Gangsta rapper turned Orthodox Jew now dropping beats in New York
He’s straight outta synagogue.
Nissim Black, a black Orthodox Jewish rapper from the streets of Seattle, landed in New York with a bang this week, headlining a concert in Passaic, N.J., Thursday and speaking as a guest of honor at rooftop reception with the Israeli consulate the next afternoon.
Black — taking advantage of a 7:55 p.m. summer Shabbat start — then made a bee line for Monsey in Rockland County Friday evening, where he is celebrating the weekly holiday with friends during his visit.
“I think he has very relatable music,” Raizy Damico, 20, told The Post, saying she and her fiancé, Shua, braved the rain to make the two-hour drive from Waterbury, Conn., Thursday for the concert, where roughly 300 other mostly Orthodox Jews raised the roof at the Factory220 event space.
“He takes rap and elevates it to become holy,” she said.
Black, 34, lives in Beit Shemesh, about 18 miles outside Jerusalem, with his wife and six children and says he couldn’t be happier among his people in Eretz Yisrael.
“We moved to Israel five years ago. It was the culmination of an entire journey,” Black said. “If you want to be great in entertainment, you move to LA, but to be great in spirituality, this was the place to be and I wanted that more than anything else.”
Black’s journey has been a long one. He was originally born Damian Black — with no Jewish ancestry — in the inner city of Seattle in December 1986. His beginnings were bleak.
“My father was a big drug dealer … I joined the family business very early on,” Black recalled. “I was smoking pot by the time I was 9 and dealing drugs when I was 12 and running with the wrong crowds.”
He began his musical career as D.Black, rapping about violence, blight and parroting the gangsta rap of people like 50 Cent. He was gifted enough to record his first professional record at age 13. After a rival rapper was almost killed, Black knew he needed to get out.
A local youth group eventually set him on the path of spirituality, but it was a long one. He bounced between Islam and Christianity before settling on Judaism.
“The Jewish story is about up and downs,” Black said. “In every other book, everyone is always perfect. Jesus is perfect. Mohammad is perfect. And it wasn’t relatable to someone like me who had many ups and downs in his life.”
The process, which he did alongside his wife Jamie (now Adina) took more than two years and required the adult Black to undergo a ceremonial circumcision and a grilling before a court of rabbis before he was finally in the club.
“They ask you questions about certain laws and customs. How do you make tea on shabbat? What if you are stranded in a non-Jewish community? Why not be a righteous non-Jew?” Black recalled, saying he breezed through the process.
He’s still working on Hebrew, but keeps strictly kosher.
Through it all, Black never stopped rapping, though he’s since dropped the guns and violence and focuses on more uplifting content. He says he can’t even listen to gangster rap anymore.
In 2013 Black released his debut album, “Nissim.” This was followed by “Lemala” in 2017 and “Gibor” in 2019. His music videos on YouTube have racked up millions of views. Pros give him high marks. His most recent single, The Hava Song — which incorporates the traditional melodies of the Hava Nagila — hit YouTube in January.
“He’s good! His flow delivery and music is great! His videos are funny! He could be a TV star. I could see him in a series,” Darryl McDaniels, of the iconic of Run-D.M.C., told The Post.
McDaniels is not Black’s only famous fan.
In 2013, Black was personally invited by President Obama to the White House Hanukkah party as a guest. As a dual US-Israel citizen, he still keeps a close eye on domestic politics.
“I did experience systemic racism,” Black recalled, citing his old predominantly black Seattle high school that always had new sports equipment but where students had to fight for new books.
But he had tough words for Black Lives Matter, a movement he called “poison,” saying it didn’t focus on real issues and created needless “division” within the community.
“I think it’s a sham, being quite honest. I have talked to many friends of mine from the African American community and I don’t see how that movement has been helping the African American community,” he said. “When I was growing up I was never afraid of the police.”
“Rappers talk about killing rappers all the time and then they run around saying, ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ” Black continued. “The real black lives that matter are the children that are growing up without a father. It makes a big difference.”
