KOW Of West Bloomfield Pvoutdly Wishes Jts CtAstomelAs avid FiAieirtcls play a Hispanic pool attendant who wants to become Jerry's new friend. Hoch bickered and balked when asked to do a Spanish accent, consid- ering it an ethnic slap in the face of Hispanics. "No regrets," he says of losing out on that job. Not that there was anything wrong with that — no, there actually was, says Hoch. "I tried to have a sensitive conversation about it behind closed doors" with Seinfeld and the show's co-creator, Larry David. The accent stayed, and Hoch had to go. It made me stronger, gave me more oomph, more power to go up against one of the more powerful Jews in Hollywood," he says of Seinfeld. Hoch became master of his own dia- logue domain, with an accent on pow- erful portrayals. His argument on the set of Seinfeld, he adds, had its impact. "I think I made them think," says the performer of his influence on series co-stars Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. "I kind of made a dent." Outside Jerry Seinfeld's antiseptic apartment, he has done even better. Dents? Hoch has caused a contusion on society's conscience. "I get these The Beastie Boys, composed of three Jewish men from New York, is one of the most popular rap groups of all time, their 1986 debut album Licensed to Ill selling more than 4 mil- lion copies. A national tour with fel- low Def Jam artists Run-DMC con- verted a generation of white teenagers to the promise of hip hop as musical resistance on par with rock music. In a 1996 interview, band mem- ber Adam Yauch, now a Buddhist, ruminated on the Beasties' Jewish sensibility, "I know sometimes that Tibetans look to the Jews as a good example of how to preserve a dias- porized culture. But personally, I don't really feel like an outsider in someone else's society. I feel more like a New Yorker than one who has been diasporized." Purely subjective, the nature of hip hop's cultural authenticity is difficult to articulate but primarily is rooted in the streets, the crucible of culture. Jewish Canadian journalist Douglas Century tried a bit of ethnography in his book Street Kingdom: Five Years Inside the Franklin Avenue Posse, which charts his exploration of the inferno of Crown Heights with ex-drug dealing rapper Big K as his Virgil. His reporting on the close proximi- ty of African-Americans, Caribbean- letters, fan mail — which I never thought I'd get — from 16-year-olds and 22-year-olds, who have never been to theater, and they tell me they come and bring their friends." One fan offers applause from out front, beaming in the family footlights. After all, the performer's mother saw a transformation of her troubled kid once caught with drugs to a major international success story intoxicated with the power of playing for live audiences. "I think she's pretty happy," says Hoch of his mom. And the homeboy, whose strength is playing multiple ethnic identities, "homes" in on the right way to describe his mother's pride: "Nachas," says the Jewish giant in the theatrical hip-hop world, "is the right word." II Danny Hoch visits Shaman Drum bookshop to perform selections from Jails, Hospitals and Hip Hop 8-10 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 29. Shaman Drum is located at 313 S. State Sr., in Ann Arbor. A —This article is reprinted with permission from "CultureCurrents," the online newsletter of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. & -Healthy N ew Yeap- Orchard Lake Rd. & Lone Pine Rd. Crosswinds Mall 932-3133 r 11111= MEM MI= - - - - "EMI 11•11111 HAPPY NEW YEAR I FAMILY ITALIAN DINING & PIZZA I "RATED #1 BY THE ONES WHO COUNT— OUR CUSTOMERS" 4033 W. 12 MILE, 3 Blks. E. of Greenfield, Berkley I 548 - 3650 I DAILY LUNCH & DINNER SPECIALS I ROUND PIZZA SQUARE PIZZA I PIZZA - RIBS - FISH HOMEMADE GARLIC BREAD SMALL OR LARGE SMALL - MED - LARGE I ON FOOD PURCHASES I OF $6 OR MORE I DINING ROOM, CARRY-OUT 1 COUPON PER TABLE • ONLY ONE COUPON PER PURCHASE • NO SEPARATE CHECKS JN • EXPIRES 12-31-99 • COUPON NOT VALID WITH DAILY SPECIALS I I I I I I I I • I I II • BANQU ET ROOMS • BEER WINE • COMPLETE CARRY -OUT COCKTAILS ima Ism Elm im. - mom Shangvil-La , .1"fisWe Americans and Lubavitch Chasidim records conflict over shared urban space, not shared culture. Other work has been done in understanding hip hop culture as a geographical phenomenon, one that unites people living in close proximity. Writer/performer Danny Hoch advo- cates hip hop as fruitful partnership, not just between Jews and blacks, but among all ethnic groups that have breathed the same inner city air. In the introduction to the 1998 book version of his show Jails, Hospitals b Hip-Hop he writes, "A few people think I am some anthropological/the- atrical case-study guy. But I don't tape- record or interview people to then play them onstage. This is my world. These are my inner monologues." A culture of resistance, hip hop is a medium through which different cul- tures can better understand each other. In Crown Heights, the black and Chasidic group The Cure uses rap to build bridges between the communi- ties. As Century puts it, "Hip hop these days is a big tent." 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