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Drawing on their dual Latino-Jewish
heritage, Hip
Hop Hoodios combine the vitality of Latin alternative music with
American-Jewish culture for fun-filled, trilingual mayhem. Los Hoodios'
name is derived from a twist on the Spanish word for Jew, or Judio.
Led by Josue Noriega,
the four band members have roots in Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Mexico
as well as Jewish culture. Using a mix of live instrumentation and
samples, they meld Hebrew with merengue and layer Jewish-themed rhymes
atop salsa rhythms to create tracks like "Havana Nagila" off their
CD's, Raza Hoodia and Agua 'pa la Gente.
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The band features
members of several acclaimed
Latin alternative bands, including La Barranca and Jaguares. The band's name is a
play on "hood" and "Judios" and that's as good an explanation of where
they're coming from, and of the Latin-Jewish sounds herein contained,
as you'll get. From the opening "Havana Nagila" riffing on everything
Jewish ("...a jew for gays, a jew for goys, a jew for girls, a jew for
boys/a jew for allah, a jew for jesus..."), with Spanish rap this band
is about being Jewish, and being a mixture of everything from Sephardic
song, Brooklyn Latin street culture, and Ashkenazic Hasidic
riffs. Lyrics are in predominantly in English and Spanish, with
Hebrew and Ladino interspersed.
The
music has an immediacy and an authenticity that moves the feet and
speaks of having being street-wise and Jewish--and not willing to leave
the "Jewish" in the closet.
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