OTTAWA — He’s shared the stage with Snoop Dogg and the Wu-Tang Clan, but on this tour it’s all about connecting with the community.
In the midst of the Canadian leg of his tour, New York-based Israeli-American rapper Rami Even-Esh — better know by his stage name Kosha Dillz — is adding stories from Canada’s under-attack Jewish community to his ongoing Bring the Family Home documentary on the hate facing Jewish university students in North America.
“It’s a consistent barrage of ‘you’re not welcome here, and we’re going to do everything in our capability to make you feel like you’re unwelcome,’” he told the Toronto Sun in an interview.
“Being ostracized from your community at 20 is different — for people who are in school, it’s the biggest thing that they’ve ever experienced. When the entire school is against you because of Israel and getting demonized, and you’re just a Jewish kid on campus in Canada.”
Born in New Jersey, he began his hip-hop career at the age of 19, releasing his first music professionally in 2005.
Despite struggles with the law, sobriety and coming to grips with his Jewish identity, he achieved success with his gritty yet relatable rhymes, seeing his songs appear on the Billboard charts, featured in a Bud Light commercial for Super Bowl XLVI, and even rendered as a playable character in the bestselling NBA2K11 video game.
During a gig this week in Montreal, he spoke with students at McGill and Concordia Universities — hotbeds of antisemitism, Jew hatred, and violent anti-Israel encampments.
His observations of what’s going on in Canada echoed what he’s seen on college campuses south of the border.
“I went to the Holocaust Museum in Montreal, and there was a section that said Nazi ideology was propaganda that preyed on people who were financially and emotionally unstable, and sent them a bunch of lies to get rallied up,” he said.
“If you look at the people at these rallies, in many cases, they’re people with a lot of instability — not everyone … but the majority.”
His Bring the Family Home documentary — which shares the same name of a song and music video released shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terror attacks — will contain stories and interviews garnered during his three Canadian stops, including Toronto, which conclude Thursday in Ottawa.
“We’re trying to have fun with it, but it’s really hard to have fun with something that’s so traumatizing and so dark,” he said.
“I try to approach topics that are really hard with lightness and levity … I’m hoping to give it a different sort of news about what’s happening and what it’s like for us.”
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