The first time I ever saw Marlon “Moshe” Sobol was at a Matisyahu show at Joe’s Pub back in 2004, playing the bongos and hopping around on stage dancing his heart out.  His drum skills were awesome, but it was his look that struck me.  He looked like a short version of Matisyahu, and my friends and I in the audience dubbed him Mini-Matis.

Fast forward a year, and I’m backstage at Webster Hall getting ready to make my first big appearance with Matisyahu since our recording of “WP”.  Moshe, who I had just met a couple days before at a rehearsal,  comes up to me and says “Yo Stan, kick a freestyle”.  So the two of us started spitting to each other in the back staircase over the sound of the band on-stage as we awaited our entrance for the next song. 

From then on Moshe and I became great friends.  Not only did we continue to freestyle with each other before big appearances with Matis (Moshe plays the melodica on the “WP” record), but we began to hang together on our own.  It was easy because he worked as a music therapist in White Plains only a couple blocks from where I was living at the time.  

Moshe’s story is very similar to Matis’ in that they both grew up as regular suburban jewish kids (he’s from Long Island), and became very religious in their early 20’s.  Matis is actually responsible for introducing Moshe to the Hasidic lifestyle.  He’s easily the most talented drummer I know.  He’s also the guy responsible for giving me a bar mitzah without me realizing it (i never had one as a kid).  He wrapped me in tefillin, asked to me repeat about 15 minutes worth of prayers, and that was it.  I thought I was just having a jewish experience with my boy, but when I was all done, it turns out I had a bar mitzah, in the comfort of my apartment.

Here’s a video of Moshe performing a drum solo at the Thirsty Turtle during my first ever show there in November 2006 (which also featured appearances from Matisyahu and Max B among other local artists)….

Moshe and his younger brother Aaron formed a band called Shem’s Disciples, and released an album recently featuring ME.  Check out the first track, it’s called “Fisherman”.  That’s Stan Ipcus on the second verse…

Shems Disciples featuring Stan Ipcus- Fisherman

For more information on Shem’s Disciples, check out their myspace…

It’s always great to see dudes you came up with make it big.  Peter Rosenberg went to school with me at the University of Maryland.  He had a radio show called “From Dusk ‘Til Dawn” on WMUC, and he was always up on his underground hip-hop.  He was younger than me but we had mutual friends and I would always see him at campus hip-hop events where I was performing.  We had a mutual respect for one another as jewish hip-hop heads.  

Last summer I was driving home from a John Mayer show in Saratoga Springs on a Sunday night.  It was pretty late, and my girl was passed out.  As I made my way over the Tappan Zee Bridge, I flipped on Hot 97 and whose voice do I hear?  Peter Rosenberg.  Wow.  My dude got his own show on the biggest radio station in NYC.

Since then I’ve been checking for him steadily because I love to support my fellow Terp alumni.  Plus he plays real hip-hop on his show which is refreshing in this day and age of fluffy radio content.  And his youtube video interviews are all over the hip-hop blogs weekly.  This one is my favorite, from behind the scenes at Summer Jam 2008.  Check it out….

For more Peter Rosenberg content, check out his blog…

Rosenberg Radio

He’s also got a funny hip-hop heavy podcast with fellow Hot 97 DJ Cipha Sounds called JUAN EPSTEIN, available on Itunes, Rosenberg Radio, and Cipha Sounds blog dontgetgassed.com. Here’s one of their more entertaining episodes, featuring one of Westchester County’s finest producers, Mount Vernon’s own Pete Rock…

Juan Epstein- Pete Rock Interview Episode download link