Chapter 2

Like I said, Israel does its own thing. That thing happens to be taken from what everyone else has done, but Israelis do it in their own way, too. So hip hop was no different. But you gotta know what was going first. Otherwise hip hop just doesn't make sense in Israel.
So it all started with Zionism. 1800 years or so of Jews living in Palestine in some small number did not matter to Herzl. Or maybe it did, I don't know. But it didn't really matter in the scheme of things. Jews started coming in to Palestine (or eretz yisrael, whatever), and they wanted to create a new culture, the culture of the new Jew. and they did. and that culture was basically a western one, except they wanted to be new, so they made it eastern. Which means they took a western musical foundation and added some Yemenite styles of singing. And thus was born Israeli music.
So what about the Jews of Palestine, who had their own music? That was arab stuff, not Israeli, so it wasn't played on the radio. And it wasn't sung in sing-a-longs, which were huge, and spread Israeli music all over the country. All the lovely Ashkenazi Jews, singing with their brown (Sephardi [Mizrahi]) counterparts, who were giving up a lot of their cultural heritage in a place that was a lot closer to their old homes than it was to the Europeans'.
No matter, that was music. Lots of Russian folk songs. And then came the palmach, Israel's premiere pre-Army unit. And they sang Red Army Songs. And then came the Army Bands. Israel's only pop singers for the better part of 15 years. Right out of the army. Then these pop singers decided they wanted to still be singers when they were through, so they kept up. And they heard rock, and they liked it, so they did it. In Hebrew, not like the sephardim who played rock in English in Tel Aviv clubs, They played it in Hebrew, and it sounded a lot more like Israeli folk songs than it did rock. Except for Shalom Hanoch, but I digress.
While all this was happening, Israelis were getting their music either from Army Radio, Voice of Israel, or foreign stations. And Israel kept realizing that Israelis were turning to foreign stations, so they added the foreign stuff to their stations. Had to keep their listeners up on Hebrew.
And then came the Six-Day War. And Israel no longer was in danger; Israel was big and strong and wiped the floor with its neighbors. So there was a lot of euphoria. And a little bit of flower power. And a hell of a lot of new lands, which had way more foreign influences than Israel had seen before. So rock made it. Too late for Israel to realize that they should have given the Beatles entrance visas, but rock made it anyway.
Then comes 73. Israelis are feeling great. Sadat attacks, Israel hurts. Abie Natan gets tired of this Voice of Israel shit and starts the Voice of Peace off the shores of Tel Aviv, far enough into the Sea that he isn't under Israeli jurisdiction. So Israelis get access to even more foreign stuff, their army's hurting. No more need for the Army bands. They basically go away. Rock is in. But the Yom Kippur war taught Israel that they needed new leaders every now and then. Out with Labor, in with Likud. Who elected Likud? The same Mizrahim (remember, all those Jews from Muslim countries) who didn't release any music for 30 years. And so they had some power. And with that same power they used to elect Likud (whose economic policies were worse for the poor Mizrahim than Labor's, except they were less overtly racist) they decided to say fuck you Israeli music system, here's the authentic shit. And so they released their Hebrew versions of Greek, Turkish and arabic songs. And they were pretty good. So Israelis started buying the Mizrahi stuff.
Which takes us to the 80s. Israeli rock hits a lull, in my humble opinion, besides Waiting for the Messiah by Shalom Hanoch. But Mizrahim are getting recognized. Israelis are realizing that being Israeli can mean being Sephardi, not just Ashkenazi. People are protesting Lebanon. It's all good. Israel is less about that oneness and more about lending people some individual thought and identity expression.
Around that time, they get trance music. They eat that shit up. They're dancing and Djing all over the world. Especially in India. Good times.
And somewhere through all of this, they're figuring out what it means to be Israeli. Cause really, how were they supposed to know? Israelis have only existed in the 20th century. But they're struggling, and you see that struggle in the music, just as the lack of struggle was there before. and then they hear hip hop. and they have the internet. and the intefada starts. and they have private radio stations and private tv channels and MTV. and it all comes together.