incarcerated drug dealers like Big Meech and Larry Hoover as role models isn’t exactly interested in an intercultural dialogue.

The closest historical point of reference is Jewish Mafioso Meyer Lansky, who’s been given shout outs from all-time legends Jay-Z and Raekwon. Lansky, who ran casinos in Cuba for a decade and was denied the right of return by Israel for his criminal activities, was also fictionalized as Hyman Roth in The Godfather. This would be a natural meeting point for Ross and The Jews, given how so many Maybach album covers tend to resemble the poster for Coppola’s masterpiece. Yet while the Jewish Mafia is given a namecheck on Ross’ version of Future’s “Gone to the Moon,” Lansky is nowhere to be found.

The Black Bar Mitzvah will definitely cement Ross’ place among 14-year-old Jewish private school kids looking to spend their bar mitzvah money while also wanting to be black, but that’s about it. He’s taken a stereotype once used as an excuse for vicious discrimination and presented it to be as harmless as it actually is. That we can look at an album cover like this and see nothing but the universally bizarre is without a doubt a good thing. If you’re keeping score at home, you can call this one Good for The Jews. Ross thought up at least one good tagline for The Black Bar Mitzvah, and it’s a fitting one: “Everyone’s invited.”

Previously: Watch: Drake’s HYFR Bar Mitzvah Wins Best Hip Hop Video at MTV VMAs
It’s Drake’s re-Bar Mitzvah, and You’re Invited!

From this author: Why I Gave Up God But Still Keep Kosher
The Beastie Boys Album That Changed Everything

The post Why Rick Ross’ ‘Black Bar Mitzvah’ is Totally Fine for the Jews appeared first on Jewcy.

• Irving Cohen, the Catskill’s unoffical matchmaker, died at 95. His obituary is the stuff of legends.

• While dad was crushing it at the U.N. with his bomb diagram, 21-year-old Yoni Netanyahu was partying it up around Manhattan.   

• Mandy Patinkin is a ninja, and other things we learn from the 25th anniversary screening of The Princess Bride.

• Our girl Gwyneth Paltrow is trying to make a Go Gos musical. Godspeed, Goop.

• The recording studio where Drake made his first two albums is now home to a 50-seat theater. No word on whether any Degrassi tribute shows have been scheduled yet.

• Over at Vulture, Jesse David Fox points out the insane Jewishness of Guilt Trip, a new movie starring Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand.

The post Daily Jewce: Barbra Streisand’s New Jewish Movie, Bibi’s Son Parties in NYC appeared first on Jewcy.

Breaking news, young Jews: In a recent interview with New York Magazine, Matisyahu maintains that he is still more Jewish than Drake, even after the public release of his freshly shorn face in December 2011. Although Drake, the Canadian television star-turned-rapper, has a Jewish mother and is therefore halachically Jewish, Matisyahu upholds his claim that he reps the tribe better than the Canadian rapper. This, of course, despite Drake’s rambunctious and outrageously lavish Bar Mitzvah-themed music video.

Of course, biologically speaking, it is impossible for one Jew to be ‘more Jewish’ than another. But let’s run with it: although Matisyahu has ditched the scruff, he seems to identify with a more modern stream of Judaism. Unlike in a previous stage of life, during which he refused to walk outside with his glasses on so as to not be tempted by posters of scantily-clad women (there are women-obscuring glasses for that, it turns out), Matisyahu now has a broader and more open-minded perspective. Speaking of the character he plays in the new Jewish-themed dybbuk horror movie, The Possession, he says, “He saw that humanity was bigger than one race or religion, and I kind of feel like that’s what I do. People really ripped me apart for going out in the world and playing music for non-Jews, but that’s not the issue for me.”

Let’s not get too excited, though, about Matisyahu’s newly discovered secularism: he still keeps kosher, doesn’t hold concerts on Saturdays, and knows a lot about dybbuks from his new film. And let’s be real—his beard was shaved in a Supercuts on the Upper West Side, a place not-quite-devoid of Jewish brethren.

As Matisyahu said himself: “It grows back!”

Related: Matisyahu Shaves Beard, Is No Longer Hasidic [The Scroll]

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