Tupac Shakur: Hero of Israeli-Ethiopian musicians

"They want you to change as they don't really care about you, they don't accept anyone who isn't like them — And you, do you care about yourself?" These are the opening words of the song "God willing" by Kalkidan, an Israeli rapper of Ethiopian origin. The song is about the identity crisis he experienced when he was required to change his name, "great promise" in Amharic, for a Hebrew name fit for Israel. "Your name meant a warrior — not an inferior. Do you want to become a part of the melting pot? Dude, that's nothing but a lot of hot air."

He goes on, "Maybe you should take a few seconds to think of a Hebrew name. Avraham, Yitzhak or Yaacov, a common name or a biblical one ... at the age of three rap was a drug. Today it's a weapon."

The recently published book "Listening to Black: Black Music and Identity Among Young Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel" analyzes the role of African-American music in shaping the identity of Israelis of Ethiopian origin. It offers some far-reaching conclusions. "The establishment sought to lead youths in the Ethiopian-Israeli community through a socialization process that would ultimately imbue them with the national Israeli-Jewish spirit, leaving but a tinge of their traditional Jewish-Ethiopian identity," writes author David Ratner. "Considering this, it is striking that many young Israelis of Ethiopian origin have chosen the hip-hop culture as a major source of identification. And one may wonder why."

In the Israeli music scene, where the local version of pop-rock — and in recent years, MidEastern pop, too — set the tone, the hip-hop trend may signify an identity crisis and a refusal to integrate into Israeli society. Ratner argues otherwise. "This culture" of hip-hop "serves as a symbolic resource on which they draw to mobilize the forces of resistance, creativity and political relevance of the global black diaspora, evolved over the past 150 years," Ratner writes.