In a world that thrives on trolling, it’s refreshing and downright inspirational to see artists like Tomer Yosef turn a negative into a positive.
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Crave is exclusively premiering Yosef’s new music video for “Holy Water” on Ape Records, an off-the-dome, electro-hip hop response the Balkan Beat Box vocalist had after experiencing a racist run-in with strangers.
“I was walking to the studio in the morning, thinking about what kind of song we should do that day,” recalls Yosef, who is of Middle Eastern decent and born and raised in Tel Aviv. “Then I noticed this lady, sitting in her car waiting for her daughter, staring at me. The little girl looked at her mom, and her mom was like, ‘Come inside the car! He’s approaching us!'”
Soon, a song that began as a spontaneous response to Yosef’s ‘profiling’ experience, expanded to encompass the Israel-Palestine situation with help from producer Tamir Muskat.
“Most conflicts in the world are based on religious differences,” Yosef says. “As someone who grew up with both Palestinians and Israelis, and has no issues with God, I feel that we are all swimming in a sea of ‘holy water.’ We need to be careful not to drown.”
“Holy Water” features a funky, world music beat supplying a darkly melodic backdrop to Yosef’s staccato reggae-inflected raps that bring to mind Damian “JR Gong” Marley, but has its own distinctive flavor.
For more sights and sounds from Balkan Beat Box go (HERE).
