Matisyahu checks in with Scoop B Radio. Photo Credit: Rick Kern/WireImage

Matisyahu checks in with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson via Scoop B Radio. Press play below to listen! 

Jewish American reggae vocalist, beatboxer, and alternative rock musician, Matisyahu is pretty awesome.

While his “One Day” and “King Without A Crown” tracks have achieved critically acclaimed success, he’s currently enjoying his latest Undercurrent album, released in May.

So with the stage name being Matisyahu, ‘ya gotta wonder: what does one call him for short?

“People call me Matis unless I’m with my kids, then they call me Matis and the Yahus M is cool too, though that sounds nice,” Matisyahu told me on Scoop B Radio.

His stage name may be one thing, but his birth name is Matthew Paul Miller. “There are actually a lot of rappers with the initials, M.M.,’” he said.

“I’m Matthew Miller, Eminem is Marshall Mathers, there’s a lot of us! Next time you hear a white rapper, check out his initials because there’s a lot of M.M.”

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The post Scoop B: Grammy-nominated reggae artist Matisyahu says there are many white rappers like he and Eminem that have ‘M.M.’ as their initials appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Hip-Hop and Jews have always had a special relationship.

Most recently we’ve heard Kanye drop the name of one of our favorite Israeli’s Lyor Cohen in  Devil in a New Dress, watched Drake spill the details of his bar mitzvah in various interviews and read about Shyne, Diddy’s protege who recently converted, on the cover of The New York Times arts section (and on this very blog).

Well now it’s time you learn about Y-Love. Yitzchak Jordan converted to Judaism as a young man and got into the hip-hop game while studying Talmud (a central text of Jewish law written in the form of conversations between Rabbi’s) at his Yeshiva (Jewish school) in Israel. To help study and memorize the texts, Y-Love and his learning partner would rap the words back and forth. These important words of the Talmud were the dawn of a journey that would eventually lead Y-Love to wining the 2006 Jewish Music Award for Best Hip-Hop over the well known reggae artist Matisyahu.

Today, an album (This is Babylon) and EP (The Change) later, Y-Love has joined forces with Diwon a producer and DJ to tour around the globe spreading his message of unity and understanding to open-minded people all over the world. Y-Love raps in as many as 5 languages  including: Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, Aramaic and English.Y-Love’s latest inspiration comes from Nicki Minaj, the next big thing in female MCs, and as he flips through his rhyme book, her name is written on the top of almost every page.

Now its time for you to step out of the little box you previously thought of hip-hop and expand your mind. Y-Love is about change the way you view the world through his rap game and delicious lyricism. Maybe one day he’ll end up in Young Money with his biggest inspiration a fellow Jew…This is what happens when worlds collide.

To learn more about Y-Love click HERE.

You can also find him on MySpace and Facebook.

The post Y-Love appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.