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Introducing:
Matis-what-who?! We know, it’s difficult to get your head around the name the first time you hear it but you better get it right because this 26-year-old is fast turning out to be a major phenomenon.
Who exactly is he? What does his name mean? What does his music sound like? Well, he’s a Hasidic Jew (thus the regalia) who excels as a lyricist, MC, beatboxer and live performer and his musical genre of choice is – get this – reggae! Combining his early musical influences of reggae and hip-hop with his strong-rooted belief in his faith, Matisyahu offers up a unique sound that you seriously have to hear to believe.
Still not convinced? Check out his hit song King Without A Crown and the very impressive animation-live action hybrid video that accompanies it.
Highlights:
- The young singer has earned himself a huge fan following and famous faces regularly turn up to watch him at his live shows, the most recent being musicians Liz Phair and Grammy-winner Dave Matthews.
- He has said in the past that he sees similarities between Hasidic Judaism and Rastafarianism, making his unique blend of faiths a perfect match.
- Inspite of heavy snow, fans still turned up at his recent sold-out live show in Boston and the performances went as scheduled.
The Record FAQ:
What is his background?
Matisyahu was born Matthew Miller to Jewish parents in Pennsylvania on June 30th 1979. By the age of 14, like a lot of kids at the time he slid comfortably into the laid-back lifestyle of a teenage hippie. He fell in with the "Dead-Head" crowd, grew dreadlocks, played his bongos in the lunchroom and learned how to beat-box in the back of class.
By the time he was 17, he felt he couldn't ignore the void in his life and set out to find some meaning. A camping trip in Colorado led to a spiritual awakening and it was after this that he took his first trip to Israel.
This was a major turning point in his life and when he returned to America Matisyahu felt that same longing for meaning. This time his thoughts kept returning to Judaism. A stint at a school in Oregon led to Matisyahu delving further into his music. He studied up on reggae and hip-hop, attended a weekly open-mic where he rapped, sang, beat-boxed, and did almost anything he could to stay creatively charged. It was then that he started to develop the unique reggae-hip hop sound.
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