Chad-Love: Ghettocaust and the meaning of hip-hop

Here's a great story. Chad Love, white Jewish rapper participates on the pilot episode of VH1's '(White) Rapper Show' and ends up challenging the host, MC Serch, to a hip-hop battle. I haven't been able to verify any of this, but You can read Chad Love's account of it in his MySpace blog. Love has an album out on Evol Records (available through CD Baby) and has been looking for support in putting a video together for his track, Ghettocaust.

"Ghettocaust” is an original Hip Hop song written by Chad Love. It reminds us of the atrocities that the Jewish people endured during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany, asks us to never forget what happened there, and warns that if we allow it, could happen again. Chad Love, one of the first Jewish Political Rappers, uses the guttural style and feel of Hip Hop to convey the deepest feelings about that horrific time in the history of civilization. In this, the beginning of the 21st Century, it is all too easy to forget what happened over 60 years ago in Europe."

As far as I can tell, this is all old news. Love's album came out in 2003, his participation on the White Rapper pilot was in 2005, and the Ghettocaust track came out in 2006. I sent him an email to see what he's been up to lately. I'll let you know what I hear. In the meantime, check out the Ghettocaust track on the Ghettocaust MySpace page. I'm a fan.

Also, something to think about. Chad Love, in his White Rapper appearance, made the statement that Hip Hop stands for "His Israeli People, His Oppressed People" and later defended that statement in an interview by saying " Most people don't know what hip-hop stand for. While I believe it hasn't really been made public, Hip-hop stands for His Israeli People, His Oppressed People. In fact, the Jewish and the African communities have always been working together in this industry. It was the Jewish community that helped to finance hip-hop in the first place and it was the Jewish community that finance the original hip-hop acts," he said."

While I've never heard that before, I found another reference to the phase that suggests that he might be right. Though there seems to be disagreement about whether the term "Israeli" is supposed to refer to Jews or to 'Black Israelites'. Interesting.